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

[toms10]

Finished some of the bow work and played with some of the small sculptures on the stern. Michael Angelo has nothing to worry about. 😁. Progress is a good feeling no matter how small. 

At 1:85 scale the sculptures can get pretty small so detail is very difficult. At least for me. 

 

Tom

[Jparsley]

Wow Tom     She is amazing  such a wonderful replica

[mtaylor]

Lovely work, Tom.  

[chris watton]

Marvellous work, looking great!

[md1400cs]

Tom,

 

Very excellent work - PS" you are right resurfacing the pins is a great "in scale" idea. Typically kit included wood pins are way out-of-scale.

Alternative is buying aftermarket metal examples - hummmm? 

. Your idea is excellent.

 

Regards,

[Bluto 1790]

Hi Tom,

I'm just now catching up on your log.  It must be nearly 8 months since my last visit as I'm not being notified by MSW of any build logs I follow.

In the last 8 - 9 months all work on my ship has stopped and with some 'life things' I haven't even been lurking here.

My last memory of working on the ship was these never-ending ratlines . . . and they're still not finished.

 

I've missed so much of your recent progress and I have to say it's looking great - - your gun-port lids, that front end and the stern carvings all look great, and the ship looks magical in the dark with its lights on!

[toms10]

Hi Jim

It is good to hear from you. I was beginning to wonder if you hit a big lottery jackpot and ran off to some secluded tropical island 🏝. Hope you get to get back to those rat lines soon. Thanks for the compliments. My progress goes in short spurts also. That darn life thing seems to get in the way for a lot of people. 😁. Maybe one of the moderators can help you with you notification issue. 

 

Tom

[Bluto 1790]

13 hours ago, toms10 said:

Hi Jim

It is good to hear from you. I was beginning to wonder if you hit a big lottery jackpot and ran off to some secluded tropical island 🏝. 

 

Tom

Hi Tom,

If I had won the lottery I would have employed someone to get them pesky ratlines finished for me !!!

[toms10]

Little change of pace. Decided to work on long boats ... a long one and a short one.😁. They still need oarlocks and some eye bolts for lifting and strapping down to the skid beams which are only dry fit at this point. 

 

My goal was to have this done in time to display at the April conference in New London, CT next year... not at the pace I’m going!  Weather is too nice. Going to need more rainy days. 😜

Tom. 

[mtaylor]

Looks good, Tom.   And be careful what you wish for. 

[allanyed]

Hi Tom

My apologies for jumping in so late in the game, but there is one thing that you may want to look at modifying.  I only point this out as I made the same mistake on a model some years ago and was sorry I did not make the change.  The knee of the head looks quite wide at the top forward portion.  It should taper moving forward down to about 6 inches or so, where the figure head will sit.  Where the pieces fit to the stem, they do widen as they rise as you show, but the top pieces should then taper a lot as they go forward.  Maybe a difficult fix at this stage, but something to consider.  As I had not made this change on my old model, the figure head looked bow legged.   Again, my apologies for bringing this up now, I hope you don't mind.  Allan

[toms10]

Hi Allan

thank you for bringing it up. I have never seen anything anywhere regarding a taper but it makes sense. It does not seem to be too late to do something. That’s why they make files and sand paper😁. If I can’t fix it, bow legged women it is! 😜. Thanks again. 

Tom

[AON]

Was the leading edge (nose) of the stem radiused / rounded or was it square / flat?

[Beef Wellington]

From what I've seen, the edge would be rounded off, but to varying degrees.  The more tapered at the top of the stem, the more rounded the profile.  Nearer the keel the profile would be more square as it transitions to the width of the keel.

[allanyed]

Yes, the rounding on the sketch is  exaggerated.  It was likely squared off but with a radius, not a sharp edge.  The scantlings for a 50 gun ship in Steel's Elements of Naval Architecture shows the knee to be sided 1' 3" at the stem at the upper end and is sided at the fore part at the upper end 5" , quite a bit of taper.  Not sure if this would be exact for Leopard as she was 30 years prior to the Steel Scantlings being published but surely a taper would be appropriate.  This taper is also described in the Swan series Fully Framed Model Volume I and Euryalus, Volume I.  

