HMS Sophie from Cruizer kit by jwvolz (Joe V.) - FINISHED - Caldercraft - 1:64 - kitbash

[jwvolz]

Thanks guys.

 

Jason: Do you have your Snake plans handy? I'd be curious to know the difference in the port size vs. the Cruizer plans. I know I could dig through you log, but did you increase the port size on your build?  Thanks.

[Beef Wellington]

Hi Joe,

 

The carronade port sizes on the plans are 14mm high by 13mm wide.  Measuring my model, they're closer to 14mm wide and a touch higher.  If you go with carronades I'd suggest figuring out where you will source them (I upgraded to the CC brass ones).  If you decide to use those, then its definitely worth building one up to determine the needed height.  If I had done this, I would have increased the height a little more as its a notorious problem that the 32lb'er can be tough to get correct alignment and not interfere with the top of the port.  It'll also allow you to determine where the lower port sill should be.  Hope that helps.

Edited October 22, 2016 by Beef Wellington

[rafine]

A beautiful looking ship Joe. I really like it. ( I may have to follow you again  ).

 

Bob

[jwvolz]

Jason: Thanks, I'm probably going with the Caldercraft ones, as I've yet to find another alternative in 1/64th, as painfully expensive as they are. I don't have them yet though. So one further question, what is your lower sill to deck measurement on the model? It sounds like I need to make the size adjustment to the top of the port based on your build log. Thanks very much!

 

Bob: It's another nice Caldercraft kit, with a lot of room for improvement. 

 

Thanks to all the "likes".

[jwvolz]

The deck has been laid. I used maple from Crown Timberyard, with a boxwood waterway. . I like the subtle variations and look of the maple, and had used it previously on Granado. I rough counted the treenails at somewhere over 1800 holes...They were done with the drill and fill method. This filler ended up having a bit more contrast than I wanted after staining, but the deck furniture and armament will hide a good bit of the "busy-ness". 

 

I also hung the rudder. 

 

On to the deck furniture. 

[donrobinson]

Beautiful job on the deck Joe, I am typically not a treenail fan but you did a outstanding job on yours. Well done

[Timmo]

That's a good looking deck Joe. Nice tidy work on the treenails.

[jwvolz]

I've completed the hatches and have used the Gannet deck layout to position them. 

 

 

 

The companionway and capstan are also complete, but I'm likely going to leave them off until cannon rigging/installation is complete. 

 

I'm going to base the head off of the sister ship drawing of Epervier in Chapelle's History of the American Sailing Navy. The kit plans and parts are not even close to correct in this area.

 

Work has begun on the cheeks. These pieces are made from Boxwood.

 

 

[Beef Wellington]

Nice cheeks Joe   I agree the kit parts on the head are a not that accurate and I wish I'd known what I was doing when I did mine, looking forward to seeing how yours turn out.

[rafine]

Looking better and better with each addition, Joe.

 

Bob

[jwvolz]

Thanks guys.

 

On another note, I have decided to build her as Cruizer, with the original long gun armament. I couldn't bring myself to toss any more parts from the kit, so I am going to use the supplied brass 6 lb guns, but have ordered replacement carriages from Syren. Maybe another ship in the class at some later point...

[Gahm]

Looking really good, Joe! I love the maple deck!

 

Thomas

[Landlubber Mike]

Beautiful work - very crisp and clean.  You must get a lot of compliments on your cheeks 

[Timmo]

Big improvement there with the cheeks Joe. Nice work.

[jwvolz]

I took a little break from the head work to assemble the Syren  wheel kit I purchased. This is one little gem, and I do mean LITTLE. The span across the spokes is less than an inch. Chuck has done a fantastic job engineering this kit and I can't recommend it highly enough. The online instructions are very clear and well illustrated. The spokes were a bit of challenge, but there are plenty provided and I chose the best of the lot after turning them. I used the kit parts as a template for the pedestals, made them from boxwood and made them a bit thinner and finer in the process. The barrel is a turned piece of boxwood. 

 

 

Again, BUY THIS WHEEL KIT!!!   

 

Oh, and here's the PE part Caldecraft supplies. Presented without comment...

 

[Blue Ensign]

That's a great looking Cruizer Joe, and I love the effect you have achieved with the copper.

 

I see that Caldercraft in common with their other kits are still indicating the representation of 'iron' rudder braces and pintles over copper plating.

They should really be represented as a cuprous alloy, a problem I got around by painting them a slightly darker brown/copper mix on my model.

 

Regards,

 

B.E.

