Granado by RMC - FINISHED - Caldercraft - 1:64

[RMC]

Here is some progress on the cheeks.  The blue on the cheeks is painted 1x0.5mm polystyrene.  It gives a nice clean finish. In the foreground is a first attempt at part of the cheeks.  I'm reasonably happy with the general idea (it will of course be painted), and there will probably be slight adjustments when all the other bits are put together.

 

 

 

 

[RMC]

Progress is very slow.  At least the lower and upper cheeks are finished.  This is how they have turned out.

 

I used pieces of 4x4mm strip to space the two cheeks.

 

 

 

 This is one of the hawse hole bolsters in position.  The kit supplied parts were of poor quality ply and consequently I made replacements.

 

The head rails are proving to be a nightmare.  I have decided to use a method similar to Joe V's and have spent two or three days making not much progress.

Edited April 11, 2019 by RMC

[jwvolz]

That's nice clean work Bob. Trust me, it took some fiddling to get those rails right. Sand, test fit, repeat...

[RMC]

The decoration on the stem has now been done, but I see that a bit of touching up is needed, and a couple of coats of polyurethane..  I think it's better than the kit's approach, but I may be biased.

 

 

The headrail/cathead  saga continues.  Here is the first of the supports for the cathead.  It looks like a dog's breakfast here, but it finally fits quite well.  I have just put a coat of paint on it and it looks quite civilized..  Having spent hours on the damn thing, it took about an hour to do the second one.

 

I found the catheads did not fit flush to the deck, so a small adjustment was needed.  The one shown on the right also has a small piece of timber added under the extension which protrudes over the rail.  It ends flush with the edge of the rail, and in turn its edge fits flush with the support.  The same was added to the other cathead after the photo was taken.

 

The addition may just be seen in this photo (dry-fitted: the whole thing has  since been tidied up).  Why all of this is underlined is a mystery.

 

 

[RMC]

The various fittings for the forward part of the model are now almost complete.  The cathead is now ready to install, but there is still some work to be done on the head rails.

 

The steps are a bit fiddly.  The have to be horizontal, so the slope of the wale can't be used as a guide. I used a piece of 1x1mm strip as a spacer from the wale, but making it horizontal as best I could.  I then moved up the hull, using apiece of 1.5mm thick strip as a spacer for the remaining steps

 

The anchor lining and fenders are on.  The ply parts supplied are again of poor quality and I have made substitutes.

 

 

There are a couple more photos I wished to include, but the speed is so glacial, I'll make it another time.

 

I will be taking a couple of small grandchildren to the beach for Easter (at this time of year😎) so that isthe end of immediate progress.

 

Thank you for all the reactions.  They are really encouraging.

 

 

.

[RMC]

But for a couple of coats of polyurethane, and some minor touching-up, the catheads are now finished and installed.  The head rails have been made, but final adjustments will be needed before installation.  Whether all the trouble has been worth it, will only be known when they are finished off and installed.

 

Here is progress.  I hope the whole thing will be done over the weekend if all goes well.

 

 

Both head rails were positioned by eyelets fitted into the deck.  They were removed once the glue was dry, and the holes will be touched-up

 

 

 

[Kevin Kenny]

All the trouble is always worth it. Congratulations, she looks wonderful

[RMC]

Thanks Kevin for your encouragement.  In many ways  have found this project more difficult than the Vanguard.

[Kevin Kenny]

I have to say that this kit is well manufactured and a real challenge to build but its also one of the best kits i have come across.

[RMC]

 The kit is certainly a challenge.  The plans are good, the instructions are excellent and the parts list is brilliantly done..  Of the fittings, the brass work too is excellent, however the white metal fittings are generally poor, and the timber strip and ply are a real mixed bag.  I found the Amati material generally superior and in some cases - particularly moldings of various parts - greatly superior.  The vanguard is a far more expensive model and that is likely to explain at least some of the difference.  I guess you get what you pay for.

[flyer]

Again compliments for a superb build.

