HMS Blandford by hamilton - FINISHED - from Corel HMS Greyhound - 1:100

[hamilton]

Hello all:

 

A quick update to show the beginning of the sweep port framing. I marked the waterline along the edge of each bulkhead. The sweep ports run parallel to the waterline, so I needed to establish that first. I then (stupidly) started installing the lower and upper frames along the waterline - WRONG! I should have measured up from the waterline the total width of the wales and then marked another set of lines there parallel to the waterline marks! Eventually I figured this out, undid about 2 hours worth of work and quickly did it again....made some small progress. Here's how it looked.

 

First, here are a couple of shots of the completed shimming.

 

 

 

Then, here are some of the frames installed wrong....

 

 

Here is a template I made to mark the bulkheads, so I could plot out the positioning of the sweep ports and the ballast ports.

 

 

The sweep ports are 2mm x 2mm and are spaced 12.5mm apart beginning just fwd of gunport 2 and continuing aft - a total of 18 on each side. The ballast port is 5mm wide x 4mm high and is situated below gunport 6 at mid-ships port and starboard. Here are a couple of close-ups of the template to show where the sweep ports and ballast ports are marked.

 

 

 

Now all these pictures feature the poorly positioned frames. Here is a final shot where the frames have been repositioned more correctly.

 

 

They still seem a shade too low, but it is honestly very difficult to try to visualise how things will look once everything is planked up....if they turn out to seem loike a disaster, I will forget about them and just plank over....Anyway, I'll post again when this process is complete. I've now completed all the lower frames on the port side and (as you see) a few of the upper ones. Still the rest of the upper frames and all the tiny little vertical frames to go and then repeat starboard....Bye for now

hamilton

Edited April 19, 2013 by hamilton

[harlequin]

Hi Hamilton.....the ships boats that I tried didn't look right for Greyhound so I stuck with the supplied one, but a mod to make the POF boat slightly narrower in width would do the trick. The two I tried were too wide to look right.

Edited April 19, 2013 by harlequin

[hamilton]

Hi Harlequin:

 

Yes I thought this one might be wide across the beam....It might be possible to bash it to reduce this dimension, but I'm not sure I have it in me to do that....Once the "big" ship is planked up I'll build the ship's boat and have a look see....but all that seems a very long way away....I'll be happy if I can get through the sweep port framing this weekend.

 

How's the rugby season going?

hamilton

[hamilton]

Well I've nearly finished with the sweep port framing. The frames themselves are done, but I need to install a backing for them (painted black) so that I can set the actual sweeps in later - which will be the last thing I do on the model. At 1:100 scale the sweeps will be very thin and fragile so having them sticking out as I tie ratlines and rig braces is probably a bad idea. Anyway, I have to make 36 of them, which will probably drive me crazy! If I was an intelligent person, I might do one or two here and there as I go, starting now, so I can avoid losing my mind later.....

 

Here's a shot of the ballast port on the port side, now fully framed. The only spare stock I could find that was 4mm wide (the height of the port) was some 1mm x 4mm walnut that was meant for the second planking of the Toulonnaise (I replaced that planking and now have a good supply of this material...)

 

 

Here's a couple of shots showing how I made the vertical frames - I cut 1" lengths of 1.5mm x 2mm basswood and inserted it between the horizontal frames at the lines I'd marked. I did this first for the aft side of all the frames. Then I clipped the strips and used the leftover portion to frame the forward sides of the ports....

 

 

 

And here's how it looked after a good sanding - the port side finished. Both sides are finished now.

 

 

Next steps will be, as I mentioned, to install the backing on the ports, fair the tops of the bulkheads for the main deck, install the main deck, and then scratch build the cabin bulkhead and half bulkheads beneath the forecastle...I have been debating whether to do these bulkheads now or wait until after the bulwarks are planked......Whether I install them or not, I will be building them this week....all this framing is driving me nuts, and it'll be nice to actual make something....Anyway, thanks for reading and happy modelling

 

hamilton

 

 

[augie]

Nice looking stuff Hamilton.

 

You need to make 36 of those.  May as well enjoy it as there is plenty of stuff you'll need to make 128 of  

[hamilton]

Ha ha!! you're making me anxious, Augie! If you're talking about the Syren, then it will not be so far in the future I'll be making 120 of something! Anyway - I just took a peek into your Syren build log - it seems I have to check there every day if I'm to keep up - not only with the build, but with the flurry of jokes and banter! There's a whole society in there! I'm almost afraid to post there!

hamilton

[augie]

ME TOO!   :D  

[hamilton]

Alright - another update after some time. To tell the truth, I have had only a little motivation lately to work on the build - perhaps it's the nice weather here, perhaps it's the nature of this kit....who knows. Also my mother-in-law's in town, so there are family commitments that have kept me away from the "bench".

