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I am late to the terror party but I figured I’d add my build log to the pile and see what happens. Bulkheads went up easy and the deck was pleasing to build. I penciled in the caulking. The YouTube videos show some sanding after this but it just seemed to smear my pencil around so I aborted this plan. Sprayed with satin urethane. Then set out to label all the parts. One huge difference between ship and plastic models (at least for this one) is the “parts” list seems to be all the parts you need for each sub-assembly and not a straight list of parts in the kit. I seem to go back and forth between that list and the directions constantly. I also seem to have a brown E8 for whatever reason. Thanks I guess?

after seeing the hms terror build logs on here especially keith s build i made a start. have always had a fascination with the story of the north west passage and when occre released this it was a must despite the compromises with the kit. frames glued in place but deck still loose. also glued in the filling pieces between frames at bow and stern building slip to help keep the keel straight while planking don't know when next update will be as Victory taking priority at the mo! Take care all keith

Hi all Having completed my last build, the Lady Nelson and being pretty chuffed with the outcome, I'm moving on to the next which arrived today. My nephew has been fascinated with my last build and has been begging me to make a boat for him so i let him have a look through a list of models and pick one he likes. He saw HMS terror and said 'I'm a terror, I want that one' so thats the one he gets. It also seems like a decent natural progression to move from a single masted ship to a double masted with the extra complexity that brings. The box arrived today and looks quite pretty with a little display window for the fancy bits and a close up of the fancy bits A lot of these seem to look a bit plasticy so I'm considering ditching them and replacing with some wooden ones as they seem to look quite a bit nicer. I'm also not keen on the little metal boats so I reckon I'm going to try scratch building some (Dunno how easy that will be to do such small ones so that might change) That will be a first for me so will be interesting for sure. The main parts Seem to all be in decent shape and none of the warping that i've heard from some accounts on here. A little worried about the gap in the dark brown one hoping its intentional and not a missing piece. The threads and the sails. This will be my first time using sails, and still not 100% sure I want to use them as I like the sail-less look, but I guess that will be up to my nephew. Finally the wood, looks really nice, no bits chipped off or flaking, the thin veneer for the 2nd planking looks really nice and bendy so should go on really easily. The instructions at first glance look to be very pretty but also seem to have lots of random pictures of someone gently caressing the model with a dry brush and not so much info on how to actually go about building it I'm also going to try something a bit different and live stream some of my building efforts. If anyone wants to have a look, offer advice, or mock what i'm doing i can found at http://www.twitch.tv/sirrod (I know a lot of places have rules against self promoting streams and apologies if that is the case here). I do stream other stuff there too so if i'm not building you might catch something weird. Overall I'm looking forward to building this one, the step up in difficulty should be fun especially if I have to wrestle with the instructions to make progress -Paul

The shipyard is open. The kit arrived today. In my new member post I suggested that Canada Post might be slow. They were fine, USPS took 13 days from L.A. to the border. There was some damage in shipping. The false keel was crunched at the stern. Pictures and fix below and the parts box let all the little eyelets and rings circulate through the box and the shrink wrap. Just about every length of brass bar was bent or crimped. I am ready to go and I'm sure I'll have lots of questions. Broden

Hi all again, i'll try to put some photos about my current Project, step by step. I think it's not difficult model but they have a lot of job (and time, and fun,...). They Will be painted at black/white traditional pattern like the original boat, this is a challenge for me because i have no experience painting Wood. First, the deck finished with matte varnish not colored. I'm giving a small curvature to the stern mirror (i think this word is not correct...) Second, i'm testing chalk paint brown color (chocolate) for inside, i'll try to put first layer brown and a second layer black, degraded with the sandpaper. Third, my workplace 😄 Please if you have more ideas about painting, i'll make some test with spare wood. I know that i want but i'm not sure about the way 😅 regards and keep safe,

