Granado by RMC - FINISHED - Caldercraft - 1:64

[RMC]

Alan: I have found a shop in Sydney that sells Mr Hobby paints.  They did not have the colour I wanted of course, but progress, nevertheless.

 

A combination of the Tamiya paint and the capping rails has proven difficult.  I think the paint problem is finally solved, but the rails etc continue to be a problem.  The highly curved part around the bow is VERY reluctant to remain bent to shape.  It's self-inflicted unfortunately - the molding that I have used is happy enough to bend - but only so far.  I had glued it, then left it clamped for 24 hours, but after an hour or two it came adrift near the stem.  I have re-glued it and will now leave it clamped.  I will be spending two or three weeks down the coast south of Sydney from next Sunday, so I hope that be the time I return, the molding will have behaved.

 

This is how things look at the moment.  The first photo gives an idea of how the capping around the fore deck will look.  The connecting molding between the fore and main capping needs a little touching up and will need its length to be adjusted, but it has turned out well.

 

The main capping needs another coat of paint and a coat of polyurethane, but I'm pleased with the result so far.

 

 

 Below are the curved moldings clamped round the bow.  Provided they behave after nearly three weeks worth of clamping, the whole thing should turn out well.  Of course the captain of the Titanic probably said something similar on leaving Southampton.

 

Oh, and Happy Christmas etc to all those who have been kind enough to comment, 'like', 'react' ........ since I began all of this.

 

 

 

 

 

[Kevin Kenny]

She looks great. I have found that applying heat off the model is the best way to induce bend. I have a Monocote blower but the truth is any hair dryer will work. Usually i make up a bend form off the model because bending on the model can cause something else to bend. I have to say all your paint lines look crisp and straignt. You have given your self a wonderful Christmas present. 

Enjoy the season.

kevin

[RMC]

Thanks for your comment and good wishes Kevin.  I'm afraid it's a bit late to apply heat, though at certain times I wouldn't have minded applying flames to the whole thing. 

 

All the best

 

Bob

[RMC]

Three weeks worth of clamping seems to have solved the bending problem.  This is progress.  There is some touching-up to do and with luck the other side will be finished in the next day or so.  The whole thing has proven to be very difficult indeed, though most of the difficulties have been self-inflicted.

 

 

 

 

While way we had some interesting weather. We have had a property overlooking the ocean for more than 30 years, and while away, experienced some of the strangest weather we have seen: thick ocean fogs, storms, and quite amazingly, a roll cloud.  I had never heard of such a thing.  It was about 300 metres from the sea surface, about 500 metres high, stretched from a headland to the horizon and was shaped like ...well, a perfect roll. Unfortunately I hadn't brought my camera, but photos may be found on the web.  Evidently they are very rare.  As it moved north towards us, without warning we were hit by a single huge gust of wind which blew lunch (and almost us) off the table.  It was quite extraordinary.

[RMC]

The capping and sheer rails are now complete, but for a couple of coats of polyurethane.   The two following photos give the general idea of how it all looks. The poly will even out the paint finish between the fore and main caps.  I am quite pleased with the result, but I would not like to do it all again.

 

 

 

 

[RMC]

Before rigging the guns, I decided to drill all the necessary holes for the various cleats.  The guns and the various other bits and pieces which will eventually be on the deck will make it difficult to do later.  As well, the kevel cleats supplied in the kit made from 2mm ply are  very rough indeed.  Similarly the 2mm ply for the ladders is both rough and out of scale.  I have made replacements which I hope look a little better.

 

Unfortunately the photo is not too clear.  It shows the cleats from the kit (top and bottom) and my replacements - a piece of 2x2mm strip and glued to it a piece of 1x2mm strip.

 

The final product, painted.

This shows the cleats positioned but dry-fitted, and the unfinished ladders I have copied shamelessly from Joe.

 

 

 

 

 

[RMC]

As far as ship building is concerned, January has not been all that productive.  I have put on the various cleats and timberheads and made some progress on the guns.  We spent most of late December until last weekend away, and there were other things to do.  Here is progress such as it is.