 

Here's what I've done since last post

 

-- added backings to the sweep ports so that I can later fix the faux sweeps in them - my son helped me paint these black

 

 

-- painted the inside of the sweep frames red (I didn't have an appropriate brush so I used a toothpick - my sone helped here, too (at 2mm x 2mm, these were quite finicky and I only remembered to do it after the backing had already beed added on one side...

 

 

-- installed the main deck - though I have to trim the edges, and I kind of wish I had done this while the thing was not fixed on the framework....Hopefully I can make the necessary adjustments during the fairing.

 

 

-- scratch built a cabin bulkhead following Goodwin's drawing in the Blandford book - here are the stages

 

1. I made a template from the Goodwin book and traced the outline onto a 1/16 sheet of basswood. I then cut the basswood out and shaped it to fit between the extensions of bulkhead 12 and so that it was flush against the main and quarterdecks - I decided to fit it flush across the forward edges of the extensions and build the cabin bulkhead across both the piece I made and the extensions.

 

 

 

2. After dry-fitting the quarterdeck, I noticed that there was an issue with the quarterdeck ladder hatch - as you can see.....

 

 

3. The grain on the quarterdeck ply is on an angle, but the hole for the ladder hatch is also off plumb. I shimmed it at the back to compensate for the scratch-built cabin bulkhead, and then also filed it out forward a bit to keep the dimensions and straighten it out - no photo of this - sorry

 

4. I first fit a piece across the top to simulate a deck beam - this marks the top of the pillars, doors and panels. I made the pillars (4 in total) out of 2mm x 2mm walnut, rounding a section through the pillar and leaving a square base and head...

 

 

5. I then used .5mm x 3mm walnut cut in half (to 1.5mm width) to make the door and panel frames and 1mm x 1mm to make the molding at the bottom. You can see I've stained the bulkhead extensions, but being a different wood they're a bit contrasty. A brass nail simulates the knob...I'd run out of blacken-it, so I've left it brass.

 

 

6. I then installed the bulkhead and built up the two outboard panels after installation, since they run across the seam between the piece I made and the bulkhead extensions. I'm fine with the port side one, but you can see that the starboard side one looks very clumsy - I rushed it at a time when I was also not entirely in a modelling head space...I will have to re-do it....

 

 

Anyway, you get the impression.

 

-- the final thing I've done is to plank the aft face of bulkhead 1. I'm not sure how much this will add to the look of the thing, but it seemed to me that the bulkhead would be visible under the forecastle - even with the half-bulkheads I plan on adding. So I thought to be safe I'd plank it - .5mm x 3mm walnut for this.

 

 

So now I have a question - I'm planning on painting the inboard bulwarks red. But I had thought to leave the cabin bulkhead & half f'csl bulkheads natural wood....wondering what people's opinion on this might be....I've seen period builds that either leave all natural or paint all red, but I've not seen any that have red bulwarks and natural wood cabin bulkheads....if there are no objections, I might just go ahead......

 

hamilton

[augie]

Looks like a lot of good progress to me!

[hamilton]

Thanks Augie! My mother-in-law's been in town for the last week so not much progress good or bad lately. Back to the bench tonight

hamilton

[augie]

I'll be interested to see what you decide on the bulwark/cabin colors.  My Syren doesn't have any cabins.....just deck and bulwarks! 

[harlequin]

bulkhead1  is only slightly visible on the finished model and is covered too by the belay pin rack, however I did plank mine too as the lighter colour of the bulkhead would still stand out.

[Ferit]

Hi Hamilton,

She will be great with the corrections you made and will make to the kit, congratulations...

