HM Bomb Vessel Granado 1756 by Timmo - FINISHED - Caldercraft - Scale 1:64

[Blue Ensign]

Love those deck shots Timmo, greatr work on the guns.

 

B.E.

[Timmo]

The quarterdeck barricade assembled and fitted, no deviation from the kit here. The horizontal rails have some very helpful locating holes pre drilled through them at the points where columns fit. This helped with stability as brass rod was used to pin e various parts together.

 

The ladder sides are made of walnut ply and are both over scale thickness and show the laminate lines.

The ladders were made up and then had the sides thinned down with a disc sander. A thin strip of walnut was added as a veneer over the sides and face. One side was done at a time as they become quite fragile when thinned down so much.

 

Ladders as kit provided.

One side thinned ( upper)

[Timmo]

Improved ladder at bottom here with the other one halfway though the treatment to show the difference.

Anyone know why iPads rotate pics randomly when uploading to MSW?

[Timmo]

The tiller is the most obvious missing piece of deck fitting.

The housing was made up from the kit parts with a decorative square cut in each face.

The tiller bar was tapered in the dremel and bent according to the kit instructions. It's a bit of an angular bend and a check with the NMM museum shows a more fluid bend which was copied.

An end 'knob' was turned on the dremel from a bit of spare 2mm yard dowel.

And the finished result. Some thread was added as a concession to the helmsman who would presumably want some added grip.

Edited August 10, 2014 by Timmo

[Timmo]

The pumps were built up largely as per the instructions with the addition of some black paper iron banding. The handles were all left blackened rather than painted a woody colour. It would have still looked like a metal piece.

[aliluke]

Sweet work Timmo in every respect. A superb model and I always look forward to your updates. I'm dealing with the cap rails on Fly right now - they may seem easy but noooo. You've done a great job on them.

[Timmo]

A new toy has arrived in the workshop. A proxxon db250 lathe. I got it from TBS Aachen which is very good for price even with shipping from Germany to NZ. It's even cheap enough that it didn't attract any tax or duty coming in.

It arrived on a weekday morning 15minutes before I had to shuffle the kids out of the house to school and myself to work but still enough time for a quick play. My retired father has been making use of it all week but now it's my turn.

Now there's time for a better look...

I'm not that good at getting dowel centred but have turned some nice ensign staves and here is the bowsprit on the chuck. Practice makes close enough to perfect. It's a lot easier than holding it in an electric drill.

Edited August 16, 2014 by Timmo

[Beef Wellington]

Hope you enjoy the lathe Timmo, I've also invested in one and agree its easier than using a drill.  Doesn't seem to fix the issues with warped dowel though   Do I see some micro-chisels in the background as well?, curious where you got those.

[jastrząb]

I really like the details. Perfect progress. I'm waiting for more. 

Regards,

Paweł

[Timmo]

Thanks Pawel.

Those are proxxon chisels I bought with the lathe. I'm no expert on chisels but they seem to do the job well on detail pieces. It's a mix of them and sandpaper for mast tapering.

[jastrząb]

I'm considering purchasing such a tool, too. It makes making some parts really cool (like yours  )

[Timmo]

Quite pleased withe the square section on the end of the bowsprit.

But- spot the problem.

I've cut the angle on the wrong side. It's pointing to the side rather than vertically. Doh.

The connecting end was refitted with a piece of dowel and cut again to fit the sprit holder. This is all under the foc'sle so it won't be seen. More care needed.

 

I'm not too flash with filing octagonal sections, of which there's a lot from here on in. More practice needed.

Edited August 18, 2014 by Timmo

[Beef Wellington]

Tim, nice end to the bowsprit.  I'm sure you'll get the hang of the octagonal sections with a little practice.  Something that really helps me is to shade/colour in the initial 4 sides lightly with a pencil.  It makes it that much easier to see the shape as it develops filing down the corners and really helps you get the sides equally proportioned - imperfections in proportions don't hit you in the face (at least mine   ).

Edited August 18, 2014 by Beef Wellington

[Timmo]

Steadily working my way through the yards at present and the lathe is going well on a beautiful spring day with a modelling set up on the deck outside.

Here's a couple of minutes' work that shows what the future could hold with such a weapon in my arsenal....

Some of the kit dowel has warped over the 2 years since I opened the box. Not caldercraft's fault but mine for leaving it in the uninsulated garage. The constant changes in humidity and temperature have done this and taught me a lesson. Some new dowel on the way for the masts and the yards are mainly short enough not to be much affected.

This is what the mizzen should be turned from... I don't think so.

 

 

On another note I've thrown my lot in with ship modelling for good now with all my old plastic modelling mags, kits and books now for sale. I'm divesting my plastic portfolio in favour of ships, woodworking tools and obscure timbers.

Speaking of which my father and I are heading down the line in a few weeks to pick up a family stash of timber that belonged to my grandfather. He was a bushman (forester/lumberjack to our northern hemisphere friends) that worked in the central plateau area of NZ pre-and just after the war and operated a fairly large sawmill. In his retirement years he was an avid woodworker and turner and I have memories of him up to his ankles in sawdust and shavings as he turned a great pile of timber collected over the years into all sorts of things.

There's a bit of that timber that remains at the old family home and with the elderly aunt that inherited that place now also passed on it's just sitting about waiting to be used.

I'm unsure how much is left and in what condition but there should be rimu, kauri, matai, maire, species of beech and possibly kahikatea there. These native timbers haven't been able to be commercially felled for decades so it's a bit of a potential treasure trove that is in danger of becoming firewood. Many have grains and a softness better suited to larger purposes than shipbuilding but the rimu and kauri especially I hope might find a home in some future projects as deck fittings or even slipway stocks to keep the family woodworking tradition alive.