The cleats are cast in white metal.  Unfortunately the castings are quite poor as are many of the other castings.

 

 

 

 

[RMC]

For the last few days it's been too hot to do anything very much- temperatures where I live in Sydney are in the middle 30s C with high humidity, and it's far hotter elsewhere.  Passing our nearby golf course, it is the first time I have seen it completely deserted on a Sunday.  I have done a little work on the ladders which has been quite difficult.  If the steps are even a fraction out of alignment it shows.  Here are two dry-fitted and before two coats of polyurethane.  I have used Tamiya tape as guides for their placement, and the piece of strip across the railings shown in the first photo checks that  the steps are horizontal.

 

 

[jwvolz]

It's looking very nice Bob. 

[RMC]

Thanks Joe.  I have found the ladders to be a bit of a pain - getting each pair to match has taken quite some time.  I have used a slightly different method to yours. Once the slots for the steps were completed (slightly wider than the steps themselves), I slotted in, and glued the top and bottom steps making sure they were parallel.  Once these were dry, the two intermediate steps were slotted in.  They could then be easily adjusted, if necessary, to make them parallel to the top and bottom, then glued in situ.

 

 

Here are the results: dry-fitted and poly urethane to come.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RMC]

Things are proceeding very slowly. The stairs are finally finished and have come up well.  The rigging of the guns is going very slowly indeed.  The 2.5mm blocks are of variable quality, are probably a little large and I may not have enough of them.  Aside from that ....

 

Here is the first of the guns with the rigging in progress (quoin has not yet been fitted).  I'm not all that pleased with it but I should be able to hide most of its faults behind other deck furniture.  At least I have learnt a few things that I can apply to the remaining guns.

 

 

 

[RMC]

The rigging of the guns has proven rather drawn-out. Four of the remaining eight guns have been rigged and installed, and the last four are rigged and should be installed in the next day or so.  Here is progress.

 

 

 

Rope coils are not my favorite part of the process.  The thread is about as cooperative as the golf balls I hit today.  The coil at the far right of the photo is positioned to avoid the stairs to the poop deck.  It seemed to least impractical spot to put it.  I suspect these days OH and S would have something to say about it.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 20, 2019 by RMC

[RMC]

The guns are now rigged with the exception of the traversing tackle which is causing problems.  Essentially the blocks supplied are too large.  My intention was to hook the blocks onto the guns and to the rings mounted on eyelets on the deck - consistent with that shown in the Anatomy of a Ship.  This turns out to leave very little distance between the blocks.  The whole thing looks rather odd and out of scale.  Fortunately the eyelets shown in the photos are dry-fitted, so I may ditch the rings and lash the blocks directly to the eyelets.  I will leave the blocks on the guns attached by hooks.  All of this should provide a slightly larger and more acceptable gap between the blocks, and I hope, look a little more realistic.  Comments are welcome.

 

 

 

 

[RMC]

The traversing tackle has continued to cause problems.  I hoped to rig it consistent with the AOAS depiction.  That doesn't work at this scale, and my experiments with alternatives have proven underwhelming.  I have now settled on a least worst solution and with luck, will finish the guns next week.  I the meantime the pumps are now done, though they will not be installed until most of the other deck furniture is complete.

 

This gives the idea - it and the other three pumps have since been touched up and look quite civilized..

 

In the process of touching up ....

 

 

[RMC]

The traversing tackle is now complete on one side and the other will be finished tomorrow. The result is adequate. I hope the shortcomings will be overshadowed by the various bits of deck furniture (most or all of which is finished).

 

 

 

[RMC]

The guns are now finished.  The belfry and the windlass are fitted and glued. 

 

 

I have dry-fitted the remaining deck furniture shown in the photos just to see how things will look.  With ropes and other bits and pieces it is very crowded indeed.  To me, the ship seems to be more dangerous to the crew than the enemy.

