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

[SJSoane]

Hi everyone,

 

A little more progress. I used the jig to shape the quarterdeck transom, by gluing sandpaper on the upper surface of the jig to fair the transom to it. I also fitted three clamps to hold the transom in place while I marked the dovetails with the vertical counter timbers. The first photo shows the transom before dovetailing, set forward from the aft face of the counter timbers so the frames for the lights can fit flush between the vertical timbers. The original Bellona model shows this offset between counter timber and transom, and it  took me sometime to figure out; perhaps I'll do a drawing later to show this.

 

The second photo shows the counter timbers dovetailed into the quarterdeck transom. I only have to make the upper counter moulding, fair the faces of the counter timbers, and it is time to glue up! That will be another month at my current rate....

 

Mark

[michael mott]

 

That will be another month at my current rate....

Ahh but better that doing it three times at my rate.

 

Great work Mark.

 

Michael

[druxey]

Slow and steady is good, Mark. This tricky area is working out very nicely. Looking very nice indeed!

[SJSoane]

 

Hi everyone,

 

After many months, I was finally able to remove the jig today, and see the stern in all its glory.

 

I still have to trim the short pieces in the window sill area, and fair inside and out before finally gluing up and starting the transoms inboard. But it is definitely looking more like a real stern.

 

The whole thing is shockingly fragile. No wonder a broadside into the stern would just about finish the day....

 

Best wishes,

 

Mark

 

 

[michael mott]

Wow Mark that looks really outstanding. very nice work on the dovetails as well.

 

Michael

[SJSoane]

 

Thanks, Michael. I don't know how I would have pulled this off without a jig. Each piece depends upon several other pieces to locate it, so everything is floating around without something to anchor it at least temporarily. And now the most important part--equal spacing of the window frames--is guaranteed by the original spacing in the jig.

 

I can only imagine how the original shipwrights located these two story tall counter timbers. There must have been lot of shoring and propping...

 

Mark

[mtaylor]

Beautiful work on the stern framing, Mark.   I guess that if we knew how the old shipwrights did it, we could duplicate their methods and make modeling a bit easier on ourselves.

[DORIS]

Just  perfect, it looks better and better. Great work on the wood frame.
My admiration to your craftsmanship.

Kind regards

Doris

[SJSoane]

 

 

Beautiful work on the stern framing, Mark.   I guess that if we knew how the old shipwrights did it, we could duplicate their methods and make modeling a bit easier on ourselves.

Thanks, Mark, don't you sometimes feel you are channeling model builders from the 18th century, when you make exactly the same piece you know they made 2 ½ centuries ago?

 

 

Just  perfect, it looks better and better. Great work on the wood frame.
My admiration to your craftsmanship.

Kind regards

Doris

Thank you Doris, coming from you who is one of the very best builders on this site, this is a very high compliment!

[mtaylor]

Thanks, Mark, don't you sometimes feel you are channeling model builders from the 18th century, when you make exactly the same piece you know they made 2 ½ centuries ago?

 

 

Indeed, but from my end, they did it better.  From your end, you're doing it better.   

[SJSoane]

 

Hi everyone,

 

I continue to work on the stern, which proves to be the most complex thing I have ever built. Each piece interacts with several others, like a basket-weave. Nothing can be finally fixed, until others are fixed, which in turn depend on the first piece, etc. I discovered that even pinning things together doesn't entirely work, because the pieces move enough that fine fitting of another part is always off a bit.

 

So I decided to firm up the middle, with the rudder port chocks glued to the two adjacent vertical timbers, holding the center timber. With this as a foundation, the other parts can be fitted to something solid. That center piece was a bit tricky to shape, and I am showing a Sherline vise held by my bench vise, which allowed it to be held without breaking the open end.

 

I am also showing the helm port transom on the fore side of the timbers. Eventually, it will be cut in the middle, to come down to the top of the stern post. But I decided to keep it whole while fitting everything, to keep everything in alignment.

 

I keep thinking I am only a short time away from gluing it all up, but each little fitting of parts takes forever. Maybe next week....

 

Best wishes,

 

Mark

 

 

 

 

[michael mott]

That is some very nice joinery Mark, and tricky fits as well.

 

michael

[Sailor1234567890]

The stern of these ships are very complex structures. You're doing a fine job of it. Keep it up. I love watching the progress.

[druxey]

Very tricky, very nice!

 

Sometimes, if one has to clamp a U-shaped structure such as the helm port framing you've illustrated, a temporary filler piece across the open side will prevent breakage.

