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

[Landlubber Mike]

Great work Tom.  I have the same Winfield book and thought about doing a model on it.  Your log is very inspirational!

[toms10]

Thanks everyone for the comments and likes.  I am thinking that after the port side cannon ports I will work on the stern cabins and then the wales planking but that is a ways off.

Tom

[toms10]

Okay so I lied a little.  Instead of working on the stern cabins and wales planking I decided to finish up the exposed framing.  Now I can start working on the stern.

Looks like I have some saw dust on the camera lens.

 

Tom

[Bluto 1790]

Tom said "Okay so I lied a little." ~ we're all entitled to change our minds, Tom!

 

That planking looks very neat as do the gun port liners.

Now I need you to speed up some so that I can copy your rigging!

[toms10]

6 hours ago, Bluto 1790 said:

Tom said "Okay so I lied a little." ~ we're all entitled to change our minds, Tom!

 

That planking looks very neat as do the gun port liners.

Now I need you to speed up some so that I can copy your rigging!

Jim,

I will pick it up a notch or two... should be there in a year.  You will just have to take a break for a while.  On the other hand, I was kind of planning on using your log as a guide.

Tom

[Bluto 1790]

Tom ~ I was just kidding about speeding up! - - - it's easy enough to mess up even when there's no rush.

I'm sure you can guess how I have acquired such wisdom!

[toms10]

Started working on the stern area.  Built the window frames piece by piece for the back area.  Talk about tedious but I am pleased with how they came out.  I will be painting them white.   Now I need to put in the mouldings around them and start thinking about the spindles.

Tom

[Beef Wellington]

Very nice lights Tom, do you have any photos you could share of the work in progress, would love to learn your technique.

[Bluto 1790]

You've done a great job on these stern lights Tom!

 

I should have waited off a bit and got you to do that stern area in 1:80 and have you mail them to me!

[toms10]

On 10/14/2017 at 2:41 PM, Beef Wellington said:

Very nice lights Tom, do you have any photos you could share of the work in progress, would love to learn your technique.

Hi Jason,

Unfortunately I don't have any in progress pics.  Basically I just used a scrap strip (1 x 4) of basswood that I sanded down to about 0.75mm thick.  I then took a razor blade and sliced off pieces going with the grain of the wood about 1.5 wide.  Pretty much eyeballed that dimension because the width of the window frames facing outward is actually the 0.75 thickness.  This keeps all the frames looking the same thickness.  I fit the vertical frames to the height of the window opening.  I then fit the cross members piece by piece.  It was tedious but not as bad as it sounds.  The pieces had a tight enough fit to hold in place on their own until I applied some glue to the back side of each joint.  Once everything dried I could sand the front faces flush if need be.  The back faces need to be somewhat close but not perfect which is why I only eyeballed the width of each frame.  My plan is to cut a piece of matte finish mylar to fit the entire opening and glue that in from the back.  The only thing I would do different is to make the frames out of a would that is a bit harder so you don't have to worry about the "fuzz" or stringers that basswood produces.  These frames are going to be painted white so that will help to reduce the fuzzy look... I hope.  This post is proof that a picture would have been worth a 1000 words.  Wish I thought of that as I was going along.

Tom

[toms10]

Here is a bit more progress on the stern windows.   I added some mouldings to the lower set to get a an idea of what it will look like.  Still needs to be touched up a bit in the lower right corner and some slivers removed from some of the frames.  At 1:85 scale some of the intricate details will get lost I am sure.

