HMS Kingfisher by rafine - FINISHED - Lauck Street Shipyard - 1/48

[Jim Lad]

 

John, I was sure that you had seen the log on the old site

Yes, quite possibly, Bob.  There are so many fine models here that you sometimes lose track - call it old age!  

 

John

[rafine]

I don't like the term "old age" anymore, John. These days, I like to think of it as maturity.

 

Bob

[Garward]

Hi, Bob, excellent work!   

 

[aliluke]

Hi Bob

Just been back through all of your logs. You are a grandmaster in this art at all levels. Humbled I am but inspired too. Thanks for posting these remarkable builds. Simply stunning work.

 

Best

Alistair

[rafine]

Thanks, Garward.

 

Alistair, you are much too kind, but your thoughts are certainly appreciated.

 

Bob

[gjdale]

This is just lovely work Bob! Very inspirational.

[Martin W]

Bob -- this does look good!  I think one of the finer qualities of this kind of build is showing the beauty of the wood fitting tightly together.  Your photography brings out that wonderful quality very nicely.  Fantastic!

 

Martin

[rafine]

Thanks, Grant and Martin.

 

Now it's on to finishing off the work on the hull portion of the build. The first item was the deadeyes and chains. The deadeyes are commercial. The chains are wire bent around simple nail jigs. The chain plates are brass strip. I also added the preventer bolts shown in TFFM. 

 

I then turned to doing the work on the head doing the knees, head rails, head timbers, gratings, seats of ease and boomkins.  The cathead supporters and eking rail were not shown in the kit and were made in accordance with TFFM. I also painted and installed the figurehead casting from the kit. The fore outer hull was finished by making the anchor billboard assembly as shown in TFFM and added the remaining moldings and the eyebolts needed for the rigging.

 

Last was the work in the midship area. This included the remaining cannon, the fixed gangways and their ladders and railings, the gangboards and their knees and and the gangboard railing. I also finished work on the chain pump handles and their supports.

 

Two items were made but not permanently installed at this point: the elmtree pumps and the swivel guns. The guns were from the Lumberyard, like the larger cannon  At this point, construction was suspended for about a year, waiting for the publication of Vol. IV of TFFM on masting and rigging.The last photos attached to this post show the completed hull prior to masting and rigging.

 

Bob

[gjdale]

Just beautiful Bob. Thanks for sharing.

[JeffT]

Looks great! I like the shade of blue that you used. What color and make is it?

[rafine]

Thanks very much, Grant and Jeff.

 

It's funny you should mention the blue color Jeff. I was just looking at the model and realized that the blue in the photos is considerably lighter than the actual color on the ship. A bad photographer using a flash is probably the cause.

 

Bob

[rafine]

Time now to move on to the making and installing of the masts and the standing rigging. This installment will go through to the rigging to the lower masts. The kit contained neither materials nor plans for the masting and rigging. The work was done with reference to TFFM Vol. IV and to Lees, "The Masting And Rigging Of English Ships Of War".

 

The bowsprit and the masts were all made from dowel, tapered and shaped as necessary. The square sections of the lower masts were cut in and flats filed for the addition of the cheeks, hounds and bibbs. On the top masts, the square heads were cut in and the other square and octagonal sections were built up. Lacking a lathe, I have found this easier than working from square stock. The caps and tops were made from boxwood.  Having now seen the work of Remco and Blue Ensign, my list of "I wish I hads" includes the detailing found on their masts.

 

The deadeyes used were all commercial, but all of the hearts and the long tackle and sister blocks in the standing rigging were made using boxwood strip. The standing rigging was all done with black Morope. As is my habit, I started with the bowsprit and then proceeded to the lower mizzen and worked forward. 

 

 

The rigging started with the bowsprit gammoning, bobstays and shrouds and then proceeded through the pendants, shrouds, stays, preventer stays, catharpins, futtock shrouds, ratlines and  crowsfeet for the lower masts. I also added various lead blocks including those for the upper stays and the jeer blocks and pendants. I had never done crowsfeet before and found them to be a considerable challenge.

 

Bob

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gjdale]

Sweet!

[WackoWolf]

Beautiful work. Please keep the pictures coming.

[Martin W]

Those photos are an inspiration.  Fantastic.

 

Martin

[j21896]

Hi Bob,

 

I know I'm being redundant, but she is just beautiful!

 

Robert

[rafine]

Thanks so much to all of you for your continuing interest and kind words.

 

Bob

[Blue Ensign]

That's a great series of photos Bob, invaluable as a reference work for us lesser mortals playing with pob construction kits.

 

Your Swan is a thing of beauty.

 

Regards,

 

B.E.

[rafine]

Thanks, B.E. You know that I feel the same way about yours.

 

Bob

[druxey]

Very nice and clean work, Bob. I think you may be a little hard on yourself with your own critique!

[rafine]

Thanks very much, Druxey. Aren't we all our own worst critics?

 

Bob

[Garry S]

Wonderful work on the ratlines Bob, very tidy looking.

[Trussben]

SWEET, simply outstanding Bob.

And I agree we are always our worst critics.

 

Ben

[rafine]

Thanks, Garry and Ben. Always appreciated.

 

Bob

[rafine]

This installment covers the completion of the mast installation and standing rigging.This work began with the installation of the topmasts and their pendants, shrouds, ratlines,stays and backstays .It continued with  the jibboom with it's horses, thimbles and traveler and also the bowsprit horses and netting. It finished with the topgallant masts and their shrouds, stays and backstays. As with the lower masts, the work proceeded from the mizzen forward.  The last photo shows the model with the masting and standing rigging complete.

 

Bob

[j21896]

Hi Bob,

 

Just beautiful as always!

 

Robert

[rafine]

Thanks,as always, Robert.

 

Bob

[mtaylor]

Sweet work, Bob.  Once the dreaded ratlines are done, things seem to speed up.

[rafine]

Thanks, Mark. I don't remember how long it took me to do the ratlines on this one, but I'm sure that I was glad to be done with them.

 

Bob

[rafine]

Final installment on the rebuilt log. The yards and running rigging and the final details:

 

The yards, like the masts, were made from dowels with the eight sided sections built up. The blocks were commercial items with some shaping. Specialized blocks such as long tackle blocks were made from strip wood. The rigging line is tan linen line that I have had for some years. The sequence of construction and rigging was fore to aft ( opposite to how I do the standing rigging, but also to give the greatest access), and lower to upper on each mast. The most difficult task was running the main jeers through the jeer bitt sheaves and attaching to the bitts. In hindsight, it wold have been much better to have made that attachment at a much earlier stage of construction before the bitts became very difficult to reach.

 

The final details included the anchors and their bouys and rigging, the entry ropes and the installation of the swivel guns and the elm tree pumps.

 

In summary, this kit, although it had numerous shortcomings, provided a unique opportunity to build a fully framed boxwood model without the necessity of cutting all of the framing. For me, without power tools, that was a critical plus factor.

 

Bob