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

[Jim Lad]

A busy gun deck indeed, Mark.  She looks good with some 'teeth'.

 

John

[druxey]

Luvverly, Mark!

[mtaylor]

Beautiful work, Mark.  

[SJSoane]

Hi everyone,

 

Progress is very slow on these cannon. Yesterday and today, I made the stools, and then the first quoin with a small handle. I am showing using the Vanda-Lay duplicator on my Sherline lathe. You can barely see the template for the handle directly below the chucked wood blank. Only 27 more handles to go...

 

Mark

[gjdale]

That's just lovely Mark. Any chance of some more close ups of the duplicator in action?

[mtaylor]

Beautiful cannons, Mark.    Just curious why you didn't use belaying pins for the handles...?  Or will you be making those also?   Jaw-dropping work, sir...

[SJSoane]

 

Thanks, druxey, jim, michael, grant, and all who liked. Grant, I will try to take some photos this weekend on the duplicator. I don't have it working quite as well as I would like, and will tweak a little to see if I can improve it. Mark, i am trying very hard to make everything myself--purely for the vanity of telling people who visit, "...yes, I made that...". We'll see how long I can keep that up. I have purchased a range of sizes of the outstanding Syren rope, and I am still pondering whether I will use this or end up making my own. I am a number of months away from making that decision. At the very least, it shows me the very high standard to which I will have to aspire!

 

Mark

[mtaylor]

I'm liking your concepts on "making everything myself".   Yes, Chuck Rope is fantastic that will be a tough goal to meet.

[SJSoane]

 

Hi everyone,

 

Here are some images of cutting the quoin handle with the Vanda-Lay duplicator.

 

As you can see in the last photo, a template holder clamps onto the tailstock, and the cutting head and follower is bolted onto the Sherline Y table. You have to unbolt the brass nut on the X axis lead screw, so the bed can move freely without using the handwheel.

 

The idea is to slide the table in the X direction with your right hand, and push in the follower with your left hand, trying to trace the template as smoothly as possible. After a few tries, I got very reliable duplicates every time.

 

Now, I did learn that I had to loosen the gib on the X axis, so the table would move very smoothly. I also used silicon grease on the ways, and graphite powder for the follower and cutter. Things really do need to move smoothly without any binding.

 

Also, the cutter does need to be aligned precisely at or just below the centerline of the lathe. It took a little fiddling to get the cutter at the right height and at the right distance in.

 

I fed a long strip of wood through the lathe, and simply moved it forward each time once I had cut off the previous handle. The masking tape at the end keeps the wood from bouncing around when the lathe is turned on.

 

I have had this duplicator for years, but I had never used it until now; I believe there is an updated version from Vanda Lay. I can confirm that it works very well, once everything is tuned.

 

The other photos show using a razor saw to cut off the handles when the lathe is turned off; these would fly for sure if using a cut-off tool.

 

And one more photo shows the jig for drilling the handle hole in the ends of the quoins.

 

Mark

 

 

 

[iMack]

Astounding work, the attention to detail is amazing. How long does it take per cannon roughly?

[SJSoane]

 

Thank you iMack, for your comments. I started the cannon in December, and I probably get to work on the project about 10 hours a week. So I am maybe 160 hours into the 28 cannon, and I still have a great deal of work to do. I had no idea at all when I started that this would be so time consuming. They look so simple!

 

One of these days, I will put together an account of how many separate fabricating, machining and assembly steps there are for all of the pieces in one cannon.

 

I should note that the cannon involved learning brand new skills for me, with all of the delays and mistakes that entails. I had never cast metal, or silver soldered, or formed rings and eyebolts. Nor had I used the duplicator. It has been fun to learn new skills, but then tedious at times applying those to 28 cannon. For example, 28 cannon equals 112 wheels, 56 axles with 112 separately turned ends, 56 sides, 28 transoms; 196 eybolts, 112 tie rod washers, 56 rings, 28 tie rods, 112 wheel pins, 168 bolt heads, 56 stool parts, 28 quoins and 28 turned handles. And I haven't even thought yet about the hardware fastening the cannon to the carriages.

 

And then I have an additional 28 cannon to think about when I get to the upper deck, and 18 more for the quarterdeck and forecastle. By then, I should be really fast at this....

 

Mark

[druxey]

All of which means it's nice to build a 16 gun vessel!

 

Nice work with the duplicator, Mark. I agree that 'tuning' everything during set-up is the secret.

[SJSoane]

 

druxey, you are right. I wonder if I would have taken on building a 74 all those many years ago, if I had fully thought through just how many guns need to be constructed.

 

As I was patiently making 28 parts of something the other day, I began thinking about the gun carriage craftsmen in Chatham who might have made the same parts over and over for their entire lives. Now that would drive someone to drink, meade I presume!

