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

[dvm27]

Let me know how they turn out, Mark. I've done it that way also (Clay Feldman published the technique many moons ago). It worked fine but I realized I didn't make the scores deep enough to accommodate the round up the first time.

[SJSoane]

Hi everyone,

 

Scary is right. The little birdie on my shoulder was talking to me, and I wasn't quite listening. But you all reminded me. I put much additional safety into the setup by taking my Sherline guard from the lathe and putting it on the mill. Much, much better.

 

I took a great deal of time today, setting up a spreadsheet of the sizes of everything so they fit the openings of the coamings. I also worked out the menu for dialing in moves on the mill. I have shown an example for the fore hatch, which summarizes dimensions and dialing moves.

 

I also arranged to screw the wooden block down to the plate on the table. With a little fence on it, it allows me to repeat locations of workpieces so as to make sure I have enough leeway to make the full cuts. The Sherline is very restrictive in the length of cuts set up like this. And the clamps sometimes get in the way. I need to keep working on this idea for the future.

 

I have also shown the first effort at putting battens in; nothing glued or sanded, obviously. But I am also showing next to it the original grating, which in hindsight I realize had big enough holes in the gratings to trap the captain's heel just as he would have been running to something important. Good thing I caught the mistake....;-)

 

I have run out of time today, to finish gluing battens, and then to see how sanding away the bottom will reveal the ledges or not. But I do like the self-jigging of this process; last time I really struggled with spacers between ledges moving around while gluing battens. The bottom below the ledges is paper thin and I can see light through it. We'll see tomorrow.

 

Greg, thanks I knew I had seen the idea of sanding away the bottom somewhere; Clay Feldman!

 

Mark

 

[Jim Lad]

That looks much better with the guard on, Mark!  

 

By the way, Captains never run, no matter how urgent the situation might be.  They walk calmly and quietly to show the crew that everythings really OK, no matter how much they might be running at full speed inside!

 

John

[newbuilder101]

This is the first time stopping by your build...WOW! I thought of a wonderful list of adjectives for your craftsmanship, but all that came out was Wow!

[SJSoane]

 

Thanks, John, I could learn from the captains!

 

While pondering the next steps after the gratings, I have been looking at the pumps around the mainmast. My drawing from the Admiralty, ca. 1760, shows pumps tubes that are circular in plan. The later Coles-Bentinck pump of 1770s show rectangular tubes. Is there any reason to believe that mine are not circular? Would they have been continuous hollowed trunks like the dales, or made in sections for removal and cleaning? I have looked in Lavery's Arming and Fitting, which shows the drawing from Falconer ca. 1760 on page 71, with what appear to be continuous tubes of unknown cross-section....

 

Best wishes,

 

Mark

[druxey]

Now that's interesting, Mark. One wonders if this implies an experimental type of pump tube? The layout is certainly for two sets of chain pumps and their cisterns.

[SJSoane]

 

Hi druxey,

 

The more I read about this, the more interesting it gets. Please correct me if I haven't got anything right in what I am about to say...

 

Putting aside the mechanics inside, the first question for outward appearance is whether the tubes are square, octagonal or round. The pump with the most documentation that I can see is the Cole pump, which has square tubes. But this was first tested in 1768, almost a decade later than the Bellona of 1760, so my pump is earlier. Could my pump also have had square tubes, inherited later by the Cole pump?

 

The deck plan of the Bellona suggests round. And Falconer in his 1769 Dictionary shows pumps in his deck plan with round tubes just like the Bellona. But Falconer's detailed drawing of the pumps in elevation is described by Dodds and Moore (Building the Wooden Fighting Ship, p. 100) as a Cole pump. The elevation drawing does not reveal the cross section of the tubes. If this were a Cole pump, and Falconer shows his deck with round tubes like the Bellona, perhaps the circles in the plan show an inner tube, not the outer casing?

 

David Antscherl, vol. 1. and 2 gives great detail on the pump, and describes his reconstruction as predating the Cole. I am inclined to follow this. But he shows octagonal tubes, bored like the dale tubes. And he points out that dale tubes were earlier rounded after they left the cistern. Could the Bellona be showing rounded pump tubes, like the earlier dale tubes, as described by Antscherl?

 

Mark

[SJSoane]

 

Hi druxey,

 

On reading Antscherl in more detail, I drafted up the pumps based on the scanty information in the original admiralty drawings deck plan, and reconciled it with Antscherl's detailed reconstruction. I now believe that the circles I see in the deck plan may well be the rounded tops of the pump tubes seen within the cistern, not at the top of the deck where they have turned into octagons. I am going with the Antscherl reconstruction. Interestingly, the dimensions of the tubes on the 74 gun ship seem to be only an inch larger in diameter than the ones for the sloops. 

 

Mark

[Bruno Siljeg]

Hello Mark,very nice ship Bellona,I like it.I will continue to follow your work.I wish you successful completion.

