Greenwich Hospital barge of 1832 by druxey - FINISHED - 1:48 scale

[Mirabell61]

Druxey,

 

a brilliant made model  :)

 

Nils 

[allanyed]

With all of your work that I have had the good fortune to see up close and personal over the years, this one blows me away as much as the "big" builds. 

 

Painting a burl finish??  Please tell me you did not also make that US 25 cent piece you show in the photos :)

 

Allan

[druxey]

Thank you, Hakån. I now intend to use a toned rather than pure black. The latter would look too intense at this scale.

 

This morning I performed surgery successfully on the planking and frames in the coach section. The end patterns for the coach have also been cut and fitted. Elastic bands hold the model to the pedestals temporarily.

 

There was some hesitation on my part as to the completeness of the draught. The side windows showed no indication of panes. Were they open spaces? In the 1830's modern sheet glass techniques had not yet been invented. Only spun glass was available for glazing, limiting pane size. The height of these openings was 19". Most panes during this time period were only about 15" high at most. I finally found a reference to spun glass panes that said the maximum dimension of these was about 23". Therefore I have the confidence to install single, large panes along the sides of the coach. Of course, these would have been expensive, showing off the Commissioners' importance and rank.

[Mark P]

A beautifully constructed model,  Druxey.  You certainly set a high standard to aim for,  which is only for the good.

 

Incidentally,  I should be at the NMM on 7th April.  I will take some pictures of the underside area of the rowing benches of Prince Frederick's barge,  and try to show the balusters supporting them.  There may be some additional details there that will be of interest.

 

Incidentally,  the cabin on this barge,  which is much earlier,  has large panes of glazing.  I believe that it was made by blowing a large cylinder,  and then cutting it along its length and flattening it out.  I know this was a technique used,  but I am not sure of if it was still current in the period being discussed.

 

All the best,  and keep the exemplars coming please!

 

Mark P

[Jim Lad]

Absolutely delightful, Druxey.

 

John

[druxey]

Thanks again, everyone.

 

Mark: cylinder glass was introduced in the early 20th century. It was not available in the 1830's. I have photographic details of the rowing benches of Prince Frederick's barge already, thank you. The balusters are of a rather extreme shape! However, I believe the NMM hold other ceremonial barges somewhere; perhaps at Chatham?

[RGL]

Just a piece of art, magnificent

[the learner]

Fantastic!

Edited March 27, 2016 by the learner

[Decoyman]

Hi Druxey. Superb model, which I have been following avidly.

 

I think cylinder glass in some form was available much earlier than the early 20th century. Many Georgian and Victorian houses over here have quite large panes of glass in them. I look after this building: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claremont_(country_house),where the original glass panes are substantial. I'd be happy to measure some for you, if it would help. This website: http://www.sashwindowslondon.org.uk/info/history-of-glass-manufacture.html has a potted history of glass referencing cylinder glass, polished plate glass, etc as available at the time of the Greenwich barge.

 

Best wishes

 

Rob

[druxey]

Rob: thank you. If you have more info on glass size availability in the 1830's, I'd appreciate this. I hadn't considered the possibility of ground, polished glass. Thanks for your comments and the links.

[Decoyman]

Nothing more at the moment, I'm afraid - it's a long time since I sat through a seminar on historic glass! Sorry.

 

Rob

[druxey]

For the coachwork there are numerous repetitive ornamental mouldings. The first of these to produce is a five-reeded column. This is ⅛" wide, so it was tricky to work. I used a micro-milling cutter (Proxxon) on my mill using an x-y table to incrementally cut reeds into the stock. Also required were columnar capitals. Again, two different micro-milling cutters were used. One was a flat-bottomed cutter, the other a very small ball cutter. These produced a fair imitation of the design. 

 

The millwork is gradually being built up on the pattern piece. The pattern will be integrated into the coach, as the assembly will be painted when completed. The outer corners still need to be bevelled. Each column consists of three pieces. The reeds are stopped; that is to say, they do not extend the whole length of the column. Plain pieces of stock are grafted on the top and bottom to produce the effect of stopped reeding. In addition, there are small fielded panels in the column bases. These were cut in using a scalpel and a micro chisel. The panels in the doors and on either side were added using stock a scale ⅜" thick. 

[Erebus and Terror]

Those mouldings look excellent, Druxey! 

[Phill Elston]

So you're not going to bother putting much detail in then ;-) ??

 

I just sit and gawp as this build progresses. Awesome!