Tom

[toms10]

It has been a while since I posted but I have been making some progress on the stern windows.  Below are some pics.  I am currently trying to make the tiny spindles for the overhang below the top set of rear windows.  I don't know what that is called.  At 1:85 scale they need to be about 2mm in diameter with undercuts down to 1.5.  Not exactly an easy task when you have to make about 75 of them that need to look the same since they will be right next to each other.  Luckily I have access to a lathe and tool room to make tool bits and such.  Problem is keeping the wood from splintering apart at such a small dia.  I have tried various wood and am actually having success using toothpicks.  I plan on painting them either white or gold so the wood color is not really important.  The sculptures will be a gold color once I figure out how to make them.  I will probably use some type of clay, maybe Sculpey since that is more forgiving than wood.  It will be my first attempt at sculpting/carving so I am pretty scared.  So to delay the terror I decided to work on the hook and scarf planking on the wales.  I did a small section next to the cutout and other than needing a bit of paint touch up in the joints I am happy with the way they came out.  I am going to finish the wales now just to keep the "good feeling" going.

Tom

[mtaylor]

Sweet work, Tom.  

[Bluto 1790]

Tom,

 

Those stern lights and quarter galleries look superb! I really wish that I had done mine in a similar colour to yours but instead I went the opposite route . . . and it's too late now to go back and do it differently.

 

As for your wales - - - well, I'm very annoyed at you!  

At a scale of 1:85 you have made super looking hook and butt wales. At my scale (1:80) I had tried to make hook and butt but was having too many failures and they looked horrible, so I 'copped out' and did the easier top and butt wales instead.

I know how tricky these complicated wales are to make so my hat is well and truly off to you!

 

 

[toms10]

hanks to all for the comments and likes.

3 hours ago, Bluto 1790 said:

 

As for your wales - - - well, I'm very annoyed at you!  

At a scale of 1:85 you have made super looking hook and butt wales. At my scale (1:80) I had tried to make hook and butt but was having too many failures and they looked horrible, so I 'copped out' and did the easier top and butt wales instead.

I know how tricky these complicated wales are to make so my hat is well and truly off to you!

 

 

Jim, I would like everyone to think each plank is individually cut and fitted... but then I would have live with the fact that I have mislead my modelling friends.  To make the joints fit nicely I actually did the following on a 1mm thick piece of scrap basswood that was wide enough to accommodate all 4 rows of planking.  These planks are going to be painted so the wood type was not particularly important.

 

1) I traced the outline of each plank from my original scaled drawing on a scrap piece of paper.

2) Cut out the piece of paper along the outer edge of the top and bottom planks and laid it on my model to make sure the contour of the curve on the drawing matched up with my actual hull.

3) I took the paper and put it on the basswood and with a straight pointed probe, poked through the paper at each intersection of every line to leave a small mark on the wood.

4) With a sharp pencil I basically connected the dots to transfer the lines of each plank onto the wood.   Since the basswood is very soft, the pencil made an impression in the wood which served as a bit of a guide for the next step.

5) Now I took a #11 Exacto blade and cut along each line to separate the pieces... much like a puzzle.

6) Lastly, I took a bit of very fine sand paper to barely clean up the edges.  The result is each piece fitting nicely with the adjacent piece.

 

Here is a picture showing what I did.  All the parts have already been cut apart but to help illustrate I put the top 2 rows back together to show the pencil lines I followed. The bottom 2 rows are moved slightly apart to show the individual pieces.  Now my secret is out.  Now I wish I could come up with a way to "cheat" the carvings. 

 

Tom

 

Edited November 18, 2017 by toms10
duplicate picture removed

[Bluto 1790]

Well Tom ~ if you think that is cheating, I want to join your club!

 

What you achieved by that method looks great . . . and I have to challenge your concept of 'cheating'!

I would have been delighted with a result like that!

 

As for the carvings --- I was in the same boat as you. I had never attempted any kind of carving before. What I ended up with was at least acceptable and there is still the opportunity for me to go back to them and try to improve them. I still have to do another couple to get the stern area finished . . . and then the figurehead is still to be made as well as the 2 small crouching Leopards.

