HMS Bellona 1760 by SJSoane - Scale 1:64 - English 74-gun - as designed

[AON]

I see the microphone above and to the right of the stereo head set...... this is a photo from inside the sound booth at a radio station.

😇

[SJSoane]

 

I just finished a clay maquette of the Bellona figurehead, at double scale, or 3/8" =1'-0".

Here is a filler showing location and fit with the cheeks:

Then taking the advice of David Antscherl's Fully Framed Models tutorial on carving, I used an artist's guide to dimensions of the female figure to get the right proportions of things, and initially modeled Bellona with no clothes yet:

It is a good thing I did this, because I discovered that the original figurehead on the first Bellona model had lower legs way too short for the torso, minuscule feet, and a head pushed too far forward from the neck. To me, she also looks too cherubic to be the goddess of war:

 

Since I had to add arms anyway, I looked at other artistic renderings of Bellona for a fiercer, more war-like look. I found a haunting image by Bertrand MacKennal of a sculpture in the Australian War Memorial https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archivo:Mackennal_-_War.jpg.

 

Mine is not as haunting, but as good as I can do, first go around:

 

Next, reducing this by one half, and doing another maquette. I might try to do it in Sculpey so I can take measurements from it for the wood carving version after it is hardened. Does anyone know if Sculpey shrinks when baked in an oven?

 

Mark

 

 

 

Edited March 28, 2023 by SJSoane

[Beef Wellington]

Your maquette looks fantastic, very well done.

[yvesvidal]

Beautiful carvings in Sculpey. It is looking very majestic.

 

By the way, why do they call it a 74 guns ship? Mine only has 72.... I must be missing some carronades on the forecastle.

 

Yves

Edited March 28, 2023 by yvesvidal

[SJSoane]

Thanks so much, Jason. This is my very first effort at sculpting the human form. The artist guides to human proportions helped enormously, then looking at examples of details like folds in clothing from other eighteenth century carvings.

 

Yves, the Bellona has 28 guns on the gundeck, 28 on the upper deck, 14 on the quarterdeck, and 4 on the forecastle. At the time the Bellona was first launched in 1760, which is what I am trying to reproduce, there were no carronades. The four on the forecastle were long range nine pounders. They peek through short interruptions in the forecastle railing. I have labeled them below.

 

[dvm27]

I wonder if when you started this project those many years ago you were dreading the carving that would have to be done eventually. Well, you are certainly up to the task!

[SJSoane]

Thanks, Greg, I have been dreading it. Of course, I haven't yet tackled actually carving wood, which I am sure is a very different level of skill altogether in relation to shaping clay. I tried to keep track of the number of times I had to add clay to the form--lots of times--which of course I won't be able to do once I start cutting wood. It will be cut, cut, cut and it is still too short!

[mtaylor]

That figurehead is itself a work of art.  Just beautiful work.

[SJSoane]

 

Thanks so much, Mark.

 

I thought I would share my working process thoughts regarding the carving of the figurehead, for everyone including me who is daunted by the thought of this.

 

After completing the double size maquette, I was ready to start carving. Then I realized that my original drawing of Bellona was a tracing over a photo of the Bellona figurehead on the first model.  This is the one I discovered was much out of proportion, and with arms and hands  that I kind of guessed at. This would not be a good drawing to work from on the actual wood. I knew I would have to redraw Bellona in light of what I learned in the maquette, to have a more accurate starting point for the carving.

 

Here is the original drawing:

 

 

Once I had a maquette, I took pictures of it, and then scanned these into my CAD drawing. This provided a better foundation for tracing a more accurate Bellona. Here is a photo of the maquette:

 

 And here is the revised drawing based on this. Comparing the two look in particular at the location of: the head (further back on neck; shoulder (further back on body), breast (lower and reshaped), width at waist and derriere (narrower, lower), arm location and proportion (hanging straighter, shorter lower arm), and the hand and feet. I struggled with drawing the hands and feet, until I hit on scanning images of hands and feet into CAD and tracing them. I took photos of my own hands, and found photos of feet online.

 

 

Also notice in this drawing a new trailboard. This is many, many thanks to druxey, who drew this for me based on typical designs of the period. I know he has studied many models and drawings of this period, and he has provided me with an historically more accurate idea than I would have been able to do on my own. It was exceedingly kind of him to take the time to do this, and my model of the Bellona will benefit not only from his historical knowledge, but also his artistic eye. It is an honor to have this contribution from one of the key experts on this website. Thanks, druxey!

 

Next step, starting to come to grips with laying out the wood blank. Here is the size of the figurehead I will be attempting:

 

All for now, Mark

 

 

 

Edited April 6, 2023 by SJSoane

[Hubac's Historian]

I’ve carved one figurehead in wood (walnut) for a walking stick, which is about twice the size of what you are making for Bellona.  It was my first attempt at figure carving.