Allan

[Bluto 1790]

Hi Tom,

 

Great work on the ship's boats.  That's a project I've still to arrive at . . . and I'm trying not to think about that yet.  The 'big ship' is enough for me to be going on with at the moment and I have no idea how I will even begin to tackle the boats!

[toms10]

Thanks Jim. I am in Philadelphia this weekend visiting my daughter so nothing going on in the shipyard now. Gotta admit though that spending the weekend here with her is more fun. 😁. Next week I will make the oars, secure the skid beams and then lash down the boats. Then I will take a look at tapering the stem as mentioned above. 

Tom

Edited September 8, 2019 by toms10

[toms10]

First, thanks everyone for their help ful comments and likes and a special thanks to Jim (Bluto 1790) for all the insights on some of the rigging issues he is currently going through and that will be part of my somewhat near future. 

Decided to get started on some of the mast work. Nothing is glued yet, just dry fitting as much as possible right now. Probably start on the top masts and fitting them to the existing masts and add the railings to the tops. 

Tops still need rear railings. 

Still need to figure out what blocks need to be attached to the underside of the tops. Easier to do that now instead of after they are set in position. 

Still have some work left on the bow sprit. 

 

Tom

 

[Bluto 1790]

Hi Tom,

That ship is really looking the part now!  I can see you've been busy - - - I know how long it takes just to get one mast section prepared.

You're right about getting the blocks fitted to the underside of the tops before permanently fixing them to the masts . . . and don't forget to fit a block in the centre at the aft end of the fore and main tops which the nave lines will need later.  I forgot, and when I came to fit them 'in situ' I wished I had done them at the stage you're at now!

Better to have a few unused blocks hanging there than to be lacking a few when they're needed.

[toms10]

It’s been a bit since I posted but I managed to get all the mast components completed. Still need to stain the upper components to match the lower ones. There was a lot more work making them than I originally thought but all came out pretty good for my first scratch build. Everything is still in the dry fit stage until I can go through the rigging plans to determine what blocks go where on the tops, crosstrees etc. 

Tom

[Bluto 1790]

Tom, that's a great collection of masts/spars you've got there.

 

As it's now about 20 hours since you made the above post, I expect you've now got all the lowers fitted and secured with their shrouds and the ratlines tied?

[toms10]

Hi Jim

You’re a funny guy. Actually haven’t touched it. Have to get all the Christmas shopping done first... oh yeah, and maybe a party or two... or three. 😁. Hopefully next week during the holiday week I can put some time into them. Happy holidays to you and your family.  
Tom

[Bluto 1790]

Hello Tom,

 

I've just been having a look over your buildlog, and although I've looked through it before, I somehow missed something that I've just noticed - - - and, being a nosey guy, I just have to ask you :-

 

In the first page of your log you posted a few pics of a plan drawing of the frames you used in the hull.  Here are a couple of the photos >

Where did you get that drawing of the frames?  Did you draft it yourself? . . . and if you did, where did you get the information from?

 

(I'm not really a nosey guy -- I just need to know stuff!) 

[toms10]

Hi Jim

I drafted it myself using Solidworks. I don’t remember the exact book but I do remember looking up room and space information and just started laying them out using one of the center section planes on the plan and working from there. Probably not totally correct but at the time with my limited experience it seemed to work. 
Tom

[toms10]

Slow progress report. I spent the last few weeks pouring over books about rigging this beast. I also spent a week layout out the belaying points for all the lines. That was quite the project.  I also put in some extra belaying pins based on what I learned from the books and what Jim (Bluto1790) told me about his experiences. I started to attach lines and blocks to the “hard to get at” areas while things are yet glued into place. 

I also practiced tying a cleat onto a shroud. My shrouds won’t be white on the model. I made a white one so I could see what I was doing or trying to do. !