After spending the last couple of months gathering tools, and more importantly, information, I feel comfortable enough to start a build log. HMS Terror is my first try at wooden model ship building, though I have had plenty of experience working with plastic kits, as well as working with wood on a somewhat larger scale. Next to build logs on this site and elsewhere, in a variety of languages, I studied Occre's tutorial videos and finally, when the ship arrived as an early Christmas present, the plans. Honestly speaking, the plans took some figuring out , as I'm used to Tamiya kits plans which are detailed to the extreme. On the other hand, the way these plans are made up really presses hime the idea that "I'm going to build this!" In a later stage I will need somme assistance on the rigging schemes provided, but we're a long way away from that. hundreds of questions, but one which needs to be addressed before I even take out the bulkheads: when opening the box, I found all parts present, packed neatly, and of good quality (learning what to look for in other logs). However, the false deck and keel have a small warp: Not sure the picture does it justice, but you can see the edge of both sticking out. In all fairness, the warp is smaller than the with of the plywood, and very easily straightened. So my question: does this need to be corrected before I assemble the hull? I read in Mastini's book that the hull parts are critical and must be in perfect condition, but this seems so small? Also, when correction is needed, I assume putting both parts in warm water to soak and then squeezing them between two straight (and heavy) objects will correct them, but how long does the wood need to stay in the water? And how long before the weights can be removed? For reference, the false keel is 3mm, the false deck 2mm. Warp on both is about the size of the plywood itself, 3mm and 2mm respectively. Thnx in advance for your guidance!

Hello from Canada. Quick bio, I am retired, have been woodturning for about 35 years as a hobby. I have built lots of kit models mostly planes and HO rail items. The only ship was the USS Constitution, which languished at the rigging stage about 30 years ago. The Covid shut down led to a lot of YouTube videos mostly of folks building real sail boats “ Acorn to Arrabella” and “Restoring the Tally Ho” to mention two and some kit models ship videos. Then I stumbled on the kit for HMS Terror. Now if you are Canadian with ancestors who were Royal Navy and you loved the C.S Forester books you will understand the interest in a storied ship such as HMS Terror. What other ship of this age is sitting about 80 feet down in freezing water with all her hull and artifacts intact. So the kit has been purchased and it is right now winging its way through the U.S. Postal system to be handed over to the somewhat delay prone Canada Post. Hopefully arriving in Montreal in the next week or two. I will start a build log and begin asking questions. I have a bunch already and I am hoping to learn a lot of details about building this model from the other builders on this site. Thank you, Broden.

So I was a little bit scared to start a build log in the face of all the amazing work on the forum. But if you don't try, you don't learn. And after all no-one might read it and it'll just be a personal log for me to document my wins and losses. So here goes..... HMS Terror. Pretty early stages at the moment. I have the bulkhead and deck assembled and the seemingly endless deck planking done. The transom is attached and I have the bulwarks clamped and bending as we speak. I've given the deck a wash of tobacco brown stain that I have for one of my other activities just to give it a less brand new look. Already worrying about the planking......

Hi everyone, I'm building the OCCRE HMS Terror model. This is my first ship model, and I described the reasons for wanting to build her in my "new member" introduction. I'm actually a fair ways along with this model, but have reached the point where I have questions about details and Royal Navy standard practice from that era, in an attempt to make my model as accurate as I can. Also I see other people are building this model, and I hope to trade notes with them as I go along. I guess I'll make a series of posts to start off, to show the various stages I went through to get the model to the point she's currently at. I am trying to make some improvements to the basic kit: to this end I have done a bit of research and also received a bit of help from a friend who is very knowledgeable about ships, the Franklin ships in particular, and is very generous with his advice. My model will incorporate some of the things I've learned from photographs of the real ship as she lies today, the kit itself, and also the advice of my friend. Also I have read and re-read the excellent blog by a member of this forum on the subject of HMS Terror, which I will study closely and try to make modifications to the kit to try and emulate.