[hamilton]

Hi Augie:

 

I think I will leave the cabin natural wood - it will be shadowed by the quarterdeck anyway, so it won't be too "high contrast" except on close viewing. But who knows....maybe I'll change my mind once I start painting the inboard bulwarks and slosh some paint on the cabin.....

hamilton

[hamilton]

Hi Kutlu:

 

Thanks for the kind words! I certainly hope my changes are "improvements" - right now I'm trying to wrap my mind around the bulwarks and gunports. Math is not my strong suit, which may be an argument against me pursuing this hobby at all! Anyway, I've popped in on your Berlin log - it looks great! I had thought of building it, but when I saw it was single planked I started to balk. Then I saw that there were only 4 sheets of plans and I started to wonder whether that kit has the same problems as the Greyhound...anyway, your build is coming along very nicely. 

hamilton

[hamilton]

Hi Harlequin:

 

I'm just about to head over to your Bellona log! Very exciting! Yes - I figured it would probably not be too visible, but thought I'd cover my bases while I still could, just in case. I've now started planking, though I've deviated from the Corel instructions by changing the thickness of the first planking to 1mm and laying the first plank so its top rather than its bottom is flush against the surface of the false deck. I'm also using 3mm planks all the way up the bulwarks. I'll make a more extensive post later to explain the process....I'm still not entirely sure how misguided it is....

hamilton

[hamilton]

Hello there:

 

I've now finished the framework of the Greyhound, and begun the planking (well....I've laid 2 planks of the first planking....). The completion of the framework involved a few pretty straightforward steps - though as I've come to expect from this kit, these were not without their trials.

 

1. Fitting the quarterdeck - this photo shows how the edges of the quarterdeck were set back from the run of planks, and the following photos show how I fixed the problem.

 

 

 

 

2. Fitting the forecastle - a very straightforward operation - no specific photos here

 

3. Stern framing - the plans called for 3mm x 3mm strips on the outside of the stern and 4 more strips of 2mm x 2mm to complete the stern framing. I didn't deviate from this, but had to alter the slots in the main and quartedeck to square things and make the strips fit. I used the metal transom as a guide so I could be assured that everything would fit - I hadn't taken the part out of the bag before, and I was upset (though not surprised) to see that it is totally asymmetrical - it looks like it melted on one side.....yuck!! Now I'm wondering about building a scratch transom....but my carving skills are non-existent....I might give it a go and see what happens....check out the photo - probably passable (with some weathering) but not really up to snuff....

 

 

 

 

4. the counter supports - these came as laser cut pieces, but given the modifications I had to make earlier in the deck to make it fit, I had to reshape these, as well. I was pleasantly surprised to find that even once I had cut them down considerably they still form an admirable space for the counter planking with ample room too along bulkhead 13 for the stern planking. Drilling the rudder hole might be a completely different matter however - only the planking will tell.

 

 

5. Planking - I'm starting with the bulwarks, so have not yet done a full hull analysis. I did take a bit of time to mark out bands on the bulkhead edges. I decided on 5 bands, each of which is 15mm at the dead flat - 3 planks of 5mm.

 

 

6. Initial planking preparations - The planking arrangement in the plans totals 4.5mm thick (1.5mm first planking, 1mm vertical planking around the metal gunports, 1mm inboard planking, 1mm second planking outboard). This seemed crazy to me, since the caprail is only 4mm wide. Good thing I checked ahead! So I've decided on a few modifications

 

-- I'm not using the metal gunports, since I'm making open bulwarks - this rendered the 1mm vertical planking superfluous.

-- I'm reducing the thickness of the first planking to 1mm

 

These changes will bring the full bulwark thickness to 3mm, which will make much more sense.

 

Since I'm following the Goodwin book, I needed to establish the height of the bulwarks, the size of the gunports (7mm x 7mm, and the height above deck of the gunport sills. This has been a bit of a tricky business. But here's how I did it:

 

-- I built one of the canons and a small section of false deck planking to set it on.

-- I positioned the canon on deck and measured from roughly the centre of the muzzle to the top of the sub deck - this worked out to about 7mm

-- I took a measurement from the Goodwin book (which is admittedly at a slightly larger scale - 1:96 - than the model - 1:100) of the bulwarks (there is no final strake, but rather the caprail rests on the frame ends and defines the top of the gunports. The total measurement was 12mm

-- I figured that I would use 3mm planks for the bulwarks plus strips of 1mm wood for the interior gunport frames. This would raise the gunport opening 4mm from the subdeck and allow me to fill in the 12mm space with 4 rows of planks

 

I probably need to double check this, which I'll do tonight, even though I've already laid the first bulwark strake.

 

6. laying the first plank - The plans call for the first plank (3mm x 1mm) to be laid with its bottom edge flush with the main subdeck. I didn't like this idea, so I started by laying the first plank (1mm x 5mm) with its top edge flush with the top of the sub deck. This gave me the baseline for the bulwarks, and will also define the area below that I need to line off.

 

All that writing, then - and only 2 little photos....here they are....

