HMS Bounty by Tim Moore - FINISHED - Artesania Latina - 1/48

[Tim Moore]

Side strakes etc all finished, just pondering the paint job again. Always a bit hesitant to cover up nice woodwork with paint, but I think I'll give it a go. 

[Tim Moore]

Thanks Glenn. Yes it is actually a lot of boat given the cost of the kit. Lot of potential for customizing the interior too if you're so inclined. Its a single plank on open frame. 

[Tim Moore]

Brick red interior with ebony stain on the woodwork. Hasn't yet got its final finish, which will darken everything a bit more. Used a minwax wood conditioner before staining the upper basswood portions. Made bugger all difference that I could see, as compared to the raw test strips I did.

Up close, stain has a kind of rough hewn appearance as compared to say black paint that I like. 

Couple of the illustrations I'm using as a general guide to what the Bounty coloration may have been like.

[Katsumoto]

Oh yes! I like the ebony stain more than the usual blue! Well done. Can you explain what you did with the minwax and what it does? 

[Tim Moore]

Wood conditioner is advertised to even out the absorption properties of wood before you apply a stain. You brush it on, wait about 15 min and then apply stain. Basswood is very soft so can look blotchy (aka pretty horrible) when stained. The challenge I had in this case was to make three types of wood (walnut, sapelia and basswood) look somewhat consistent under an ebony stain. I managed to get it to where I wanted it to look by brushing on another coat of stain, waiting 15 minutes and then gently rubbing it down with a rag with semi dry stain on it. That worked for me. 

Ill probably use the conditioner again now that I have the tin anyway, since it may have a marginal benefit. One thing I noticed in my case is it seems effective on some planks but not so well on others where there was a stronger or unusual grain pattern. Which is what I thought the point of it was.

[Tim Moore]

And amazingly the missing nails just arrived in the post - so now I can get cracking on this - go back and nail all the remaining planks, block sand and put the final finish on the hull. I'll post a pic when I have that all done and am ready to proceed with the deck furniture and other superstructure.

[Tim Moore]

Happy holidays to everyone!

Bounty progress: hull now finished with two coats helmsman satin spar varnish, may do one more final finish coat later on. Finished the rudder, stern and bow trims. I'm turning most of the brass to iron colour using either a gun blue solution or a gunmetal paint. Not sure whether to paint any of the trim the yellow ochre - may leave it as a black/oiled wood colour scheme.

[Cathead]

Ooh, she's pretty. Love the multi-wood effect.

[Richmond]

Great work Tim

[kier]

Wow!! 

.     That's one brilliant hull, love the colour in it. It brings the planking lines out in view.

 

.      kier

[SIDEWAYS SAM]

Looking good, especially the colours.  Keep up the good work.

 

Sam.

[johnothanswift]

I'm watching this build with great interest as I recently acquired this model myself and I'm certainly going to follow many of your building methods. You are certainly building an outstanding model.

 

I have been researching the ship for my build and one point I've come across is the fact the Bounty was fitted with copper plates when it was refitted by the Admiralty in 1787. This information is in John McKay's "The Armed Transport Bounty" and is confirmed by archaeological dives on the wreck.

https://archive.archaeology.org/9905/etc/bounty.html

 

I just thought that you might be interested in this information as you are building such an outstanding model that I'll be watching with my notepad at the ready for more tips. . 

Edited December 30, 2018 by johnothanswift

[Tim Moore]

Thanks Johnothan...just read through that archaeology link. Gives me an idea to perhaps copper the one full side of planking, to be representative of the actual ship, and leave the other open side planks exposed. Will have to source some copper strips and compatible nails at the correct scale though. Worth investigating. 

If you have any questions about any parts whenever you begin building I'd be happy to pass on anything I learn during my build. 

[johnothanswift]

Glad I could provide some useful input. I'm very new to wooden ship models, my background is in plastic vehicle modelling but I always enjoy the research to focus on accuracy.

I'm currently building Billings Roar Ege to get my feet wet, so to speak, and may well try something else prior to trying the Bounty. It came up in an auction here from an insurance company and I acquired it for less than half the normal retail. 

And the paragraph of instructions in the Billings kit make the Artesania Latina effort for the Bounty look brilliant, although, as you have pointed out, I'm sure I'll discover their shortcomings in due course.  

If your wanting to include ballast then this may be an easy solution, I've used this before with my kits and 3.2mm square is close enough in scale to the actual 3" ballast found on site.

Edited December 31, 2018 by johnothanswift

[SIDEWAYS SAM]

Hi Tim,

My research also indicates copper sheathing.  The only problem is sourcing materials required.

At my age I haven't the time or finesse to cut  1500 approx. plates and then nail them to the hull.   The only alernative I have found is  -  Cornwall Model boats,   Caldercraft Fittings,   Copper Hull Sheathing ref.  C83520. -  Copper Hull Plates.   These are 1:64 scale and I think are included in their  HMS Diana kit.   The scale is close to  Bounty but may not be close enough for the purist.