Regarding you two last kits: After building Granado a few years ago I'm now fiddling with Bellerophon/Vanguard. If you compare the prices 300 EUR versus 620 and the amount of material and plans included I think they are in the same price range. However either you were unlucky with the wood in your Granado kit or the quality has a bit deteriorated over the last few years. But the fact that Caldercraft practically has stopped to work on new kits and concentrates on selling what they have worries me a bit. This could well be a sign of making all the money you can while not investing in new projects and therefore of a downward trend. But I still hope for a future for Caldercraft, for prosperity with high quality and eventually perhaps even the launch of the Surprise kit.

[RMC]

The headrail saga is almost finished.  The supports for the rail shown in the third photo are in the process of being dry-fitted.  They are very fiddly indeed.

 

 

I notice below that the lower cheeks are slightly out of alignment.  I will try to correct it.  I guess one good thing is that the later rigging, anchors and so on will cover a lot of the mistakes - I hope.

 

Edit: misalignment now corrected.

While waiting for things to dry,  I started on the covers for the rowing ports.  Here is progress.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 28, 2019 by RMC

[RMC]

Finished the headrails  and glad to see the end of them.  As usual they need a couple of coast of poly and a bit of touching up, but they have come out acceptably.  They are not historically accurate according to the Anatomy but then neither is the kit.  A a small tip: I made one of the supports a tiny fraction too short, which made a difference to its positioning.  Making another one didn't bear thinking about.  I therefore glued a sliver of balsa to its top.  The balsa is soft enough to 'give', so that the support could be nuggly fitted into the correct spot.

 

 

 A minor adjustment has been made to the left support in the following photo after the photo was taken.  (Again: why the underline?)

 

 

[RMC]

The covers for the sweep ports are now done on one side.  It's a very awkward little job.  I decided to have just one cover open as an illustration - and I see from the photo it needs a little adjustment and the usual touch-up.

 

 

 

 

 

[RMC]

Not much progress over the last couple of weeks.  Home renovations have caused the usual chaos.  The gun pedestals are now finished. The four in the mid-deck  will be installed after the channels are put on.

 

I have begun the decorative quarter badges.   To fit them over the wale requires quite a bit of filing.  The instructions show some black paper stuck immediately behind the windows to give the impression of depth.  This doesn't seem to me to be very satisfactory at all.  I'll think about making a hole in the side of the hull to give the appearance of a cabin behind them.

 

Here is the filing that needs to be done.

Dry-fitted - and held on by gravity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 28, 2019 by RMC

[Eralex]

Hi, RMC! 

My method, it may be interesting for you.

[RMC]

Hi Uralex.  Thank you for taking the time to comment.  I am now in two minds regarding the treatment of the decorations.  Your method is far better than that suggested in the instructions and has turned out well.  Making a hole, while I think it may look a little better, is probably a bit risky.  Big decisions😕. 

 

I'm still debating what colours to paint the damn things.  The bird on the bottom is, I think, supposed to be a phoenix.  Painting it white with a red beak and a black eye  (shown in the instructions) makes it look a bit like a startled duck, whereas it should look (having Googled 'phoenix') more like an angry duck a l'orange.  I think I will settle on a boring brown.

[Eralex]

Hi, RMC! 

There is no point in making a hole! Inside there is nothing to show.

My bird is completely white and unlike duck)))

I think that Granado can be painted as in AOS.

[RMC]

Hi Uralex.  As you will see from the following photos I have adopted your method - thank you for the suggestion.

 

Here are the steps.

Cutting out the first layer of planking.

 

Fitting black cartridge paper.  I'm think about painting the hole instead to provide a very slightly bigger gap between the hull and the window.

 

The decoration dry-fitted and partly painted.  The brown is supposed to be walnut and is darker than I would like, but it's acceptable.

 

As an experiment, I have painted the phoenix bronze -just one coat so far.  At least it looks a bit like the representations of the phoenix that may be found on the web.

 

 

 

[Eralex]

There should be window  sashes (if I correctly found the translation from Russian).

[RMC]

Hi Eralex.  I had already noted that.  I will finish the painting before installing them.

[RMC]

While watching paint dry, I have finally completed the bow fittings, now including the gun doors.  Applying the hinges and then attaching the doors ended up testing my vocabulary.  They came out reasonably well but as usual there is some touching-up to do.