 

 

 

I'm going to try to move slowly with the planking - I'm a little worried about how I'm going to do the area around the sweep ports...and I'm really going to need to double-check the bulwarks....in any case, what else to do but trundle on? Bye for now

hamilton

[augie]

Wow--- that's a lot of progress.....and thinking.....for one day.

 

I really feel badly about that transom piece.  Is there any way to contact the manufacturer for a new one?

 

You made a good decision on making up that cannon and mock deck for establishing the muzzle height and other dimensions.  Good work!

[aliluke]

Hi Hamilton

It is almost impossible to keep up with your building pace....but I'll try better in future. Nice work here and very considered.

 

I thought about buying that book on the Blandford on ebay but the shipping cost exceeded the buy now price - a position I cannot accept.

 

I'll keep up with your "Blandford" from now on but more as a watcher than adviser. You're way ahead of me for the latter qualification!

 

Great stuff.

 

Cheers

Alistair

[hamilton]

Hi Augie:

 

Thanks! This was a trick I learned from following Bob Hunt's Armed Virginia Sloop practicum - one of those little things that I never would have thought of doing myself, but that makes perfect sense once someone else tells you to do it. 

 

As for the transom - I don't know why you would feel bad! It's Corel's shoddy work.....if I may say, I've encountered some pretty bad problems in the past with kits - the Mamoli Gretel, AL San Francisco and Model Shipways Armed Virginia Sloop were plagued by really inaccurate laser cutting and bad wood strips. I've had to shim the outside edges of the bulkheads of every model ship I've built since the Armed Virginia Sloop, so having to do that with this was not unexpected (though I didn't expect how much I would have to!)

 

The problems with this kit are generally not the quality of the materials (with the exception of the transom), but rather the overall poverty of the instructions and plans - which to my mind are a really critical aspect of any kit. Corel uses very high quality wood and their metal parts are, I think anyway, better than other manufacturers (at least the ones I've tried - there are many I haven't!)....

 

I will still build Corel kits after this - I have their Bellona already and am contemplating a Victory, though space considerations at present make that pretty unrealistic....And I would continue to recommend them - though maybe not this particular one unless you're really ready for some mind-bending remediation.

 

Thanks as always, Augie, for visiting!

hamilton

[hamilton]

Hello there Alistair!!

 

Good to hear from you again. I hope all is well down in NZ and you're settling in for the winter - it's a balmy 24 degrees up here with not a cloud in the sky - a very rare thing for the pacific northwest as you know...

 

I guess I'm quick but I'm trying to take more breaks and take more time to think about things - the modifications necessary on this kit make a quick pace next to impossible....anyway, I'm still waiting for your Pegasus! I know you probably have "other things" to do - don't we all! - but seriously....your skills are far too elevated to keep from the world and horde all to yourself!! On with it now....

hamilton

[Blue Ensign]

Good progress Hamilton, I like the approach you are taking.

 

One thing about that transom piece, they seem to have taken the design across the top directly from that on HMS Victory. Personally I wouldn't use it even if it was in good order.

 

Making a replacement gives you more scope to tweak the design, and you have a good while yet to think about your approach to  decoration.

 

Cheers,

 

B.E.

[augie]

BE has some eye for detail.  Now about your carving skills.............

[harlequin]

The transom on my Greyhound isn't good but I have not got the inclination to start carving. Hands shake too much anyway.....hic, hic 

[hamilton]

Hi B.E.:

 

Good eye! I never would have caught that myself....I would definitely prefer to scratch-build the transom, but I really don't know how....Augie has brought up the carving skills - in my case, non-existent at any scale. Goodwin's book contains illustrations of several options and I may try for a simplified version of the simplest one....

 

Thanks for visiting!

hamilton

[hamilton]

Harlequin - I feel the same way, though for different reasons - I have no idea what I'm doing!

hamilton

[realworkingsailor]

Your build looks to nice to stick with that lump of metal you were supplied with. I'd go for it anyway, at least you could make a nicer transom piece, come back to the carvings later.

 

Andy

[hamilton]

Thanks for the confidence booster, Andy. It may be in the works....have to strategise a bit first around just building the facia and then consider decorations...I might try to look around for some ready-made things I could finish appropriately and use....anyway thanks for stopping by Andy - I've been a fly on the wall (no pun intended) on your Fly build - it's a real inspiration!

hamilton

[runner63]

Beautiful work sir

 

runner63

[hamilton]

Thanks Runner! Much appreciated!

hamilton