 

[prutser]

Interesting build with the bulkheads and frames .Follow with interest. Richard

[toms10]

Hi Richard,

Glad to have you as part of my build log.  My thought when starting this project was why go through all the efforts with cant frames and other items when nobody will see them?  As this is my first scratch model it is hard enough already.  My end goal is to have a nice looking model to display in my home.  Purists will need to look elsewhere.  

Tom

Edited December 29, 2017 by toms10

[Bluto 1790]

2 hours ago, toms10 said:

Purists will need to look elsewhere.  

Tom ~ I think I'll steal that quote and use it to re-name the title of my build log !!!

[toms10]

I finished both the lower and upper wales but still need to finish painting the cannon port liners.  I am not sure what I will be working on next.  There are so many things but I think I need to make the 24# cannons for the lower deck next.  Then I can place and rig them and close up that deck with the installation of the upper deck.  I am planning on turning them up from wooden dowels and then painting them black.  We will see how that goes.  Will need to spend some late nights at the shop since I don't have a lathe at home.... yet.  Ho Ho Ho, I smell a Christmas present opportunity.

 

Tom

[albert]

Beautiful work Tom.

[toms10]

Hello all,

Worked on the rudder and hinges this weekend.  Made the hinges from scratch from 1/64" x 1/4/" brass strip.  Cut the strip into .080" wide strips, marked and drilled 96 holes with my pin vise using a #70 drill.  What a great way to develop carpel tunnel issues!!!  I still need to blacken the brass hinges, pins & nails but will wait until I am ready to install them.

 

Tom

[Bluto 1790]

Hi Tom,

That planking and those wales look superb! I'm beginning to think you're building a different Leopard than me as yours looks so much better than mine.

And I'm a bit jealous of your rudder hinges!  When I did mine (a long time ago) I didn't consider that I would have been capable of making my own, so I bought commercially made hinges. I now wish I had made them myself.

 

 

[toms10]

Hi Jim,

I actually planned on using purchased rudder hinges when planning out the build some eons ago. I tried to buy what ever components I could but most of the time they were too big for the scale I am building as was the case with these.  I will throw them in the "extras" box for another day.

Tom

[toms10]

After several attempts I finally have a stern balcony... at least the center section.  The ends and side spindles just attached on the side windows should be much easier, at least that is what I keep telling myself.  Just need to mount the balcony to the stern, sure, that should be easy.

Tom,

 

Hope everyone has an enjoyable holiday season!

[Bluto 1790]

Hi Tom,

Those spindles look great, as do the handrail and base.

I can't imagine that you'll have much difficulty in mounting the balcony on to the stern.

 

 

 

[toms10]

I mounted the stern balcony and added the spindles to the side windows. Ended up making 60 spindles in all.  Pretty much just have the carvings left for the stern cabin.  Saving those for another day.  I  need to get back to the lower gun deck and make some cannons so I close that deck up and move on to the upper gun deck.

 

Happy new year to all my fellow modelers!

Tom

 

 

Edited December 28, 2017 by toms10

[toms10]

Managed to carve out the stern lettering.  I am glad the name is short!  That may be one of the requirements for any future builds.  Tiny little guys, they are about 6mm high by 0.8mm thick.

 

Tom

[toms10]

Hi all,

I've been busy working on gunport lids, hinges, nails and eyes.  I thought the little brass brads I had left over from my Constellation build would be fine.  Unfortunately, the heads looked gigantic on the small hinges.  So I ended up filling down 120+ nail heads from 1/16" diameter to .040" and the head height from .060 to .015".  Not the most exciting thing I done.  I made the eyes using .010" diameter wire with a .015 inside diameter for the 6 and 12 pounders and .015 wire with a .020 inside diameter for the 24 pounder.

 

Above is a close up of one of the 12 pounder lids.

 

Along the same lines I need to file down about 100+ nails for the rudder hinges.  That sounds like what is next on the agenda.

 

Tom

 

[src]

Wow Tom, great work! Filing all those pins must have been a test a patience, well worth it though.

Sam