 

The only advice I can offer you is to take your time and appreciate that the process is sort of analogous to onion peeling; a gradual definition and refining of shapes through layers and layers of relief, until you can get to the fine detail.  I puttered around with this small carving for about six months and learned a ton in the process.  The linen-fold brow (this was a copy of the Provincien’s lion) was especially confusing to me and I had to rout away my first botched attempt and end-grain-glue new wood; the repair is not so obviously visible, fortunately.

When I saw Greg and David’s model of the Speedwell, I asked David about his figurehead with it’s perfectly proportioned and sculpted facial features.  He said he always begins figure carvings with the face, and this sounded like pretty good advice to me.

 

You are, in my estimation, doing the most fundamentally important aspect of any sort of carving, which is to establish natural looking proportions.  Fantastic work, as always, Mark!

 

Edited April 6, 2023 by Hubac's Historian

[druxey]

Also, consider making a maquette in modeling clay first to figure out the figure in 3D. It will help a lot!

[Mark P]

Good Evening Mark;

 

Further to Hubac's Historian's comment above, as David does, whenever I have to carve a human face, I start with the silhouette of the forehead, nose, chin and throat, cut with a chisel around 2-3 times wider than the nose, and create the outline in a plane at right angles to the face's line of sight (imagine cutting the face's silhouette with a bandsaw) Then I check this carefully in the side view. Once happy with this outline, mark on the centre line carefully, and use this as a reference for all remaining features. This is especially helpful when the head is looking to one side, or downwards/upwards.

 

But it's never easy! Wishing you every success.

 

One further thought: if you were to put her left hand behind the shield, it would look much more as though she meant business, and also have the happy result of one less hand to carve!

 

All the best,

 

Mark P

Edited April 6, 2023 by Mark P

[druxey]

Whoops! I missed the earlier maquette photos. Excellent job, Mark. Sculpey does not shrink in firing.

[SJSoane]

HI everyone,

 

I have not posted in many months, and want to catch up now.

 

In anticipation of carving the figurehead, I attended the excellent workshop on carving run by David Antscherl and Greg Herbert in Annapolis in early October. Fired up with my newly acquired skills, I flew back home to Montana ready to carve, only to discover that I had pinched the sciatica nerve in my leg on the flight. I was unable to sit at all for several months, taking me entirely out of the workshop. After several months of physical therapy, I am finally able to get into the shop again in small bursts of activity.

 

During that down time, I put my computer on a stool at my desk so I could work on CAD drawings standing up. I was able to draw many more of the details still to come. I will show some of those in some following posts. Here is a taste:

 

 

The unexpected and enforced downtime due to medical issues caused me to realize that I have to get my skates on and work more aggressively towards completion. I may not have the luxury of working for many more years at the same leisurely pace. At the Annapolis workshop, Chuck Passaro discussed with me a number of ideas for tackling the most challenging pieces that were putting me into a tizzy,  like the frieze paintings and the fretwork stern decoration, and I am beginning to pursue some of these ideas with him further. Thanks, Chuck, huge help! I am starting with the stern, and here is a sample of what I will discuss in a later posting.

 

 

The time off from cutting wood also gave me time to think more carefully about the decorative scheme I will want to follow as I get to this level of detail. I decided at the very beginning that I wanted to show the Bellona as originally designed and built, based on the original Admiralty drawings and on the first Bellona model of 1760 that shows her mainly in frame with little decorative detail other than the taffrail down to the floor of the stern balcony, with no quarter galleries. I did NOT want to portray her as she looked after a major refit 20 years later and shown in the second, fully detailed and colored Bellona model with the coppered bottom. Not only did the latter model show the later structural changes like the changed balcony geometry and the railings along the roundhouse that I do not like, but its overall decorative scheme felt like it was more extravagantly Rococo and showy than the real ship would have looked several decades earlier (like ivory details sprinkled around, and exuberant carvings).

 

So I have been looking at other models contemporaneous with the first Bellona, like the Princess Royal and the first Victory, both designed by the Bellona's shipwright, Sir Thomas Slade. In some later postings, I will explore this further, as it might be of interest for others who are attempting to reconstruct a decorative scheme from indirect sources.

 

So anyway, back into the land of the living!

 

More posts to follow as I am able to put them together.

 

Best wishes,

 

Mark

 

 

[Pirate adam]

Happy to see you back at it Mark!

[davec]

Mark - it was great to see you at the workshop, and so sorry that the travel set you back so much. Glad to see you back at work on Bellona and looking forward to seeing more progress.  You do amazing work.