[Landlubber Mike]

Beautiful Joe.  Something to add to the shopping list  

 

I had placed an order with Cornwall Model Boats a couple of years ago for some other stuff, and thought I would try out various wooden wheels from other manufacturers (the brass wheels are nice, but I'm not a fan of having to paint them).  They all were too thick and out of scale.  Chuck's looks like a great solution.

[mort stoll]

I bought 2 wheels for my diana

 

mort

[jwvolz]

Thank you guys. 

 

B.E. : I think now that the copper has settled into its final state and is sealed I can safely paint the rudder braces to more closely blend with the copper itself. There really are no references to color for them in the Caldercraft instructions. The book is quite thin, and I'm glad I don't need it! I'd hate to be new to wooden ship building and trying this kit with those instructions.

 

Mike: The wheel should work perfectly for your Morgan, the scale is correct. 

[Gahm]

The wheel looks VERY good! What a difference to the kit provided piece!

 

Thomas

[Timmo]

That's a handsome wheel there Joe and a big improvement.

 

BE, good to know about the colour of the rudder fittings. I see a paint job on these in Harrier's future.

[jwvolz]

I've been busy with a (partial) bathroom remodel but have managed some work now and then on the model. The head is now complete. As mentioned above, it is based as best I could find off the Chapelle Epervier drawings. 

[rafine]

Very nice work on the head, Joe.

 

Bob

[Landlubber Mike]

Coming along really nicely Joe.  Great work on the decorative elements.

[jwvolz]

Thanks guys, much appreciated. 

[jwvolz]

Well...I've decided to go a different route with regard to which actual ship within the class I am building. I had wanted to use the nice brass cannon barrels supplied by Caldercraft and build her as Cruizer, but alas they will just not work. When scaled out on the Syren gun carriage and barrel plans, they are nearly 18 pounders; not the 6 pounders Cruizer carried. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Therefore I have bitten the bullet and ordered carronades from Cornwall Model Boats. The 6 pound bow chasers I'll get from Syren, as I already have the carriages. With that massive change in plans I have now moved forward and added the bow and stern platforms that were commonly found in the class. I still haven't settled completely on a specific ship, but am leaning HMS Reindeer, which is known to have had at least the bow platform, based on it being mentioned in accounts of her battle with the Wasp. Which ships had the stern platform is far less well known and documented.

 

The wheel was installed and rigged prior to installation of the aft platform for access purposes. Both platforms were constructed over a basic support framework and planked with the same maple as the main deck, and then treenailed. 

[Timmo]

Lots of progress there Joe. Those platforms look great. Good move on the carronades, it opens up a world of vessels to depict.

[jwvolz]

Thank Wayne, as well as the "likes".

 

I received my carronades from Cornwall Model Boats. I ordered the 24 pounders with every intention of building Reindeer. Measuring the Caldercraft carronades out with reference to sizes in this NRG article http://www.thenrg.org/resources/articles/The carronade.pdf they are almost perfectly sized to be 32's, not 24's! The bore diameter is dead on and the length is much closer than it is to a 24. Therefore...Reindeer is out. 

 

I was rattling off some names from the list of Cruizer class brigs to my wife, and she stopped me at Sophie. It is her favorite girl's name, and if we had had a daughter it would have been her name. So I am naming the vessel Sophie. Sophie did serve on the American station during the War of 1812 and captured numerous merchant vessels and privateers. She was also involved in the battles of Mobile and Lake Borgne, leading up to the battle of New Orleans, so she does have a nice history. 

 

I re-painted the stern area and made a nameplate, since I was unable to successfully apply the dry transfer letters in the narrow area between the decorative moldings. I wasn't getting even transfer and was losing parts of letters trying to do it that way. 

 

And yes, I know Patrick O'Brian used the name Sophie for the fictitious command of Jack Aubrey in Master and Commander, but there was a real one too!

 

 

[jwvolz]

Here are the completed pumps. Caldercraft does not mention them, but they are on the NMM plans for the class. I made them from a square piece of stock, which was filed to octagonal. The handle and the pivot are boxwood reduced to very small thickness. Further details are the copper wire for the fittings and paper bands. I used a styrene rod drilled out for the outlet. 

 

They are just sitting on the deck for photo purposes, that's not their final location. 

[Timmo]

Nice name there Joe. Sophie was a contender for me as I've got a daughter by that name, however with three girls I didn't want to explain to the other two why the boat wasn't named after them!  Great links to the war of 1812 for an American with that  vessel.

That stern name plate looks very good and crisp little pumps there. Looking forward to more.