Hello all. I’ve been looking at kits again after completing my little Hannah (well,nearly, I’m still waiting for resin to finish water and need to clean the bottle). I really like old ships, with sails and rigging etc. Since I’ve only built Hannah (and it took me nearly 5 years) it’s fair to say I’m very new to the hobby. I do have some experience with other models - wooden aircraft and plastic minis - so I thought I might as well jump into deeper waters when it comes to my first proper build. I have been reading various build logs here for last few days and couldn’t make my mind up as to which long boat I should choose. I really liked MS 18th century longboat, but struggled to find one available in UK - or maybe just wasn’t looking hard enough. Another contender was AL’s Jolly Boat and Bounty’s captain’s boat. Somehow I drifted towards bigger builds and I’ve noticed that even beginners were producing amazing models, so after careful consideration I’ve chosen my kit. Order was placed just now, my kit along with aliphatic glue should be here this week. The ship I chose - Occre HMS Terror. Story of this vessel is fascinating, size is interesting, look of it is amazing. I will be staring build on Sunday, I shall edit the title for a proper one when kit arrives. Looking forward to the challenge, but with resources on here I think it won’t be as difficult as I anticipate. Best regards Tom

It was suggested to me when I joined earlier this month that I should start a build log so here goes. This is my first wooden model but I have some prior experience with plastic models. So far I have completed the first layer of planking of the ship which after much sanding and application of wood filler seems to be shaping up nicely. The next stage is the second layer of planking. I have probably made many mistakes already but I am learning as I go.

This is my first ship build other than the odd plastic kit version. I normally build plastic kits, mainly aircraft but over the past 12 months my modelling mojo has deserted me and I’ve only finished two builds. I mentioned the above to @James H and he said he would send me something completely different. How pleased was I when this beauty arrived in the post complete with a keel clamp and plank nipper that James didn’t need anymore. When finish she’s supposed to look like this: so I sat down at my bench and this after got a good start. All being well I should have some more done tomorrow. Please do leave suggestions and tips, I’m new to this 😀

Hello, this is my 1st build. I had only ever made airfix kits in the past (a long time ago) and they always went wrong, with the wings dropping off and the like. I found the Terror kit and thought this would be a good start. I could practise and discover if (1) I could do this, (2) enjoy doing this and get the equipment I need as I am going along. So everything is new to me and I am sure there will be lots of mistakes. But I hope lots of fun. The skeleton went together easily. The instructions are more pictures showing the order to make it with very little actual instruction. Without the YouTube guide I would be totally lost.

I'm starting this log on my HMS Terror build. I didn't find this site until last week, so my build is in process. DRY FITTING THE KEEL: WOW!! Looks great. I've been making some progress on my Terror and doing some reading. I've uncovered an issue with the shroud lines. The way Occre show to install them is totally incorrect. They show the shrouds being run through the gap between the lower masts and the upper masts, then evening them up on both sides of the ship. From what I've seen on line and in Mastini,s book, the shrouds should go around the mast and down the same side. They are then seized at the mast. You work with them in pairs on each side, one pair on the port side and one pair on the starboard side. You need to look at the Masting and Rigging section of the book (Ship Modeling Simplified by Frank Mastini). I got the bumpers bent last night and installed the water channels on the deck, I'll start installing the bumpers today. I've been dry fitting the keel and the bowsprit to the hull. I taped the first section and the curved section to help position the bowsprit and the keel. That looks like I will be able to fit them together just fine, but - I also showed that I have a noticeable gap between the hull and the curved keel. I've decided to fill the back side of the curve with left over strips of Sapelli from the second planking layer, then shape it to fit. I took a picture of it now I have to figure out how to get the picture from my cell phone to mt laptop, my phone has updated since the last time I did that and of course how you do that has changed. It is bad when the device is smarter than the user and I'm a 30+ IT professional. I'm going to have to stop now, The Blue Angels are doing a Fly Over here in Houston at 12:30 today. Here is the picture of the gap