If some sort of sheathing is needed then "white stuff" would be a period alternative.

 

Sam

[johnothanswift]

This post from Model Ship World forum describes the solution I'm considering using. Much easier and cheaper.

http://modelshipworldforum.com/resources/Framing_and_Planking/CopperSheathing.pdf

 

And the cool thing about the internet is a bit of searching provides absolute proof that the Bounty was copper sheathed in 1787.

The archaeologists found copper plates at the wreck site. 

If your interested in the Bounty my earlier link is well worth a read.

Edited December 31, 2018 by johnothanswift

[Tim Moore]

Making my way through all the deck apparatus, windlass, gratings, companionway covers, pinracks and such.....the plans are actually very good, a few mistakes on the AL parts list but generally easy to sort things out. The gun blue solution works really well on the small brass fittings - just a few seconds and the eye bolts and rings get a nice black patina.

[Tim Moore]

My wife did a lot of oxy acetylene welding and had this, about 40 years old. Not sure of the chemistry but here is a shot of the label.

[Tim Moore]

Steady progress with the deck and hull apparatus - just the cannon, anchor and associated rigging to go and then I'll start the two launches. Have done a capital job of sanding the flesh off the ends of my thumb and two working fingers in the process. Think I need to look into a small hobby sized belt sander perhaps? Not sure what is available or if anyone has a favourite tool of this sort they could point me to.

Temporarily evicted from the studio I share with my spouse while she has a pottery show going on. - should get back in there Friday.

Edited January 10, 2019 by Tim Moore

[Trig]

On 1/5/2019 at 10:04 PM, Wallace said:

Now that I like a lot. When I did the Virginia I sat and painted all my rings. What exactly does that gun blue solution comprise of Tim and where did you get it? 

I use this stuff https://www.walmart.com/ip/BIRCHWOOD-CASEY-BRASS-BLACK-METAL-TOUCH-UP-FINISH-3-OZ/23237826

 

Works quite well. Im going off what i read on the internet, but i dip the parts in Vinegar for 10 minutes, and then its just a quick dip of a minute or so (i think) in the brass black and its done.

 

Its looking great Tim, making fairly quick progress as well now your back!

I like the colours you have went for. Ive been pretty much set on doing my own Bounty as just natural wood, as my last ship was painted, but i really like yours, its making me think

[Tim Moore]

Bit of a holiday from the Bounty - just got back from the sublime South Pacific, specifically the Cook Islands where ironically this ship visited. They even had a 'Bounty Bookstore' on Rarotonga which I visited. The beachfront at our tropical paradise from the reef, we were living at the white dot in the centre. Ok I digress but you'd understand if you knew the Toronto winter we've been enduring. 

Back at it in the studio.....finished up the cannon and some assorted deck rigging...

[Tim Moore]

The bulk of the bounty up to the masts and rigging stage is now done, except for the launch and jolly boat which are to be stacked on the deck. Building the mini model of the launch. Only enough 1.5mm basswood in the kit for planking one side so I'm using 1mm material below the top plank, since there's lots of that left. The plans call for only planking one side of the launch, same as the bounty herself, but I'm not doing that. I placed the stem and keel first before planking, same as the ship, since I prefer that approach. 

[Tim Moore]

Thanks Mark. The shipwright was laid up for a while after getting a wisdom tooth removed, which didn't go well. Back to constructing the Bounty's launch and jolly boat. Nice little mini models actually. Rather than pinning the hull planks as suggested which I think could be a mess at this scale, I instead drilled the nailing pattern on the jolly boat using a 1/32" bit, pasted the hull with walnut wood filler and sanded. Think I'll maybe paint the launch and leave the jolly boat more au natural. Still a bunch more to do on these though before finishing.

Edited March 20, 2019 by Tim Moore

[Tim Moore]

Completed my interpretation of the launch and the jolly boat, trial run on setting them up on the deck before I tie them down. A lot going on on this model - I have to say you get a lot of boat for the money with this particular kit.

[Tim Moore]

Just tried out one of these collapsable eye needles to use for rigging - wow they are genius and work incredibly well. No more drilling out holes or struggling to find a tiny hole and push finicky thread through blocks. This will cut the $&!&#$@&$! rigging time considerably. 

[SIDEWAYS SAM]

Morning Tim,

I have been looking for more refined rigging tools (been using artery clamps for years)

and saw your latest post.  Have just ordered some on ebay.

Thanks for the tip.  Never too old to learn.

Your build continues to be impressive.

 

Sam.

[Snow]

Hi mate nice ship

Have you seen these

[Tim Moore]

The good thing about these particular ones is the 'needle' is very bendy so you can easily use them in tight spaces, as compared to a straight needle. It's basically two interwoven fine wires. The eye grips the thread at the end so it never comes out when you pull it through the block. Here's a closer shot.

[Snow]

Hey mate never seen those where did you get them from

[SIDEWAYS SAM]

Hi Tim,

My Beadalon needles arrived yesterday, very flexible and they really do work well.

Thanks for making rigging easier.

 

Sam.