HMS Leopard by toms10 - FINISHED - 1:85 scale POF/POB

[toms10]

Hello all,

I have not posted in a while but I have been picking away at odds and ends.  I finish sanded the outer planking above the wales, moved a gunport that was in the wrong location... but we won't talk about that much.  I mistook a centerline of the port for the edge and it ended up a 1/2 port too much aft.  It was the gun port just forward of where the stairs on the outside hull would be.  On the picture above (post #95) it was the 6th one from the bow on the port side.  It needed to be moved forward.  That is now behind me and only the people who read this post will know.   All the port linings are finished and now I am dry fitting the deck beams for the upper gun deck.  Things are going a bit slower now that the weather is pretty nice and other hobbies are kicking in.  Just wondering, is spring yard clean up considered a hobby???  I have been waiting for the "yard fairies" to show up but it doesn't look promising.

 

I also need to start figuring out how I am going to get my Constellation to the Northeast Ship Modelers Show in New London, CT at the end of the month.

Start building and dry fitting the upper deck beams.

 

Tom

[Bluto 1790]

Hi Tom,

 

Good progress there.  I know what you mean 'picking away at odds and ends' and then not seeing too much for the efforts put in.

 

As for spring yard cleaning - - - I'm not sure, but maybe it's a hobby if you enjoy it! . . . but I DO have good news for you ~~~