Hi all Intreduced myself in newcomers area and got a suggestion to start a build log. This is basicly my first real wooden ship build. Started Bounty Constructo 10 years ango and almost finished the hull planking but qualitybwas terrible. I chose HMS Terror based on reviews and size of the ship. I think it will give me the basics of building and also test my nerve. At the moment I have finished 1st planking and didnsomeminitial rough test sanding. Im happy with the outcome taken into account its my first build. Im not uet sure if i paint the model or not. It depends how the 2nd planking looks and feels. I will probably need help with rigging. Ordered a lot of books about that so hopefully will manage it. In my mind i have accepted that it will not lookmthe best but it will feels one of the beat builds by being first and beautiful. Question: 1)What glue you use for second planking, would PU based wood glue be ok? 2) Should I apply wood filler before first rough sanding or after? Here is progress so far:

1:65 HMS Terror OcCre Catalogue # 12004 Available from OcCre for 99,95€ HMS Terror was a Vesuvius-class bomb ship built over two years at the Davy shipyard in Topsham, Devon, for the Royal Navy. Her deck was 31 m (102 ft) long, and the ship measured 325 tons burthen. The vessel was armed with two heavy mortars and ten cannons and was launched in June 1813.Terror was a specialized warship and a newly developed bomb vessel constructed for the Royal Navy in 1813. She participated in several battles of the War of 1812, including the Battle of Baltimore with the bombardment of Fort McHenry. (It was at this battle where the "Star-Spangled Banner" was written by Francis Scott Key, which later became the American national anthem.) She was converted into a polar exploration ship two decades later, and participated in George Back's Arctic expedition of 1836–1837, the Ross expedition of 1839 to 1843, and Sir John Franklin's ill-fated attempt to force the Northwest Passage in 1845, during which she was lost with all hands along with HMS Erebus. For the conversion for polar exploration work in the mid-1830s, Terror was refitted. Her design as a bomb ship meant she had an unusually strong framework to resist the recoil of her heavy mortars; thus, she could withstand the pressure of polar sea ice, as well. On 12 September 2016, the Arctic Research Foundation announced that the wreck of Terror had been found in Nunavut's Terror Bay, off the southwest coast of King William Island. The wreck was discovered 92 km (57 mi) south of the location where the ship was reported abandoned, and some 50 km (31 mi) from the wreck of HMS Erebus, discovered in 2014. The wreck was found in excellent condition. A wide exhaust pipe that rose from the outer deck was pivotal in identifying the ship. It was located in the same location where the smokestack from Terror's locomotive engine had been installed. The wreck was nearly 100 km (62 mi) south of where historians thought its final resting place was, calling into question the previously accepted account of the fate of the sailors, that they died while trying to walk out of the Arctic to the nearest Hudson's Bay Company trading post. The kit OcCre’s new HMS Terror kit, simply labelled ‘Terror’ is packed into a relatively small box for the model’s finished size but is fairly weighty. The glossy box has a laser-printed product sheet taped to the lid, containing a full colour shot of the finished model, plus a couple of smaller detail shots of the deck area. The box is designed with a cutaway panel which shows off the clear plastic fittings tray and its contents. Lifting off the lid reveals that tray fully and a set of A3 sheets which contain a history of the vessel, parts list, written instructions and also some masting drawings. Underneath this is a split-partition box which needs to have its tape lock cut through before you can open up things to properly reveal the contents. This box is choc-stuffed with materials, and I know that it will be difficult to fit everything back in once it’s removed. However, let’s take a look OcCre’s kit spec, and then at the contents more closely. SCALE: 1:65 HEIGHT: 504 mm WIDTH: 195 mm LENGTH: 676 mm DIFFICULTY: Low DOUBLE PLANK: Yes My eyes are immediately drawn to the large bundle of timber for the first planking layer. Here we have 72 strips of Ramin, which are 5mm x 2mm x 400mm. All strip timber is 400mm long. This is certainly some thick first layer planking and thicker than I’ve been used to. Timber quality here is excellent with good, clean edges and no splintered wood or mis-cutting. Our second bundle of timber has material for the deck (again in Ramin, but 0.6mm thick), and some darker timber for the hull second planking. The latter timber is Sapele and is again 0.6mm x 5mm. The latter can tend to split/breakout at the edges, so take care with it. Thankfully, the quality of this is also extremely good as my sample doesn’t show any rough edges. With this model, options are shown for a bare timber/varnished hull, and also a more accurate, painted