Edited March 28, 2016 by Phill Elston

[Jim Lad]

More beautiful work, Druxey.

 

John

[druxey]

Much detail, Phil? Nah, I don't think so. Thanks for the compliments, Jim and E&T. 

[michael mott]

Hi Druxey, beautiful work, your fluting inspired me to jury rig up a fluting tool based on one I used in an architectural model in 1977 I have linked to it in jigs and tips

 

Michael

Edited March 28, 2016 by michael mott

[shipmodel]

Hi Druxey - 

 

The last several posts have been nothing less than stunning - and you know that I don't give out compliments like that lightly.  As usual you remind me why I love the artistic puzzle that is model shipcraft, and how how high you and a few others set the bar.  Many thanks for the inspiration.

 

If I can put in one thought, it is that the openings might not have been glazed at all, but had roll down screens of thin oiled fabric, much like the stagecoaches of the same period.  They would have been used only in inclement weather.  Light curtains for privacy also could be hung.   My sources here are closer to Forrester and O'Brian than to actual historic research, so I could be wildly off base.

 

Be well

 

Dan

[Canute]

Druxey, your millwork looks as good as the beautiful work done by Norm Abram, of This Old House and New Yankee Workshop, in 1 to 1 scale.

[druxey]

Thank you, gentlemen, for your kind remarks.

 

Dan: I'm basing my ideas on the Prince Frederick's barge in the NMM. This has glazed sash lights and ornamental drapes in the corners of the coach.

[druxey]

Well, no photos this time. I've been struggling with gilded finish for the coach. I first tried Humbrol gold paint. The look was too coppery red, 'grainy' and glossy. I stripped this off and sprayed using a yellower gold lacquer. Still far too shiny and grainy - it does not look right at this scale. I've just stripped this off using acetone (ugh!) in a well ventilated garage. I will experiment further. Gold leaf was one possibility, but it will reflect and magnify any tiny surface defect or dust mote. So... back to the workbench.

[cog]

Druxey,

 

 

Gold leaf was one possibility, but it will reflect and magnify any tiny surface defect or dust mote

 Couldn't you use the goldleaf and give it a flat finish with an airbrush ...

 

Cheers

[Landrotten Highlander]

I am sure I read somewhere here on MSW about someone using some type of artists 'wipe-on' gold on a figure to great effect.

Might have been Janos on one of his figureheads?  need to look through the many build logs I follow to find it again

 

 

Found it again

 

This is a link to the blog:

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/501-carved-figure-heads-and-decorations/page-12

 

The guilding part starts at post 222, and the final solution is given on post 254 on page 13.

Edited March 30, 2016 by Landrotten Highlander

[mitbok]

How about this stuff - 

AMACO Rub 'n Buff Wax Metallic Finish, Gold Leaf

 

http://adrianameiss.blogspot.com/2012/03/improving-frames.html

[Mahuna]

I agree on the Rub n' Buff - just a little at a time and buff it in well.  I've used this product on models and on outdoor lamps that had become very weathered - made them look brand new, but doesn't give a harsh glare.

[mtaylor]

The only gold leaf product I ever used (other then the real things) was a "gold leaf" paint I got from Micheal's.   I was doing some lettering on a car and it worked a treat.  It might be a little too thick for you boat though and I'm not sure how it would look thinned out.  The varigated is lovely paint.

[AON]

  "I've just stripped this off using acetone (ugh!) in a well ventilated garage"

 

Thank goodness it was a beautiful day today so your garage was not to darned cold with the door open.

Hope you got out to enjoy some of that sun!

Edited March 30, 2016 by AON

[jbshan]

From the link provided by Mr. Highlander, druxey wrote:

 

I wasted more leaf than that when I was figuring out how to gild, Janos! Did you also read up on rabbitskin glue for water gilding?

 

Is that the method used on paper by calligraphers?  It seemed simpler to me (I saw a demonstration at a calligraphers' exhibition one time) than the red size method, was nicely gold, but not too brilliant.

[druxey]

Thanks for all these ideas, everyone. I'll try them out. I seem to recall using Buff 'n' Rub years ago on some picture frames. The low sheen it produced may be exactly what I'm after.

[shipmodel]

Druxey - 

 

That explains it.  They will look really good with glass.  In the scale that you are working, will a microscope slide cover be large enough?

 

As for PFB, I did not remember the windows from when I saw Lloyd McCaffery's version, but then I was focused on the figure that Lloyd carved of himself seated on a thwart and turning a splice into a line.  That man sure can carve wood.

 

Be well

 

Dan