On another note, I attended the monthly meeting of the CT Marine Modelers Society (Thanks Ron aka Hollowneck). I will be becoming a new member so now I guess I am now officially insane. 😁😜👍

 

Tom

 

 

[Bluto 1790]

Hi Tom,

 

I was beginning to get worried about you! . . . but I see you've been busy!

 

That's a whole lot of lines you have hanging there on the foremast.  I'm glad you've labelled them!

 

I can't quite do an accurate count of the belaying points you have around the foredeck but it looks like it must be at least 50?

 

I see a few cleats on the foremast and a few pins on the aft guard rail on the fore top. Pins/cleats are like clamps -- you can never have too many!  Are you planning on having sails on the ship?  If so, I think you're well catered for in the way of belaying points.

 

I hope you remembered to hang a block under the rear of the main and fore tops to catch the truss pendants' nave lines. 

 

Everything's looking great.

[toms10]

6 hours ago, Bluto 1790 said:

Hi Tom,

 

I was beginning to get worried about you! . . . but I see you've been busy!

 

That's a whole lot of lines you have hanging there on the foremast.  I'm glad you've labelled them!

 

I can't quite do an accurate count of the belaying points you have around the foredeck but it looks like it must be at least 50?

 

I see a few cleats on the foremast and a few pins on the aft guard rail on the fore top. Pins/cleats are like clamps -- you can never have too many!  Are you planning on having sails on the ship?  If so, I think you're well catered for in the way of belaying points.

 

I hope you remembered to hang a block under the rear of the main and fore tops to catch the truss pendants' nave lines. 

 

Everything's looking great.

Hi Jim,

I do plan on having a full compliment of sails including the stay sails between the masts, but not the studding sails. As I said I spent the better part of 2 weeks just planning out where all the lines will go.  With a full set of sails comes a lot of lines which is why I have so many pins.  I did remember to hang the block under the main and fore tops for the nave lines.  Thanks again for the heads up.  I will be making the various size shroud ropes tomorrow and start looking into installing the lower ones.  Then I am off to Philadelphia to visit my daughter for a couple of days.  The model seems to be taking a back seat again... darn life getting in the way again!🙂

 

Tom

[toms10]

Had to do some business travel last week so things are going a bit slow. Started to work on the lower main mast shrouds. This is going to take a while. Made all the rope for the shrouds for the three lower masts. Still have to get them sized to length and served as I mount each one.  Hey there are only 58 lower ones with 12 done already!  I’m practically done!  Okay I know what everyone is thinking... just don’t pop my bubble😜😁

 

Tom

 

[Bluto 1790]

You're on your way now, Tom!  You're into the final stages now.

 

Just a couple of questions:

 

What did you use for belaying pins?   They look very much in scale, unlike the ones I purchased which I had to try to 'whittle down' to get them to look more in scale.

 

What did you use to maintain a uniform distance between the lower deadeyes and the upper deadeyes (at the channel)?

 

(and I notice that you've added an extra couple of fore & aft pinrails on the Q/deck ~~ you'll need them as you're having sails on the ship!)

[toms10]

Hi Jim

I don’t know about the final stages. I still need to make the figurehead and various other items as well as all the yards not to mention all the sails!  I have been jumping around a bit to cut down on the repetition of some tasks. Still a long way to go. 
 

I made my own belaying pins. As you mentioned, the purchased ones are a bit out of proportion. 
 

I made 2 small jigs that consisted of a small strip of wood with 2 nails set at the distance I wanted the dead eyes to be apart from each other. I put one pin through the fixed deadeye in the channel and the other in the deadeye that was temporarily seized into the shroud. Once the shroud was pulled taut to the correct length I finished seizing the deadeye to the shroud. There is a bit of putting on and taking off of the shroud to get completed but it works for me. 
 

You are right regarding the pin rails. With a full set of sails I need way more than what is shown on the plans. 
 

Tom

Edited March 3, 2020 by toms10