HMCSS Victoria 1855 by BANYAN - 1:72

[russ]

Pat:

Beautiful work on these details. I especially like the skylight. 

 

Russ

 

 

[EdT]

Lovely details, Pat.  Bravo.

 

Ed

[Beef Wellington]

Great pictures, everything looks so fine and 'to scale', really nice looking model Pat!

[cog]

Inspiring work Pat. She's becoming quite attractive with the make-up you add

[wefalck]

Looking good, Pat. It definitely helps to have detail photographs.

[BANYAN]

Thanks for the very kind words and encouragement Russ, Ed, Jason, Carl and Eberhard.  Compliments from you guys, noting the exquisite work you do, is very much appreciated.

 

regards

 

Pat

[druxey]

Coming along very nicely indeed, Pat. Your work is very clean.

[popeye the sailor]

you've made some great progress Pat.......the bulwarks are shaping up nicely.  the added detail also enhances her looks too     nice job on the stack and it's base!

[BANYAN]

Many thanks Druxey and Denis; appreciate you both looking in and for the kind words.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[DaveRow]

I'm back in Model Mode.

Those added details look really good Pat.

The funnel come up great. Hardly tell how it was made.

 

[Jim Lad]

The things that happen while you're away!  She's looking really excellent, Pat!

 

John

[BANYAN]

Thanks for looking in and kind comments Dave and John - welcome back to the fray to both of you   Some further small updates coming very soon.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[BANYAN]

Hi again folks; another small update.

 

i am starting to add some gun details now and have completed milling and lather work for the pivot gun wheel races and the locking pins - the races are simply placed (not glued) to give an idea where they will fit so they are not centred to each other at the moment. 

 

The pins were frustrating to make as you can see they are very small - the bottom part is rough as that will be used t glue it into the deck.  These pins are used to lock the lower carriage into one of the cardinal or intercardinal points.  The idea was the gun pivoted on the rear fold down hinged clamp only with the forward one used to lock it on the bearing.

 

The following photos show progress so far, and the graphic of the gun shows the pin arrangements.

 

  

    

cheers

 

Pat

Edited May 17, 2018 by BANYAN

[wefalck]

Looking forward to see the gun developing. There are lot of interesting details on these guns, such as the excentric lifting mechanism and the recoil brake - I gather these are already lamellae ?

[BANYAN]

Hi Eberhard, thanks for looking in again.    Nope   these were machined from a large (and a small) brass ring (plug surround and a brass plug for the smaller).  The outer is 26.5mm to the middle of the race, 2 mm high and 2.5mm wide; the inner is about 10.5mm to the middle.

 

The guns will be a real challenge at this scale, especially to show those tiny wheels for excentrics etc.  We have already decided to 3D pint in the barrel in UHD as it is a one-off gun.  Not worth the while casting it as a coat of paint and it will look the same.  The carriage I hope to make up in wood with most of the relevant detail attached.  From my research I am fairly confident it is a 'Ferguson' carriage as per the earlier graphic; however the gun is a Blomefield 32pdr 56cwt rather than a  Dundas modified Blomefield design (32pdr 42 cwt).  

[wefalck]

Without wanting to interfere with your manufacturing decisions: wouldn't you want to rather turn the gun in the lathe and have the parts of the carriage 3D-printed ? I found that round objects are still not as clean and crisp as one would wish at this scale due to unavoidable 'stepping'. Perhaps one could print the breech-loop and insert it into the turned barrel. I think the wooden elements of the carriage would make ideal objects for printing and would save you the trouble of fiddling around with very small components. Some of the iron-work could be even 'printed-on'.

[BANYAN]

Appreciate your feedback and recommendations Eberhard, and believe me we have given this some prior thought.  The idea of printing the carriage bits is a good one and will probably go that way - should have thought of that myself

 

As to the barrel, we wish to have some of the finer detail captured (cypher, gunlock and sight if possible).  Turning will not allow that as easily.  We have investigated various printing mediums etc and believe we can get a very good result from Ultra High Frosted Detail resin as can be seen here https://www.shapeways.com/shops/model_monkey?section=1%2F72+Ship+Weapons&s=0

I have had a ship printed (in parts) at 1:350 (HMAS Vampire) in this stuff and the detail is very good; even the gun barrels at that scale.  We will not be using the same "home 3D" printer and medium we tried with the funnel but rather taking it to a local professional printer who can do this UFD printing a very reasonable price.  I agree the stepping issues are a serious problem with regular 3D printing but this process seems to have nailed that problem if you look at what ModelMonkey is achieving (see his barrels on the above linked page)?