 

~~~  your "yard fairies" are due to turn up on the same day as my "rigging fairies" !

[toms10]

Hi all,

Managed to pick away at a few things while being preoccupied with life's events.  Attended the Northeast Model Ship Builder's Conference this past Saturday in New London, CT.  Definitely an enjoyable day looking at all the displayed talent and meeting many of you from MSW.  Here a a couple of pics of the limited progress but progress none the less.

Lower deck capstans and cannon ball holders and some railings around the hatchways.  Don't want any sailors going down the hatch unexpectedly!!

Also started planking below the wales just for a change from working on the decks.  I actually enjoy planking... do I need to seek professional help???

 

Tom

[Bluto 1790]

Hi Tom,

Progress IS progress!

 

I see your signature includes the maxim:- "Attitude is the difference between ordeal and adventure." Perhaps 'attitude towards planking is the difference between professional help and no need for professional help!'

 

 

 

[toms10]

Haven't posted in a while because progress is pretty slow with hull planking right now.  The "to do" list for outdoor work is pretty long right now.  I did manage to get the garboard strakes on and a bit more planking but I am going to take a step back and finally decide if I am going to put some LEDs at the ends of the lower decks to get some more light inside to better see the inside detail.  I have been going back and forth with this idea in my head for quite a while and I have gotten to the point where I need to make a decision.  Once the hull is fully planked it will be too late.  I am thinking I probably will put them in because I am still thinking about it after all this time.  I just need to work out the details of where and how to get the wires to snake through the keel and come out of the display board unseen.  A quick check on costs tells me I can do this for less than $50.  Seems worth it to me.

Gee, this is kind of like work.  Add more features, keep costs down...  The only difference is at work the deadline doesn't get extended.  The word, "deadline" is not in the hobby world dictionary.  A subtle but very important difference!!

[Bluto 1790]

Tom,

 

I think that if  you've got a hankering to fit these lights then (if it was me) I'd go ahead and fit them. If you were to fit them and never use them then you'd have lost nothing but your time and the cost of the materials ~~~ if you don't fit them and later you find you'd really have liked to light up your ship then you'll be kicking yourself. (Go ahead - - - ask me how I know such wisdom !!! )

 

I'm off on a trip this weekend to visit H.M.S. Trincomalee, the oldest English warship still afloat, berthed at Hartlepool, so I'll have a break away from the miniature world of sailing ships and into the real one.

[src]

Tom, if it was up to me I would go for it, as Jim said you've lost nothing but some time and a couple of bucks. You cant go back and do it later. As far as wiring, with a little fore thought you should be able to run them through your mounts. That's what I did on my Enterprise. I used some commercially available brass posts from one of the online stores - dont remember which one. A bit of time with my lath, a pipe tap and a pipe extension and I was good to go.

Details here towards the end of the post if your interested:

Sam

[toms10]

Jim and Sam,

Thanks for the advice.  I am going to follow it because it makes sense to me and I know I will think about it later and wish I had done it.

 

Jim, hope you enjoy your trip, post some pictures!.

 

[Bluto 1790]

Okay Tom,

 

Here's some Trincomalee stuff. The first pic below shows what can be seen when down in the seafront area at Hartlepool >>>

This is all that can be seen of the ship before paying the entrance fee to get to the other side of the buildings where the ship is berthed. The ship sits in it's own dock surrounded by a "U" shaped collection of these buildings which were built to replicate an 18th century dockside. Despite their 'old' appearance I believe they've only been there since around 1994

It wasn't very easy to get meaningful pics of the ship due to it's size and the relatively restricted area in which it is docked but here are a few which I considered interesting. First, a general view from inside one of the buildings >>>

Being a Frigate, it's not one of the biggest of the ships from the days of sail, but I was a little surprised at it's relative large size. It's length is given as 180 ft - 'stern to prow' - and I'm guessing that means from the aft end of the spanker boom to the tip of the flying jib boom. I was also surprised at the headroom in the main gun deck. I'm almost 5 ft 9 ins (1.75M) and I was able to walk around under the deck beams and hardly had to duck, with my hair (or what's left of it) just brushing the beams. In the lower deck the headroom was just a few inches less.

The orlop deck was a different story -- you would have to have been one of the boys to be comfortable walking around there! However, there wasn't a whole lot of orlop deck as it gave way down to the hold and a fair length of it effectively had a double height 'ceiling'. Not being too familiar with the layout of these ships away down in the hold area, I found the arrangement for the sail loft interesting. It was effectively suspended well off the keel and away from the hull sides to keep the sails well away from any source of wet or dampness and the only way in and out of it was by the 'ladder' shown in the following pic >>>

Since it's restoration, the masts are tubular steel and all the ropes are synthetic . . . which makes some sense as they are much more durable than were the original items >>>

I guess that most of these historic ships have their own unique stories, and Trincomalee is no exception. Here's one >>>

On the lower (mess) deck there are several hammocks rigged to show visitors how the sailors slept. Back in 2003 I sailed on H.M B. Endeavour (replica of Capt. Cook's ship) and NO-ONE would have been able to have slept like that! In this pic below the hammocks are almost lying on the tables.The hammocks have to be tightened until they're much more horizontal than shown here, although that doesn't make them very easy to get into. (On the other hand, falling out is relatively easier!) I realise they're depicted like the photo so that visitors get the idea of what the mess area was like >>>

 

[toms10]

Hi Jim,

Nice pictures.  Looks like it was a fun day.  I know what you mean about the low ceilings.  When I was laying out where the decks would be on my model I had to triple check because they were measuring up less than 6 feet.  I thought if that is correct, then the navy was pretty much out of the question if you were 6 ft plus.  Evidently my measurements were right.  As for the hammocks, I guess temperpedic, thermomassage, adjustable position hammocks were only available on the first rate ships!  Thanks for the pictures.

 

On another note, I went ahead and ordered the LED lights.  I bought enough with the thought of not only lighting up the lower deck to see the detail but also the stern galleries and lanterns.  Not sure if all of that will happen but that is the goal at this point.  Problem with lighting up the stern windows is now you will be somewhat able to see inside so just painting all the framing black might not be an option.  I might have to clear some framing out and put in a bit of flooring and a table/chair at each level to make it look like a room.  I will make a rough model of the stern galleries out of cardboard after I wire up a few lights to see how well one can see inside and if it is worth all of the extra detail.  My original thought was that it would look nice with the windows lit up but as with everything else, nothing is as simple as it originally seems.