 

 

 

[Eralex]

On 2/23/2019 at 2:18 AM, RMC said:

The guns are now rigged with the exception of the traversing tackle which is causing problems.  Essentially the blocks supplied are too large.  My intention was to hook the blocks onto the guns and to the rings mounted on eyelets on the deck - consistent with that shown in the Anatomy of a Ship.  This turns out to leave very little distance between the blocks.  The whole thing looks rather odd and out of scale.  Fortunately the eyelets shown in the photos are dry-fitted, so I may ditch the rings and lash the blocks directly to the eyelets.  I will leave the blocks on the guns attached by hooks.  All of this should provide a slightly larger and more acceptable gap between the blocks, and I hope, look a little more realistic.  Comments are welcome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll show my way of rigging guns. It seems to me that the coils of the ropes look more realistic. In general, I really like your Granado. Very good work.

[RMC]

Uralex.  Thanks for the comment.  I have been quite unhappy about the rope coils.  Unfortunately it's too late to duplicate your excellent work  I have no desire to rig guns again any time soon - perhaps ever.  However I have redone my coils and am happier with the result.  They are now far smaller and less intrusive.  Photos to come.

[RMC]

The quarterdeck barricade is quite a difficult little project.  I was going to go through the steps to put it all together but the speed of of the file uploads was so glacial that I would be here until Christmas - so another time.

[Eralex]

RMC, will you make the decoration on the  bulkhead screens? The decals from the kit are terrible.  

I  tried to draw it.  I'm not a painter)))

Edited March 11, 2019 by Eralex

[flyer]

Hi Bob

 

For a long time I was silently admiring your clean, precise work on your beautiful Granado. Sometimes I did recheck some details on mine and had to nod in agreement.

There is something strange with gun proportions and/or placement. In the book in the AOTS series the same confined space for the guns is depicted. I wonder if a too big calibre is installed or else if they did serve the guns leaning over the rails as especially those pieces  abeam the mortars couldn't be run in sufficiently.

Another doubtful thing I noticed only when I saw your provisional pump placement is that the outlet of one of them directs its water onto the cabin door. Again it's the same on my boat. But perhaps you find a way not to wet the skippers feet every time you pump...

For the bulkhead I did use the decals (I'm lazy) but think the result is acceptable.

 

Keep up the great work

Peter

[RMC]

Euralex:  I agree.  The decals are terrible.  They make the model look more a toy.  I had thought to try painting, but given the problems I had with the Tamiya blue paint (see earlier in my log), I  decided on prudence.  I am quite happy with the result as it is.  I have read somewhere (?) that there is an alternative treatment where timber planks are laid across the deck to make up the bulkhead rather than the painted panels.  I think Rafine has done this.  In any event, evidently no one really  knows what the colour scheme was, so perhaps there weren't any painted pictures anyway.

 

Peter.  Good to hear from you.  I agree with you too.  There just isn't room for the guns as specified to properly operate.  Oddly enough, I had the same thought as you regarding the pumps and wet feet.  Moreover one of them impedes access to the doors in the bulkhead.  But aside from that .....

[flyer]

Under the shower I was thinking about that space problem with Granado's guns and perhaps had an idea:  She was used as a bomb vessel with 8 guns and a sloop with 10 guns. Now if you place the 8 guns on ports 1,3,5,9 and 2,4,6,10 and leave of those abeam the aft mortar you could serve them with only guns 3 and 4 being constricted on the forward side. For better working conditions for the guns 1 and 2 you would also have to shift the deck fixes for the fish davit but this should be possible. Serving the guns while leaning over the rail would be very cumbersome and expose you to enemy fire - it should be avoided. What do you think?

[RMC]

Perhaps it was your wet feet that inspired you. Your configuration certainly works, though as you say, 3 and 4 are probably a bit tight.  I don't suppose there is any record of this sort of rearrangement.  It sounds a bit too sensible.

 

On another subject: here is the delayed quarterdeck barricade construction. 