 

Still open to discuss this if you think we are barking up the wrong tree and your valuable experience based suggestions/discussion are most welcomed.  

 

cheers

 

Pat

[wefalck]

Pat, I am aware of the trade-offs to be made between the possibility to easily model these cast-on features and the stepping issue. It is indeed quite impressive, what commercial printers can achieve already. One could probably reduce the stepping problem by printing the gun vertically, as it would have been cast in foundry. The stepping is most visible when the printed surface is only slightly inclined with respect to the axes of the printer.

 

I myself still have to master the 3D CAD modelling, before I can think of having anything printed

[John Allen]

Pat,

Have looked in since the beginning. This is a fine example of a masterful, clean, and pristine build. Kudos X 2

[BANYAN]

Hi John, thanks for the kind comments; I hope I can live up to those lofty ideals

 

Eberhard, many thanks again.  You have hit the nail on the head.  Speaking with my 3D man he said exactly the same, the trick is to print vertically which is the intention.  That said, we may also machine a version and do a comparison - appreciate the feedback.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Old Collingwood]

Gorgeous work pat - very very nice so much detail and so clean and tidy workmanship,   I salute you.

 

OC.

[BANYAN]

Thanks for looking in and your kind remarks OC.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[BANYAN]

Hi again folks, another small update.  I have started work on the anchors - Trotman Pattern.  The contract for Victoria specified 3 of these, two as Bowers and one as the stream, with the latter a little smaller/lighter.  These anchors were assessed by a Committee in 1852 and rated as the strongest/best holding anchors (28% better) yet the Admiralty did not deviate from their "Admiralty pattern".  These were an enhanced version of the Port/Hornibal pattern

The earlier style of this anchor had the rounded/ovalish shank and the straight iron stock; the bent arm iron stock was not introduced until about 1860.

 

The following photos show the construction of the first anchor from cut raw materials through to completed item.  The shank was shaped from a single piece of thick brass then the holes drilled and the slot cut.  The flukes were silver soldered to the shank then cleaned up.  the stock was made in two parts to enable the ball ends to be turned as they would not fit through the 1mm hole; I don't know how they did this in real life as the is a conical stopper on one side of the stock and a pin on the other - if you look real close you can see I managed to add that detail.  The hex head bolt and nut, and the shackle, were some purchased stock from another project, but fit perfectly for this job   The anchor was blackened with Birchwood Casey Brass Black (diluted to 25%)

 

The photos are in extreme close up as these are only 21mm long overall and as such show all the early scuffing from my filing before cleanup.  The next two should look a little better as my technique improves.

 

cheers

 

Pat

 

    
  

Edited May 23, 2018 by BANYAN

[wefalck]

Good job on this guy ! The 19th century was full of these 'patent' anchors. Will have to make three Inglefield-anchors soon, but only around 12 mm long  Guess, I will have to take some short-cuts compared to yours ...

 

As to the bulb at the end of the stock: I guess theses were forged in situ, after the stock has been fiddled through the hole. Must be the same procedure for the traditional Admiralty-pattern anchors and there should be a description somewhere in the literature.

Edited May 23, 2018 by wefalck

[cog]

Wonderful result, Pat. Hope to be able to do it as good, somewhere in the future, after a lot of practice

[popeye the sailor]

sweet job on the anchor Pat.........at that size,  is still a feat and a half!    looks great!

[John Allen]

Pat,

 

Research spot on, You are one of the few on this site that can turn soldering brass into an art form. Kudos

[EdT]

Lovely metalwork, Pat.  I assume you milled the circular track?

 

Ed

[BANYAN]

Hi all, again many thanks for looking in and the encouragement.

 

Thanks for your valuable feedback and looking in again Eberhard - I think you are right; that seems the only practical way they may have done it. I'll continue looking for a reference.

 

Thanks Carl, Denis and John, your comments are most appreciated - I have much to learn and improve on yet, especially better control of the files

 

Hi Ed, your many tips and encouragement have been a great help.  Yep, those 'races' are milled from a brass plug (inner) and plug receiver (outer).  The real life ones were just a thin track on a wood base i believe, but at this scale a little difficult for my abilities just yet.  I have been playing around with ideas of how to make the small square bases for the pins (2 x 2 mm) but cannot achieve a consistent product - I think that at this scale I will not use them but will add them to the 1:48 version I do later.

 

[Jim Lad]

A very nice piece of blacksmithing there, Patrick.

 

John