version. I would lean towards the latter as the second planking colour wouldn’t look right to me. The last bundle of timber has both strip wood and dowel of various diameters. Most strip wood is again in Ramin, but of various section sizes, plus one length of as yet unidentified darker timber. All dowel lengths are supplied as Ramin, and cleanly cut. All wood has good grain and isn’t at all flaky or with rough edges. All bundles are also held together with elastic bands instead of the tape we see in some kits. All other wooden parts are packaged into a sealed clear wrapping, along with a pre-sewn sail pack. Inside the pack, we see the false keel and main deck as items that are ready to use and don’t need removing from any sheets. Like the bulkheads and other main assembly components, these are laser-cut from plywood. A quick check down the length of the false keel shows that everything looks true, and without warp. Where parts need to be removed from their sheet, the small tags are thin enough to be able to just nip through with a craft knife. Also note that no parts have any engraving on them for identification. You should mark all parts manually, in accordance with the included parts plan. A slightly darker plywood of a higher grade is used for smaller components, such as the mast tops and the various support structures for them. Laser-cutting is clean and again, all parts should be easy to remove. Take care when doing so though as this sheet is absolutely packed out with parts. Here we see a walnut-stained piece of ply that contains the parts for the keel and rudder. Note the rudder is cut out to accept the propeller. Remember that Terror was steam as well as sail. Again, I’ll be painting my model, so the stained appearance of this ply won’t matter to me. Our final timber parts for the bulwarks and are made from thin ply. These are cut out to accept cannon etc. and are suitably thin enough to be able to shape to the curvature of the hull. No clean-up is required before installation. Some kits provide sail cloth whereas this provides actual sewn sails! I think you may need to sew a bolt rope to these, but that is it. You’ll also note that the sails are pre-aged, so no need to dunk them in vats of tea etc. A large zip-lock bag contains no less than SEVEN packets of nicely formed brass nails, all of which seems to be well-formed with good sharp tips and properly defined heads. Also inside this bag are 5 spools of natural colour rigging cord of various diameters and 6 more of dark brown, again in varying sizes. Material quality looks excellent and I can’t see a need to purchase extra material. The bow of Terror was plated in iron to help protect it against pack ice. This kit provides what appear to be either thin aluminium or zinc plates which can be formed around that area to represent the large plate sheathing that was utilised. As with many model kits these days, Terror is equipped with a sheet of photo-etch parts. This single, bare-brass fret is equipped with parts for the rear gallery windows and chainplates. Production is as good as any PE I’ve dealt with. You’ll need a razor saw or similar to remove the parts from the fret before use. Some cack-handed handling of my kit during shipping resulted in the clear box being broken in one corner, but thankfully, all the components within were ok, despite some being unintentionally redistributed within the main box! This box is very similar to how Artesania pack their components, and I quite like the format. Each compartment has numerous fixtures and fittings, from stock materials such as brass rod and stars/grating components, to cast items such as cannon, ship’s boats, anchors, drive propeller, ship’s wheels, wooden parts such as the deadeyes, brass pintles and chain, and flags etc. Essentially, this is where all the minor and major detail components are stored. Two sets of paper instructions are enclosed in this kit, printed on A3 paper and folded/stapled. The black and white sheets contain the vessel history, parts inventory, deck layout for parts placement, and some nice, clear masting drawings. The colour sheets show construction of Terror as a photographic experience, with simple and clear annotation. Illustrations also exist for masting and rigging, plus the parts map that you’ll need for marking the various laser-cut components. Conclusion For many years I’ve wanted to get my hands on an OcCre model kit to see just what they offer in terms of design, materials and quality. This new kit is quite apt as I’ve seen the fictional TV series mentioned online, plus I decided to visit Topsham on holiday next week, where Terror was built. I’m certainly not disappointed at all at this beautiful little offering from OcCre, and I can’t wait to dig into it in a few weeks, once I have some commitments. Materials quality is extremely nice, and the whole design is very pleasing and looks like it will be a joy to build. My sincere thanks to OcCre for sending out this kit for review/build on MSW. To purchase directly, click the link at the top of this article.