[SJSoane]

Hi, everyone,

 

I finished making the gratings (sanding to profile yet to go...). The mill method worked fine, allowing me to make the gratings to exact size. Since the battens and ledges remain constant sizes in width, the only way to fit a specified opening exactly is to vary the spaces between in both directions. The mill allowed this kind of accuracy, and the gundeck drawing shows the new gratings fitting exactly. Sanding the bottom to reveal the spaces between ledges is fairly straightforward; I used sandpaper glued to plywood, to keep it all flat. The first photo shows what happens when the sanding gets close to finish--thin strips peel away. 

 

These are pretty accurately to size now, following Steel. My earlier ones were much out of scale; don't know how it happened, but .....

 

The last photo shows my new jig for  repeatedly cutting thin strips (the battens, in this case) from the left side of the saw. Much safer and cleaner cuts. Many thanks to Michael Mott who helped me refine this idea. You can see the discussion in the Tools Forum, under micro jig.

 

Best wishes,

 

Mark

 

 

[druxey]

Very nice made-to-measure gratings, Mark!

[gjdale]

Very nice Mark, and very clever too!

[SJSoane]

 

Hi everyone,

 

Work has kept me from the shipyard; I wish it was the other way around...

 

Here are the gratings and coamings completed. The Bellona has a very unusual serpentine curve to the upper side of the gratings and coamings. I made sanding blocks to accomplish this. The first photos show how I cut the template from thin plywood, then glued this to the end of a maple block. I then use a piloting bit on the router table to cut the profile all along the length of the block. I then rubber cemented sand paper to the surface, with some guide bars to keep the hatch/coaming in the center of the jig. I did the hatches and coaming separately, to get them down to size, and then I sanded them with the grating in the coaming frame so they would be exactly the same.

 

The coaming ends are rounded, but only above the level of the deck planking. To arrange this, I used a blank of wood the thickness of the decking as a spacer to use my chisel to cut the coamings at the right height. A file rounded them off nicely. I used masking tape and scored lines to keep the black shoe polish off the square corners. When the decking comes in, it should be a very nice fit.

 

I am showing a temporary jig for the main mast partners, to make sure everything fits and the mast rakes at the right angle, before constructing the partners.

 

Best wishes,

 

Mark

[WackoWolf]

Wow, you doing some excellent work man. I love the detail work your doing, going that extra step makes a big difference in the long run. Keep up the good work man it's going to pay off when the ship is done. Keep the pictures coming.

[michael mott]

Wow Mark that is some mighty fine woodwork. The gratings are beautiful.

 

Michael

[dvm27]

Those gratings and hatches look exceptional, Mark. Looks like your gratings were just thick enough to accommodate the round-up. The sanding jig is a keeper also.

 

Greg

[gjdale]

Beautifully done Mark. I love the cleanness and precision of your work.

[mtaylor]

Thanks for the tutorial, Mark.  You've made some beautiful gratings and coamings.

[SJSoane]

 

Hi everyone,

 

I was taken away from the shop by work for a number of months, and I have slowly been starting up again. I'll post a few updates.

 

I focused on the mainmast and its immediate area. Here I am showing the mainmast under development. The basic construction is taken from Antscherl's Fully Framed Model Vol. IV, which planes a blank to an octagon, and then is smoothed round with sandpaper.

 

I developed a couple of jigs to help. First, I put some nylon screws in the bottom of the jig for planing 4 and then 8 sides. As the mast is tapered, it kept rocking in the jig. This way, I can raise a screw underneath the blank to keep it level as I plane. Really helped. I also am showing a jig for marking the 7-10-7 proportions on the side of the 4 square blank; planing to these lines creates a perfect octagon. And rather than draw the proportions on each side, this jig lets me scribe the same on all sides, very quickly. I just hold the two end pins firmly against the sides of the blank, and let the middle ones scribe a line. It can accommodate the tapers and still keep the lines in proportion. I drilled the holes for the jig in the mill, which allowed me to dial in exactly the right distances to drill.

 

I am also showing the setup for drilling out the partners for the mast wedge. The partners and the mast are both at different angles, and so I set this up on the angle plate on the mill to get an accurate bore. I built the partners up from the various parts, including the 45 degree chocks.

 

And then I aligned the mast with a ruler on an adjustable drafting triangle to get the right fore and aft rake; and a holding jig at the top of the hull timbers to keep the mast centered. Fortunately, everything lined up on center.

 

Best wishes,

 

Mark

 

 

[EdT]

Looking good, Mark.  Glad to see you back.

 

Ed

[SJSoane]

 

Hi everyone,

 

I then started on the pump cisterns. I had originally planned to run the pump tubes down into the hold, but after trying some mock-ups, I reminded myself that my stylized dockland framing system really does start everything above the gun deck for a reason. Without an orlop, a well, or anything else along with the tubes, I decided they would look silly all by themselves down in the hold. So I followed the lead of the HMS Princess Royal in the Legacy of a Model book, and built stub tube tops between the partners and the bottom of the cisterns.

 

I pondered how to build the coopered covers on the pumps; at 3/16" scale, a ¾" thick shell was too thin to get good coopered joints. So I cheated a little. I turned a wood blank, and then layered the ¾" pieces (plus a little for trimming) on the blank. I then re-chucked this, and turned the assembly down to final size, leaving a clean and accurately sized hood. I cut off the lower half of the blank, leaving the half round hood. They aren't hollow, but I didn't build the pump inside anyway...