 

Mark

[gjdale]

Thanks for the additional info and pictures using the duplicator Mark. A job very well done, if somewhat tedious!

[iMack]

Thank you iMack, for your comments. I started the cannon in December, and I probably get to work on the project about 10 hours a week. So I am maybe 160 hours into the 28 cannon, and I still have a great deal of work to do. I had no idea at all when I started that this would be so time consuming. They look so simple!

 

One of these days, I will put together an account of how many separate fabricating, machining and assembly steps there are for all of the pieces in one cannon.

 

I should note that the cannon involved learning brand new skills for me, with all of the delays and mistakes that entails. I had never cast metal, or silver soldered, or formed rings and eyebolts. Nor had I used the duplicator. It has been fun to learn new skills, but then tedious at times applying those to 28 cannon. For example, 28 cannon equals 112 wheels, 56 axles with 112 separately turned ends, 56 sides, 28 transoms; 196 eybolts, 112 tie rod washers, 56 rings, 28 tie rods, 112 wheel pins, 168 bolt heads, 56 stool parts, 28 quoins and 28 turned handles. And I haven't even thought yet about the hardware fastening the cannon to the carriages.

 

And then I have an additional 28 cannon to think about when I get to the upper deck, and 18 more for the quarterdeck and forecastle. By then, I should be really fast at this....

 

Mark

 

Sounds like quite the undertaking, but you seem to be getting a lot out of it in your learning process (not to mention a perfect looking cannon). They are all pewter casts, how expensive is that approach? I've previously only done cold casting, however I aim to try using pewter this summer break. Also is it a RTV silicone you are using? or a heat-resistant matieral. 

 

I've in fact printed my cannons at the same scale as yours. 

Edited April 26, 2015 by iMack

[druxey]

Meade, Mark? More likely Porter, Stout, Sack or Gin. Of course, many contemporary models were not shown with armament. I think we can guess why!

[dvm27]

Wonderful work, Mark. I used this duplicator once but had such a hard time reassembling the gibs and making the cross-slide run smoothly again I haven't used it since.

[SJSoane]

 

Hi Greg,

 

Funny you should say that. I just disassembled the duplicator this morning, and then spent a long time setting up the lathe again!

 

Mark

[SJSoane]

 

Hi iMack, I tried quoting your question, but it failed to show up in my post. So here we go again.

 

Yes, I used the 1:1 RTV rubber from MicroMark, although Ed Tosti has suggested using the 10:1 for greater durability. I may try that on my next deck of cannon. I followed closely the advice on casting cannon in David Antscherl's Fully Framed Model volume 2, including building a plaster cast around the RTV mould. I failed to follow this advice the first time, and the entire thing failed. Lesson learned. I could not use an open flame propane torch to melt the propane because of restrictions in my workspace; so I found the Lee bottom pouring furnace which worked quite well. I found the pewter online, and if you are interested I will look up the website.

 

Mark

[SJSoane]

Hi everyone,

 

At last, the woodwork is done on the carriages. I am showing all 28, fully assembled and together for the first time. I still have to glue the quoins to the beds, but I realized that I will need to do that individually to ensure that all muzzles are neatly aligned for height. I have to think about a helpful jig.

 

I now have to start all of the metalwork, following my prototype in the last two photos.

 

In the second photo, I am showing how I used my beam measuring tool to set a distance for cutting wooden pins to a constant length. I had to pin the axles and the transom to the carriage sides, and this helped enormously to cut out a large number to the right length as opposed to measuring each one.

 

Getting closer, still a long way to go.

 

Mark

[mtaylor]

That's a big milestone, Mark.  Beautiful carriages.

[gjdale]

Lovely looking carriages Mark.

[EdT]

Bravo, Mark!

 

Ed

[druxey]

Well done, Mark. Another hurdle cleared.

[dgbot]

Nicely done and well made.

David B

[SJSoane]

 

Thanks, Mark, Grant, Ed, druxey and David. I still can't quite believe it took so many hours to get here. They look so simple in the drawings....

 

Mark

[Michel]

Très agréable, propre and.

Edited July 4, 2015 by Michel

[navymast]

Good morning, Mark. I have been watching your work. I also build models in the style of the Navy board. I have a question. Maybe you have thought through this question. The photo museum British models they have the same color. Almost always. Yellowish-brown, yellowish-pink, yellowish-cream. But there is always yellow. Regardless of the tree. Can you explain? This means that the models covered by stain? To equalize the color, for example. Sincerely, Vitaly.

[druxey]

All wood surfaces oxidise with time, whether varnished or not. Of course, old varnishes will yellow or brown with exposure to light, pollutants and air. After a century or more, wood species that were different colors darken and will look almost the same.

[navymast]

Yes, this answer would satisfy me. If it was a pear or apple. Conventional materials for the production model. But when there are strips of American walnut and pear, and they are the same color - there is doubt.