 

Dave

[druxey]

Welcome back, Mark! Nice drawing of the quarter galleries.

[jdbondy]

Oh no, Mark! I am sorry to hear of the medical setback, after having met you this past October! But I went through the same thing myself in 2019 involving my left S1 nerve root so I feel your pain. If you have access to a work surface that is height adjustable, it may make a big difference.

[Amalio]

Hello Mark
I love seeing everything you post about your Bellona.
Have you ever thought about editing a complete set of plans for this ship? It would be something extraordinary.
Many thanks for everything.

[SJSoane]

Pirate Adam, Dave, Druxey, JD and Amalio, thanks so much for your kind welcoming back comments. This really is a genuine community.

 

JD, I did work for several months at my computer with it propped up on a stool on my desk. Unfortunately, my shop work surfaces are not moveable, and so I work for a bit, lie down a bit, then work again. More doctor visits coming up, hopefully we can get this finally resolved.

 

Amalio, I have so far drawn the Bellona for my own modeling purposes, and also because I like to draw. I am not sure they are in a state where I could reliably say they are complete and consistent. I am also not sure what copyright issues would be involved in selling these, since they are derived from prints of the original Admiralty draughts I obtained from the National Maritime Museum many years ago. And I don't want to get into running a business now I am retired. But I do want to share, where appropriate, back to this community that has helped me so much over the years to develop many of the details I have now incorporated.

 

Here are a few more examples, first, the stern framing I am now working on in the actual model. A note of interest is that I found it necessary to suggest a false floor in the quarter gallery of the upper deck (the lower of the two). If the floor of the gallery were down on top of the lower finishing, it would be a long step down from the door cut in the bulwarks, as measured on the original plans. I imagine it would be a continuation of the upper deck in height and roundup. This is an interesting case of where they needed to resolve the different sheers of the outer bulwarks and the inner decks at this point.

 

Further below, I am showing some of the hatches and partners on the upper deck I will be building at some time in the future. Interesting construction issues in these!

 

Best wishes,

 

Mark

 

 

 

[Hubac's Historian]

Hi Mark - it is great to see you working again!

 

About a decade ago, I had a pretty vexing bout of sciatica.  My deteriorating hip and the resulting over-compensations are what were driving it, but I found quite a lot of relief through specific yoga stretches that helped open my lower back.  Also, a lot of hamstring stretching.  After the hip replacement, the sciatica went away, but I still do the stretching routine every day.

 

I wish you relief, as I remember how debilitating that particular problem can be. 

[Wintergreen]

Welcome back Mark!

It is quite apparent that you enjoy the drawing business. Also, knowing that you are lefthanded means that you probably (but not necessarily) is quite apt at the artistic side of drawing also, and not only the engineering side.

(We discussed work benches a long time ago and I envied, still env, your lefthand adapted work bench).

 

Also, I like the reasoning about the false floor in the quarter galleries. It is just on another level of interpreting the original drafts and applying them to a somewhat virtual reality in 1:64.

 

I hope that your nerves get back in working order and so,

Keep it up!

[allanyed]

I would like to add my own welcome back Mark.  Missed your posts!

Allan

[mtaylor]

Great to see you back, Mark.   Health issues can really knock the wind out of our sails and I'm glad you're doing better.   I hope things continue to improve.

[shipmodel]

Hi Mark - 

Happy that you are back and even happier that you are healthy.

Excellent drawings.  They really give a good idea of the interior structure of the ship.

 

Dan

 

[SJSoane]

Thanks so much, Marc, Hakan, Allan, Mark and Dan. It really means a great deal to me to hear from all of you. I have a meeting with a pain specialist on Friday, and hopefully I will be able to get past this soon!

 

In the meantime, I have been working away on what has been the biggest challenge for me so far, the stern. I plan to make a number of posts on this, starting today with an overview of the end goal; what will it look like?

 

I have always aimed to base my model on the original design and the first model, shown here:

 

 

Although this model shows mainly the framing system, it does have a hint of what the original design intended on the stern at least down to the bottom of the captain's balcony. Everything past this is speculation for a reconstruction!

 

The second model, made twenty years later after a major refit of the ship itself, shows much more detail (see below). At first glance, this provides information on all of the detail not shown in the first model. But the second model changed the original design in ways I did not find pleasing. It added an ugly railing above the roundhouse (nice for the sailors, bad for the aesthetics). The balcony railing makes a sharp turn into the stern one bay inboard on each side, whereas the original model has a nice sweeping serpentine curve across the entire stern. The original model has nicely proportioned vertical supports (painted red) with nicely detailed fretwork, whereas the second model skinnies those down and punches crude holes for detail. The first model carries additional carving down to the bottom of the railing adjacent to the large corner post carvings of women, linking things together visually. The second model unsatisfyingly smashes the balcony into the corner sculpture.