 

Best wishes,

 

Mark

[SJSoane]

 

Hi everyone,

 

After building the cisterns, I discovered how difficult it was to locate them square to the mast partners, and the right distance from the mortises for the jeer bitts. So I built a little spacing jig, slotted into the mortises in the partners and with a spacer the right distance to the cistern. Once the cisterns were clamped in place against the jig, I was then able to drill down with a Foredom through the stub pump tube tops, for location pins. I also used this jig to align the hoods so that the future pump handles running through the hoods will line up with the inner face of the bitts where the rhodings will be attached. I made a little sliding joint on the bottom of the hoods so that they could move a little on the cistern athwartships, to allow precise alignment.

 

And finally, in keeping with the color scheme of the dockyard models that so I admire, I stained the cisterns red, to match the riding bitts. In the closeup, you can see the stump tube tops, and a simplified drain plug. The bearings are still to come. The long shots show how nicely the red accents are showing up along the length of the hull. I know color is not to the taste of everyone, but I like the overall effect of colored accents against the natural wood.

 

I am being pulled back to work issues, so I may not be able to work and then post for a while. It was a nice run while it lasted....

 

Best wishes,

 

Mark

[SJSoane]

 

Thanks, Ed, I have really missed keeping up with the website. I did manage to get a copy of your latest book, however. It is a masterpiece! I am referring to it regularly as I ponder how to undertake certain tasks on the Bellona. A masterpiece! I also see that you have started a new build here. I look forward to following it with as much enthusiasm as I did with the Naiad build.

 

Best wishes,

 

Mark

[druxey]

Looking lovely, as usual, Mark! One will never know that those cistern hoods aren't hollow.

[Remcohe]

Good to see you back Mark, you haven't lost you touch, beautiful as ever.

 

Remco

[EdT]

Thank you, Mark.  I really appreciate the comments on the book.  If someone with your skills can learn something from it, it was worth the effort.  Thanks again.

 

The new build is off to a good start and an interesting project.  Many things different - and some new methods emerging as well.

 

I know the dilemma aligning those pump cisterns and also all the shaft rhodings.  Yours look terrific

 

Ed

[michael mott]

Beautiful work as always! good to see you doing some more work. it has been a while.

 

Michael

[Blue Ensign]

Beautiful work Mark, a wonderful example of the shipwrights art.

 

B.E.

[SpencerC]

This is incredible. .. I cannot believe how beautiful your hull turned out... Wow. I am speechless.

[SJSoane]

 

HI everyone,

 

Druxey, remco, EdT, Michael, blue ensign, spencerC, thank you for your kind comments. And many apologies for not replying sooner; work is really getting in the way of the shipyard these days! 

 

After finishing up around the main mast, I sat down one day to finish up the mortises in the beams for carlings. I was inspired by Gaetan, who advised me that doing the same thing over and over, and in a logical order, is efficient, meditative, and it improves one's skills. So I told myself I was not leaving the shop until the remaining mortises were cut. It was hours later, but very satisfying to see all of these after a number of years of looking at the deck without mortises. Gaetan was absolutely right in his advice. i processed each step on all beams, then went back to the first for the next step. It build a great rhythm.

 

I then turned my attention to the step for the main capstan. You will see in the photo of the original Admiralty drawing that this was very cryptic. How does a circle sit on the beams, and how does one plank up to the circle? I then came across a photo of the Ajax cut away model, showing the entire gun deck. It showed this step as a raised surface in a rectangular plank. After reviewing Steel, I decided that it was really a central, thicker plank, with thinner planks on either side to make up the width across the two central carlings. You can see the dotted line of the three planks in the Admiralty drawing. The projection at the front of the circle is to provide a surface for the pawls, which pivot from the fore edge of the projection and can be kicked under the capstan when wishing to stop rotation either way (another fun part to make some day).

 

I also remembered from David Antscherl's book that the top surface of the capstan step would have to be parallel to the keel, not parallel to the deck. This is because the capstan turns on an axis perpendicular to the keel, and the aft side would be higher off the deck than the fore side because the deck slopes at this point. Then it made sense that the circle would provide the surface parallel to the keel, and the remainder of the step would be flush with the decking and therefore parallel with the deck, to avoid places to trip when working the capstan. Very ingenious design, when you finally figure out what they were doing.

 

I had fun with the mill making this. First, you see the step sitting in a vise on the tilting table, having one surface milled down at 1 ½ degrees to match the difference between the deck angle and a line parallel to the keel. Then you see the rotating table, with the step mounted on top. I first used a Starrett wiggler on the central hole of the rotating table to align it with the mill spindle. Then I clamped the step on top, using a Starrett wiggler to locate the center of the step circle also under the mill spindle. I then used a mill cutter to cut a perfect circle around the edge, leaving a flat base with a raised circle at the 1 ½ degree angle. I used chisels to clean up the serpentine curve on either side at the fore end.

 

I stole the capstan from midships for the photos. I now need to build the second capstan....

 

Best wishes,

 

Mark