Tom

[src]

Tom, you could do an opaque glass and simulate candles if you dont want to detail out the cabins. Although detailed cabins are always a plus even if nobody but you ever see it.

Sam

[toms10]

Now that the summer weather is here progress will slow for sure but I have been playing with some LED lights and started putting some in to illuminate some of the visible details of the lower decks. I drilled a lot of holes for the wires to snake through the frames.  The idea will be to have them joined between the frames just above where the rear  display pedestal will be located.  A single set of  wires will come out through the keel and through the center of the pedestal.  I will figure out how to hide these in the case when I start building that in a few years.    Right now just for testing the positioning and intensities the wires are just dangling all over.  Can pretty that up later.

The light on the left of the uppermost deck shown (lower gun deck) is not fixed in place yet so the camera picked up the glare because the bulb are still visible.  I will position it in the aft corner on the starboard side so it won't be visible when looking in.

 

Here is the portside without the cannons coming through the gun ports yet.  Looked kind of neat so I thought I would share the picture.

 

The final plan is to have the stern galleries lit up as well and the 2 stern lights.  It is going to be a lot of work and time... uh, I mean fun... but worth it in the end.

Tom

[src]

Tom that's going to look nice. Have you thought about some flicker circuits??

sam

[Bluto 1790]

It's looking really great, Tom, and I'm looking forward to seeing the stern quarters lit up.

 

HOWEVER ~ I'm afraid that 'summer weather' is no excuse for slower progress !

[toms10]

1 hour ago, src said:

Tom that's going to look nice. Have you thought about some flicker circuits??

sam

Hi Sam,

Honestly, no I haven't.  Just keeping to the basics for the first one.

Tom

[toms10]

47 minutes ago, Bluto 1790 said:

It's looking really great, Tom, and I'm looking forward to seeing the stern quarters lit up.

 

HOWEVER ~ I'm afraid that 'summer weather' is no excuse for slower progress !

Hi Jim,

I am a ways from lighting stern quarters... haven't even started looking into building them.  For now I can only lay in the rough wiring.  If the summer weather remains as it is now I may never get to them!  It is hard to stay inside when it is nice out.  Who knows though, this is New England so it is quite possible that the weather tomorrow will change from 80 and sunny to 40 and rainy for the next few days.  Then I can make some serious progress! 

Tom

[mtaylor]

Nice work on the lights, Tom.  It can be a headache to sort out the wiring.   

 

As for the weather... it's summer... it can be too hot to be outside.  That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.  

[toms10]

15 hours ago, mtaylor said:

Nice work on the lights, Tom.  It can be a headache to sort out the wiring.   

 

As for the weather... it's summer... it can be too hot to be outside.  That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.  

Hi Mark,

Yeah the wiring kind of messed up the order I was going to do things.  Now I need to build and attach the stern windows to make sure the lighting comes through properly before I finish up the outer planking so I can get the wires out the bottom of the keel.  One step forward, two steps back and the beat goes on...

Tom

[mtaylor]

If I ever do lights again, I'll use bus bars of copper wire and pick off my lines to the LED's that way.  It'll save the nightmare of trying to run each LED individually.  Lesson learned here.

[Beef Wellington]

Those lights look great, as does the whole planking, good to catch up on your progress Tom

[toms10]

Some more progress pics on the planking.  Pace is pretty slow but hey, it is summertime and this thing called "working for a living"  keeps getting in the way. 

The electrical wires coming from the bow to midship on the starboard side all bundled and ready to get sealed in with the planking.

Aft wire bundle on starboard side and the connection leads to wire bundle at midship.  The single loop coming out of the keel will go through rear mounting post that will attach the hull to the display board.  The wires will go through the display board and feed out through a channel underneath the board.  The planking looks pretty rough but it should be fine with a little sanding.

Port side planking progress.  Again nothing has been sanded and shaped yet.

Starting to see a dim light at the end of the planking tunnel!!

 

Tom

[russ]

Tom:

Your hull planking looks like it is coming along well. Never mind if the planking is a little rough right now. The main thing is to make sure the planks are lining up and you are getting the run of the planks that you want. I am planking right now and I can tell you that it is best not to do much sanding until you get the entire hull planked.

 

Russ

[toms10]

Thanks Russ.  I agree with you on sanding everything after all the planks are installed.  My planks are .060" thick so that leaves plenty of room for sanding of which there will be a lot of.

Tom

[Bluto 1790]

That planking is looking real good, Tom.

 

I remember that dim light at the end of the planking tunnel . . . I double planked mine so my tunnel was twice the length!

Just a cautionary note about the hull sanding - - - before I commenced my second planking I sanded the first planks and succeeded in rubbing through one small part. It was only a small area and it wasn't a problem as the second planking was coming along to save it . . . but I wouldn't expect you should have any problem like that as your planking is twice the thickness that mine was.

[toms10]

The dim light at the end of the planking tunnel is getting brighter!  Pretty much just have the upper bow section on both sides then let the sanding commence.  There are a couple of rough areas at the tight bends but with the planks being 1/16" thick there is plenty of stock to get everything smoothed over.  All the lighting wires are now covered up.  Part of me does not want to test them to make sure nothing silly happened since they were installed!

Tom

 

[Bluto 1790]

Hi Tom,

 

That looks like a milestone you're approaching! . . . it's great to get that hull planking finished.

Once I got my planking done I started to feel that I could get on with stuff that I enjoyed working on!

 

Unlike my stern quarters which were just a real mess for a long time, I see you've got yours going in the right direction.

[toms10]

Hello everyone,

Planking is now complete... more or less.  I am relatively pleased with it especially being my first POF with single layer planking.  The Swiss pear was nice to work with.  The wales planking with all the interlocking pieces will actually be a second layer and painted black.  I think my next step however, is to locate the next level of gun ports and get those cut out.

I also had to change my fixture for holding the hull now that the planks are in place.

Tom

[toms10]

Hello all,

Some progress was made.  I managed to locate and cut out the upper gun deck cannon ports.  The starboard ones have the liners in them, now for the port side.

Still need to tidy up a few of the edges on some of the outer planks in this area.

Tom

[Beef Wellington]

Looking great Tom, I love that open starboard side to show the interior detail, very effective.

[mtbediz]

Very good work Tom. 

Regards, 

Mustafa