 

And in terms of color, the second model uses white for the balcony fretwork and the pilasters on the band of windows, which I find visually jarring relative to the rest of the ship. There are a few other examples of white windows, pilasters and fretwork on other roughly contemporary ships, most notably the Princess Royal in the Annapolis museum; but not many either in models or paintings of the period. This is not typical, in other words.

 

I suspect this was the modeler's effort to give visual "punch" to his model, not a reflection of common practice in the actual ships. I suspect the Princess Royal model has white details like the Bellona second model because it was built by the same modeler; the friezes on both ships are identical in painting style and technique, and the models were likely built at the same time. It may be two different modelers used the same frieze painter, but given the rarity of this look in most other ships, I think we are seeing the personal signature of a modeler here. I would be very interested to hear if others have another view of this.

 

 

So, how can I reconstruct the original model, from the incomplete information in the original model? Here, for better or worse, is my first shot at a reconstruction (see below).

 

I reproduced the balcony geometry, the carvings, and the wider balcony vertical supports with the more elaborate fretwork. I picked up the little bust carvings below the balcony from another contemporary ship. I accepted the pilaster design from the second Bellona model, although in the spirit of visual harmony I  continued the red down from the balcony into the boards behind the pilasters. In the same spirit of visual harmony, I propose to keep the pilasters and the window frames natural wood, along with the carvings and mouldings.

 

The second model friezes and paintwork on the upper and lower counters are really quite delightful (just like on the Princess Royal). So why not use them, with no other sources to draw upon for this? I propose to reproduce those paintings in my model, including the tone and hue of the background blue paint.

 

I would be very interested to hear any opinions as to whether I am on the right track on this reconstruction.

 

Next posting will discuss the very complex geometry in this stern, and my efforts to bring it under control for construction.

 

While I am working on that, I am also working with Chuck of Syren models, who is going to laser cut the window frames and balcony fretwork for me, using my drawing templates. I had long wanted to make everything on this model myself, but I finally had to face the reality that I did not have the skill to make window frames just .023" thick, or even worse, the pierced fretwork. And after a long and fascinating chat with Chuck at the Admiralty Models workshop on carving in Annapolis in October, I came to see that this is just using another tool to achieve my modeling needs, still based on my drawing. Thank you Chuck!

 

By the way, Chuck also pointed out to me that the very fine details like window frames were made of ivory in original models, because it could hold the detail better than even boxwood. Most models seem to have colored this; the second Bellona model builder maybe put up the freshly cut window or fretwork and thought, "looks good as is!"

 

Best wishes,

 

Mark

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[yvesvidal]

Mark,

 

That is a fantastic study, analysis and attempt at re-creating what could have been the stern of Bellona. Personally, I like the second and more modern interpretation and that is probably because it is what is provided with the CAF Model kit, that I recently (almost) completed. I hope you do not mind the picture below:

 

 

However, I have to say that I really like your drawing as it combines elements of both interpretations and may result in a fantastic and beautiful stern. And nobody will ever be able to contradict what you did, as we simply don't know.

 

Yves

Edited February 29 by yvesvidal

[scrubbyj427]

Looking forward to seeing your stern develop, Mark. I really like your drawing of how you plan to lay out all the details. I wasn’t aware that Bellona was refit from the original design. That looks really good.

[SJSoane]

Yves, thanks for sharing your model. I was aware of a kit, but I have never seen it! It looks like you did a very nice job of it.

 

scrubbyj, the history of the Bellona in Brian Lavery's Anatomy of a Ship has the ship paid off in 1762 after her initial service, turned into a guardship, briefly recommissioned, and laid up in ordinary in 1771. Then she was given a major repair in 1778, completed in 1780. this was now 20 years after her original launch. I can only assume that the first model represents her before the major repair, and the second one represents her afterwards. Adding that railing on the roundhouse bulwarks was very typical of designs of this later period, as best I can tell.

 

Visiting my son in London last year, we visited the National Maritime Museum and toured around endlessly disappointed that they had removed most of the models. Then we walked into the room devoted to the Napoleonic Wars, and there were two representative models, the first and second Bellona models side by side! At last two decent models, and they were the Bellona! In this photo you can see that the second model is larger than the first, which I never realized until seeing them side by side.

 

Busy day outside the shop, not as much done on the Bellona as I had wished...

But I did get a chance to color the stern quarter galleries based on my reconstruction:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[druxey]

Lucky for you that the two Bellonas (Belloni?) were on display! Otherwise you'd have had to arrange a visit to the 'reserve collection' in Chatham and request the models that you wished to study.