[EdT]

Exceptional work as always, Mark.  Flawless.  I sometimes forget the 1/64 scale. At this smaller scale, perfect fit up is harder.  Well done.

 

The stern is certainly complex.  Wait till you get to the head rails and timbers.  I sometimes find it helpful to think of how the original was erected - one piece at a time, rather than with prefitted sub-assemblies.  Sometimes it is easier having a solidly anchored piece to fit to or measure from, but you seem to be doing just fine so I will just continue to watch. 

 

Ed

[gjdale]

Outstanding Mark, and a joy to watch!

[SJSoane]

 

Thank you, Michael, Sailor, Druxey, Ed and Grant. Each week, I keep thinking I will finally be able to show the stern assembled and glued; but entire days go by with file and fit, file and fit. It really helps keep me going in these more tedious moments with your words of encouragement!

 

I just have to remind myself that a model maker did exactly this same thing 250 years ago, on the original Bellona model. And probably by candlelight as deadlines approached...

 

Best wishes,

 

Mark

[SJSoane]

 

Hi everyone,

 

So I finally figured out--I think--the intersection of the helm port transom and the stern post. After reviewing the photos of the original Bellona model very carefully, the helm port transom clearly intersects the stern post a little aft of center, with a bit of stern post both fore and aft of the helm port transom. So what kind of joint would suit this?

 

I considered a bridle joint intersecting the stern post. But I abandoned this idea, because this would weaken the post at the top by splitting it in two for the helm port transom to pass through. And I began to think that the continuity of the transom all the way across the stern for structural integrity was not necessary anyway. If the transom is split to save the integrity of the post, the two pieces of the transom still bridge on either side between two strong and stable anchoring points, the outer counter timber and the stern post. Furthermore, the upper deck transom (not shown yet in model or drawing) is only a little way above and aft of the helm port transom, and it bridges entirely across the stern giving all the transverse structural integrity needed here.

 

So accepting a split helm port transom, the joint to the stern post is either a dovetail or a mortise and tenon. Maybe I decided on the latter because I did not see how easily I would cut a dovetail in the top or the stern post at this late date. But I prefer to think I decided on the mortise and tenon because it would leave the stern post most structurally integral, and would provide no joint on top of the post for admitting water. This is my story and I am sticking with it....

 

The drawing shows the intersection without the lower chock for clarity, while the model shows the chocks in place, hiding the lower piece of the helm port transom on either side of the stern post.

 

Best wishes,

 

Mark

 

 

[druxey]

That's as shipwrightly a solution to that geometry as one can make it, Mark. Looks very good.

[SJSoane]

 

Hi everyone,

 

Big event today. I started on the stern before Christmas, and today I finally glued everything except the upper and lower counter moldings and the two vertical counter timbers above the gun port cills. The moldings need profiles shaped before gluing, and the remaining counter timbers need a little more fitting. It is all looking shipshape!

 

Very, very slow progress on this. Good thing I am not doing this for money....

 

Best wishes,

 

Mark

 

 

[newbuilder101]

Great accomplishment!  Beautifully done!

[Beef Wellington]

What a wonderful build you have going on here Mark, really outstanding.  Will definitely be following from here on.

[dvm27]

Well, you certainly could do it for money, Mark. Beautifully executed.

[druxey]

I agree with Greg. Definitely professional grade! Well done on achieving this milestone, Mark.

[mtaylor]

I'll join the chorus.  That is beautiful work.  Very well done, sir.  Pop a few buttons and be proud of it. 

[Trussben]

Congrats Mark on a major milestone, you've done a fantastic job on that stern.

 

Ben

[SJSoane]

 

Thank you, everyone, for your encouraging thoughts. Who would ever guess in advance that would take so long, and be so fiddly? Imagine doing that with 2 story tall full size oak timbers...

 

Mark

[druxey]

Yup, this style of model is not for the hasty or faint of heart. And it always takes much longer than you expect. However, the payoff - eventually - is enormous.

[Jim Lad]

Just catching up, Mark.  She really looks first class!

 

John

[SJSoane]

 

Hi everyone,

 

I haven't seen the Bellona upside down for several years; kind of scary unbolting it from the building board! In all the years of studying, drawing and visualizing the stern, I confess I did not fully appreciate how much the lower counter forms a horizontal shelf. I wonder how many ships boys found a nice place for a nap in the little cubby between the lower counter and the upper deck.

 

I am fairing the lower counter, and hoping to start planking it tomorrow. I'll re-read the great tutorials on planking on the website first...

 

Mark