HMS Fly by vths - Victory Models - Scale 1:64 - Second wooden kit build

[vths]

Thanks. Alistair, the kink is noticable, but only from above, so the rails should sort it out as well as the inner planking. Anyway I did not give much thought about the stern piece, cause I simply needed it in place to protect the captain's cabin. So that is something that only future me will have to deal with.

[Martin W]

Nice planking there, Vitus.  I'm with Alistair:  the tapering looks really good, giving the deck a tidy appearance.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[vths]

Hello everyone, after a few moments (months) pause I've finished planking the forecastle, placed the front pair of sixpounders and found a place for the stove. Looks like the cook will have a hard time working under the beam, but the was no way around. At least I tapered it a bit. 

 

Now it is time for treenails, yay!

 

 

 

Edited August 3, 2014 by vths

[Mirabell61]

Nice planking on all 3 decks Vitus,

 

your "HMS Fly" is coming on very well...

 

Nils

[vths]

Thanks, unfortunately, that forecastle planking is all wrong, so I'm doing it again

[vths]

OK, now the hooking should be right. 

 

[aliluke]

Very nice update Vitus. Superb deck planking - you sure beat me for symmetry - it looks spot on.

 

Have a look at my log for your breast beam plank question. It strikes me that the ends of the planks need to butt to a perpendicular plank. The exposed end grain of the planks would absorb moisture something bad if not for this.

 

P.S. Just had a look back through your log - there are lots of missing pictures. Could you re-load them for us?

Edited August 4, 2014 by aliluke

[vths]

Thanks Alistair. I'll see what I can do about the pictures. Now I'm struggling with the cap rails. The little bent pieces are made of tanganyika. It still was not easy to do, but it was possible with a bit of patience. Now I'm thinking about the top of the transome and what to do with it. Is there also supposed to be a cap rail?

 

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT: Missing photos reuploaded

Edited August 14, 2014 by vths

[vths]

Cap rails are finally finished. Now it is time to create the deck furniture, finish the transome (that'll be a pain), rudder, the rest of the guns, decoration, etc.

 

 

[Mirabell61]

beautiful cap rail work Vitus,

 

also all other work clean and neat, Looks great

 

Nils

[vths]

Thanks Nils, I find your Pegasus build very inspiring, keep up the good work,

[Martin W]

That's an impressive revision on the forecastle planking -- both in terms of the work and that you took the time to do over what didn't satisfy you.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[vths]

Thanks, I know I would regret it so there was no other way than doing it again. Now the capstain. 

 

The kit has a bit simplified version so I created it to correspond to the TFFM plans. The reinforcing ring is made of copper sheet. 

 

 

 

 

[vths]

Just finished the capstan adding two pawls and created gratings. 

 

[vths]

Today I've created the top for aft companion using 1 mm thick tanganyika. The little windows were the hardest, but the wood held together, so my first go was successful one. 

 

Looks like I will have to mend it a bit to make it flush with the gratings.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 19, 2014 by vths

[aliluke]

Very nice work on the cap rails (you have sailed past me on those but I've been away...) and fittings. I couldn't pull off the side windows on the skylight - well done - and the other difference is I set my piece within, rather than on top of, the coaming which makes it smaller and lower.

[vths]

Thanks, Alistair. I decided to copy Dan's companion top from his superb Vulture and that is a bit larger than yours. If it were smaller, I think I would also have a very hard time creating the side windows. Still, it is a bit oversized and rather close to the mizzen mast due to one silly mistake of mine, so I will probably have to take it apart and scale it down somehow. Yippee

[vths]

Looks like I have the same problem as you, Alistair. I was not aware that the opening for gratings in the gun deck and opening for stairs in the quarterdeck overlap each other, so now it is not possible to place the stair right. Well now it's too late to do something about it. Guess the next build will be from a scratch, then I will be able to make just my own mistakes

 

 

 

 

Anyway I've rebuilt the companion top to make it narrower and its base was tapered. 

 

 

 

[Martin W]

That is a terrific companionway, Vitus.  The window/lights look to be exactly right.  Did you just cut those out with an exacto?

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[vths]

Thanks Martin. I made a long strip of windows using computer and printed it at the right scale. Then I glued two sides of the companionway together using just a little bit of PVA and a strip of five or four windows on them. Then I drilled a small hole with a .6mm bit in each corner of each window, cut them out with a very sharp exacto and finished them with a fine file.

 

I would also recommend gluing a piece of paper on the other side of the plank to strenghten it, because it tends to break during the process. It is also good to apply a coat of varnish first to seal the fiber.

[Martin W]

A very interesting process, with admirable results.  I don't think, however, I would know how to do the computer part.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[vths]

Well that is quite easy  For example in Photoshop create a new picture with the same ratio as the piece. So if the piece measures 18 x 5 mm, you can create a picture of 900 x 250 pixels. Then draw the windows or anything else - in this case just black rectangulars and fiddle with them to put them in right position. It is also good to make a frame around the whole picture (you'll know where to cut it). The last step is to print it out using scaled print size choosing the actual dimensions of the wooden piece for the whole picture, so in this case 18 x 5 mm again. The printer will provide you with a template of just the right size. 

 

What I did looked something like this

 

 

 

[vths]

I felt a bit irritated about the stairs, so I finally decided to make a ropewalk. It is a simple jig with cogwheels and the one in the center can be attached to a motor. I had no luck making it work in horizontal position so I tried putting it vertically, which works just fine, but I've only tried it once that way. What I'll need is a better motor that can work in both directions. 

 

 

 

 

 

Result of the first successful attempt

 

 

[jastrząb]

Great rope!!!

Greetings,

Paweł

[vths]

Now I'm trying to improve the head and since the parts from the kit are either unfit or missing, most of them were made from scratch. Still, the head is not as it should be, but it will do. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Martin W]

I second that -- Very Nice Indeed.  And some good looking rope from your ropewalk.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[vths]

Thanks guys, much appreciated. A small update: 

 

 

 

[vths]

Added seats of ease, catheads and especially their supporting construction which was a bit tricky to make as well as the gaps for the sheaves. 

 

 

 

 

[aliluke]

Very, very nice Vitus. I'm not looking forward to these parts and that is an admirable lead.

[vths]

Thanks, I'm sure you'll do a good job and I look forward to seeing the result, so get on with it