 

 

 

 

[RMC]

The rudder is an awkward little project.  Here are the steps others may find useful.

First the rudder was mounted on a piece of strip to keep it in position,  and the positions of the gudgeons marked on tape.

Once the gudgeons were fitted, the rudder was mounted.

 

Tape was then used as a guide for the straps.

 

While some of this was going on, the side decorations were completed.  It's unfortunate that there is no record of the correct colours, and it is certainly highly unlikely that my colours are remotely accurate. However the bronze at least is closer to the colour of the mythical phoenix than white. Anyway, I thought I would use a little more of the bronze paint to prevent it going to waste.  This photo shows up every little imperfection.  In the flesh, they look quite good.

 

 

 

[RMC]

The side decorations are now on.  One of the advantages of taking ultra-closeups is that they highlight any mistakes which, with luck, may then be rectified. Both the decorations in the flesh look fine. Under magnification - well, you can see the slips of the paint brush.  I shall do some touching-up.  Incidentally, the windows are in fact quite clear (I've used Kristal Klear).  The areas that appear clouded are reflections.

 

Here is the stern decoration.  Again reflections are misleading; there are no missing paint spots, though there is some minor touching-up to be done.

 

 

[RMC]

Progress is slow as there are others things that must be done.  The transom decorations are now mounted.  The Kristal Klear will be put on the widows when the lower trim is attached.  This is how it looks at the moment.  The instructions suggest the taffrail is mounted after the decoration.  I suggest the contrary.  The decoration needed minor trimming to fit.  Doing it in situ would have difficult.  Fitting it with the taffrail in place enabled close fit which in the flesh looks close to perfect, though I see in the (considerably enlarged) photo a couple of tiny gaps to be closed.

 

The lower (finishing) trim is supposed to be brass rod.  I am trying the same profile timber I used along the sides.  This entails bending the timber to fit the curvature - something it is reluctant to do.  Having given it a good soak in boiling water, it has been wedged in the cutout for the transom. I am hoping that after a few days under stress it will fit.  If it doesn't, there is always the brass.

 

Finally, I wasn't too happy with the brass rod specified in the instructions for the tiller.  I had seen Joe V's tiller and 'appropriated' his idea. (The cheque is in the mail.)  It needs a coat of polyurethane, but it should turn out acceptably.

 

 

 

 

 

[Beef Wellington]

Fantastic work Bob, catching up from my hiatus.  Love the effect you've achieved on the stern fascia, rally blends in and is very much to my taste.  Everything is looking so clean and precise as well on all of those tricky areas, well done!

[jwvolz]

Ha! No check needed Bob, that came out nicely. The stern decorations look very good. 

[RMC]

Thanks Jason. Good to see you back.

Joe: thanks too.  The cheque would probably have bounced anyway.

[RMC]

Progress.  The lower trim for the transom decorations came out well to my pleasant surprise.  In addition to the curvature shown above (the method worked well), there is also a fairly significant curvature of the transom itself.  As I noted previously, the trim is reluctant to bend, so in gluing it below the decoration, it was left clamped in position for four days.  The opaque parts of the windows shown below is simply Kristak Klear that has not yet completely dried.

 

The cabin light lids are finished.  Rather than simply drilling 0.5mm holes for the 'ropes' , I used electrical shrink tubing which I think makes a tidier job.

 

Here is the before and after of the tubing.  Apply heat with a hair drier and stretch.

 

Finally I have started on the swivel guns.  Putting the nobs on the handles is diabolically difficult (drilling a hole in the nob to receive the handle proved impossible) and the result is both fragile and barely acceptable.

 

 

 

 

 

[Beef Wellington]

Despite the fiddliness those swivel guns came out really well!  I need to start thinking about lids myself.  Quick question on the KristalKlear as your lights turned out really nicely.  I've never used it before but have some waiting, how did you apply it?  The guidance seems to suggest building it up once in position but its hard to mentally get comfortable with that, and I don't want to mess it up and ruin the PE.  Any concerns with it not drying completely clear?