[aliluke]

Hi Timmo

I'm envious of that machine and may just have to break down and get one. Looking good. Also envious of your potential wood haul!

 

I used matai on my AVS for the poop deck planking, hatch covers and some other more minor bits. The AVS build base is kauri. Matai would make a great modelling timber - better than rimu I reckon. Kahikatea is not so good - too soft. Captain Cook and others that followed felled these mighty trees for spars and masting only to find that they quickly rotted and turned to mush. Such a shame. The entire Thames Valley was predominately kahikatea forest and Cook's descriptions of taking a long boat up that river is mind boggling when you see it today. Also Hutt Valley in Wellington also had huge stands of kahikatea along the river. They didn't bother to log those they just burnt the lot.

 

Beautiful spring day here too. Yay for summer to come!

[GuntherMT]

Nice work Timmo.  I'm going to seriously have to consider some tools like that lathe when I get the other room cleaned out and turned into a proper hobby/shop room.  Not enough room on the single workbench where I'm working now for that, but small power tools of all kinds are much cheaper than I ever imagined that they could be, and would make a lot of things in this ship building hobby pretty nice.

[Timmo]

Work continues on the masts. The mizzen was done first and was fairly straight forward. I rather enjoy filing square and octagonal sections now.

The mizzen is 5mm dowel but it's just a shade under in width. I considered changing it for something slightly larger as it just looks thin but will stick with it after checking with AOTS and realising there's only .2mm in it.

A couple of the top mast caps are supplied in two parts to join around the mast tops but I've made one from offcut timber and will continue with the rest.

 

[Timmo]

A diversion here-

That trip to collect my grandfather's stock of timber netted more than expected. Most of it is rimu which has a lovely warm red glow for the heart timber sort of like pear for those in the northern hemisphere. There's also some outer stock with a lighter colour. The grain might not be tight enough for smaller pieces of ship fittings but I'll be keen to try to work some in somewhere in future builds.

My father will be kept in woodwork for many years to come with that pile.

 

 

Also while on the trip I uncovered a forebear of mine was also a ship modeller.

A copy of a newspaper clipping , date unclear, of my great grandfather in his later years with one of his efforts.

Edited September 23, 2014 by Timmo

[Ian B]

What a great picture---making great models is in your genes

[jwvolz]

The masts are looking great! And that is one hefty pile of lumber. 

[Timmo]

A lot of boring mast work has meant no updates for a while but here's where we are at.

The masts were stained to match the rest of the walnut in the kit using very diluted admiralty stain.

Main topgallant mast freshly turned and some kit stock as an example.

 

The mainmast cheeks are ply so the faces were painted to hide the laminations.

 

 

 

The main yard before painting.

 

 

Here's the finished result with wooldings on the mainmast and bowsprit rigged at bottom. A new half circle sprit sail saddle was turned from kit stock to replace the ply version which didn't fit too well.

The yards etc ere painted with the airbrush to save time, my paint stocks were low but I managed to get caldercraft's admiralty black to flow through the airbrush with some isopropyl alcohol to dilute.

 

The hawse cables and messenger have also been rigged. The thread was lightly stained with dilute walnut stain to give it a more subdued colour. I wish I'd done this with the gun rigging but the difference shouldn't be that noticeable once a mass of rigging is on.

New messenger snatch blocks were made from stock walnut as the kit ones were either absent or had been lost in the 2.5 years since the kit arrived.

 

 

I've tied bowsprit and mizzen rigging and the mainmast is the next stop before some masts will be stepped.

[Landlubber Mike]

Really nice work Timmo.  Coming along very well.

[Beef Wellington]

Timmo - thats a really nice looking yard, you got some really sharp edges on the octagonal central profile.  Did you use larger dowel, or build up using the recommended sizes?    The taper looks spot on as well, very nicely done. 

[Timmo]

Thanks Jason, mike and all.

The yard was turned down from the recommended kit dowel which from memory was about 5 or 6mm and the central section squared off with a blade and file before the octagon was completed. The kit suggests building up the octagon with black paper on some smaller yards but I used a dowel a couple of mm larger and filed it down. It seems a lot less fiddly.

[Timmo]

The blocks have all been attached and the lower masts and bowsprit have been stepped.

There are still a few items on the hull to finish such as the lids for the rear gun/light ports, anchors, fish davits etc.

 

The big project of the weekend has been making a serving machine. This was done using the very helpful post from MSW member robnbill who describes it well.

See it here: http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/5980-serving-machine-from-scratch/?hl=serving

The gears slip a little sometimes due to the size of the teeth (cheapest I could find at reasonable price) and my lack of accuracy on the drill but I'm happy with it and like the little turned rimu handle done on the lathe.

[aliluke]

Everything is looking fantastic Timmo. Love that shot of the deck. You and Joe are really setting the standard for Granado.

[Timmo]

I can't be the only member of MSW seeing the irony in wishing I had an easier to obtain and cheaper source of boxwood for the next project as I hack my way through piles of buxus semperverins hedge every spring...

[jwvolz]

Looking great Timmo. VERY nicely done on the serving machine. 

 

 

Everything is looking fantastic Timmo. Love that shot of the deck. You and Joe are really setting the standard for Granado.

 

Alistair, I need to slow down so I stay behind him, so I can continue to "borrow" ideas!   Although I guess I owe a few now...

[jaerschen]

Hi Timmo

 

Now I know your build again  . I have lost sight at the last time.

You are doing a great job, very nice work. Such a serving machine is invaluable, very well done.

Edited November 22, 2014 by jaerschen

[Timmo]

Thanks Juergen.

 

Joe, feel free to overtake and clear path for us both through the tangle of rigging ahead.