Hello, this is my first wooden ship build (and build log too). I came to this hobby with some paper modeling experience (mostly architecture) I hope Kit from OcCre: HMS Terror be a good start. Finished deck planking. I'm not complete sure about color of bulwark. Please do leave suggestions and tips, I’m new to this.

HMS Terror and HMS Erebus, Ross Expedition, 1839-1843. This is my latest installment of my program of scratch building all of the famous Antarctic exploration ships in small scale. The first I built was S/Y Endurance and the second being James Caird. HMS Terror and HMS Erebus were made famous on the Franklin Expedition, but a few years before that mess they were charting Antarctica with James Ross. The ships are made with basswood hulls, basswood gunwales, planked wood decks (yes, planked), with aluminum, brass, and stainless steel masts, and various other scratch built parts. I wanted to keep each ship to about 1 inch, so I chose 1/950 scale.

This will be my 1st time building a OcCer kit. I am well pleased with the kit and the detail as provided by OcCer. As with any build one is striving to learn knew skills and methods of construction. It has been quite awhile since I built a POF kit. But I have retired and have plenty of time on my hands to build. I have several large kits stored away but, I did not want to jump back in with a build taking years to complete. I also am a sucker for anything with History. I had already watched the AMC mini-series and this past Spring stumbled across Mattew Betts Blog on the HMS Terror. Then I saw the available kit and just had to have a go. So this shall my attempt at building what was considered at the time, one of two, most advanced ships in the World. You see, she was the fore runner to what we now call a Ice Breaker. In 1845, Commanded by Sir John A. Franklin and accompanied by the HMS Erebus, these ships embarked on the quest to navigate the Northwest Passage. They were the 1st ships fitted out with Steam Engines. Literally Steam Locomotives adopted as a engine to power the vessel during waning winds. The vessels were stocked with supplies for a 3 year voyage. The HMS Terror was adopted from a Bomb Ketch that fired/shelled Ft McHenry, the inspiration for our National Anthem the Star Spangled Banner. These ships/crews never completed the task, look at it this way. What they were trying to do was tantamount to our sending Man to the Moon. So as you can see, there is a lot of History behind this powerfully built vessel. On the 26th September 2016, 168 years after her disappearance, the HMS Terror was discovered. Nothing about where the missing crewman has been discovered as of yet. I don't know about you, but I love a good mystery. I also recommend you Google and read Mattew Betts Blog. Much to glean and his plans were used to design the OcCre kit. So into the breech we go. Rick

On this day, two hundred years ago, HMS Terror was launched in Topsham, Devon. The Terror was originally built as a bomb vessel and saw noteworthy action during the War of 1812. However, her destiny lay in exploring the ice pack at both ends of the earth, and she was arguably the most successful polar vessel ever constructed by the Royal Navy. HMS Terror during her passage home, 1837 © National Maritime Museum Collections With their exceptionally strong frames, bluff bows, shallow draft, and spacious holds, bomb ships were ideal vessels for conversion to polar exploration. Nearly wrecked several times, the diminutive, but sturdy, Terror withstood more punishment from the natural environment than any Navy vessel of the era. When she was finally abandoned in 1848, after three years locked in grinding pack ice (during some of the worst Arctic winters on record), evidence suggests she was still afloat. Her wreck, and that of her sister ship, HMS Erebus, has never been found. The story surrounding their abandonment remains one of the world’s great historical mysteries. This log will document my project to scratch build an accurate 1:48th scale plank on bulkhead model of HMS Terror, as fitted for her final 1845 voyage. To my knowledge, no complete models, or plans, exist of the Terror as fitted in 1845; this log will document the process of creating both accurate plans and an accurate scale model. As you will see, both require detailed historical research. Below are some images of a (rather crude) paper and card mock-up of the bulkhead arrangement I’ve created as a proof for an early draft of my plans. I expect it will take at least two years to build the model – maybe more. http://buildingterror.blogspot.ca/