 

First, both cross-members were bent to the curvature of the deck well before construction by clamping them to the bulkhead pattern.

 

The square supports were drilled top to bottom and copper wire inserted through the holes to locate the supports on the deck and the pillars.

 

 

Similarly holes were drilled in the tops of the pillars  to receive wire supports.

 

 

The whole structure could then be removed and painted off the model.

 

 

 

[flyer]

Freely quoting Jack Aubrey: There are two ways to do it - the right way (or sensible one) and the navy way . On the other hand the sensible one could explain why the bomb vessel had 2 guns less.

 

You found an elegant and ingenious solution to provide a perfect quarterdeck barricade. Me, I just nailed and glued it on, forcing it into the bend - the navy way.

 

Cheers

peter

[RMC]

Peter:  I have all of Patrick O'Brien's books and the  audio books of the Aubrey/Maturin series.  They're one of the great joys of reading.

 

Progress has been a little slow of late.  However the rough tree rail has now been finished and is now awaiting polyurethane to dry before finally gluing (photos to come).  I have not followed the instructions.  Gluing the timberheads in place first and then fitting them to the holes provided in the rail the rail is, I think, not the best way to go about it.  Rather, the reverse works well, as it is far easier to glue (with PVA which allows some movement before setting) the timberheads into the small holes (in fact they were too small) provided in the rail, and then adjust and fit the timberheads into the larger holes (again, not large enough) in the capping. (More on this with the photos.)

 

The forecastle timberheads have been painted and dry-fitted.  The holed provided for them in the capping  were far too small and had to be enlarged significantly. My dentist's drill bits came to the rescue again. With hindsight this could have been done far easier had the timberheads been dry-fitted before the capping had been fitted.

[RMC]

Here are the rough tree rails finished.  The first photo shows a rail with the supports fitted (but not glued) to the holes on the capping.  The supports had been fitted to the shallow holes provided in the rails.  Fortunately those holes were too small.  This enabled me to enlarge them using the dental drill bits so that the supports fitted into them very snugly, but allowing a little movement.   They were taken out and drop of PVA was then put in the hole, and the supports reinserted.  Before it sets, the PVA allows any slight adjustment necessary for the supports to fit the capping holes.  The rail in the foreground is awaiting the PVA to finally dry.  The rail in the background has dried and removed for painting. 

 

Incidentally it is an idea to soak the rails briefly before doing any of this so that you may easily bend it to conform with the curvature of the capping.

 

Here both rails are complete.

At this stage I will leave the barricade simply pinned rather than glued to the deck.  Removing it may make for better access for rigging and it's easy to replace it.

 

 

 

[RMC]

The knightheads and the timberheads are now complete.  The holes provided were, of course, too small, so out came the dentist's drill bits again.  For those who in futuremay build the model, I strongly advise checking to see that all the holes can accommodate all the timberheads before all the associated  bits and pieces are put on the model.  Doing it in situ is not a good idea.

 

I have also been looking at the cheeks and head rails supplied.  Their quality is quite poor.  I have looked at Joe's excellent work in replacing them. I certainly can't duplicate that, but have a couple of ideas that may improve on the kit.  If all else fails, there is always the kit to fall back on.  Here are the beginnings of the replacement lower cheeks.

 

 

 

 

[RMC]

3 hours ago, RMC said:

The knightheads and the timberheads are now complete.  The holes provided were, of course, too small, so out came the dentist's drill bits again.  For those who in future may build the model, I strongly advise checking to see that all the holes can accommodate all the timberheads before all the associated  bits and pieces are put on the model.  Doing it in situ is not a good idea.

 

I have also been looking at the cheeks and head rails supplied.  Their quality is quite poor.  I have looked at Joe's and Bob's (Rafine) excellent work in replacing them. I certainly can't duplicate their work, but have a couple of ideas that may improve on the kit.  If all else fails, there is always the kit to fall back on.  Here are the beginnings of the replacement lower cheeks.

 

 

 

 

 

[jwvolz]

Excellent progress Bob.