HMS Atalanta 1775 by tlevine - FINISHED - 1:48 scale - from TFFM plans

[druxey]

Coming along very nicely, Toni. However, watch out for the tilt aft of the lights: yours are too vertical at present, I think.

[tlevine]

Thanks, Druxey.  Gone for a few days.  I will check the alignment when I get home.  It looks a lot more vertical in the pictures than I thought it was.  And thank you everyone for the likes.

[Dan Vadas]

Toni, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I have to agree with David, your lights look far too square. It looks like you have made the verticals at 90 degrees to the waterline, whereas (from memory) they should be at 12 degrees from the vertical. Take a look at the difference in the pics below. The verticals should be about the same angle as the transom :

 

 

Danny

[tlevine]

Looking at the plans, the angle for Atalanta is 8 degrees.  Interestingly, Fly (and apparently Vulture) is 12 degrees.  I had everything correct initially and then got distracted by seeing the framing through the munions.  That would also explain why the lights made up from templates did not fit into the fenestration.  I have ripped the whole thing out.  I also decided that I did not like the look of the bell-top.  It was 4" too wide, resulting in a center light that was also too wide.  Hopefully, the redo will not take as long .

[tlevine]

Let's just say that the redo is taking just as long as the first attempt.  I have not cleaned it up yet but I think everyone will agree that it looks better (I hope).  Next on the agenda is making the carvings to be applied to the munions.  These will be similar to the ones between the stern windows.

 

 

 

[druxey]

Ah! Much nicer looking this time, Toni!

[dvm27]

Excellent redo, Toni!

[tlevine]

Thank you, gentlemen and thanks to everyone for the likes.  

[Dan Vadas]

Way to go Toni, much better .

 

Danny

[mtaylor]

Beautiful, Toni.

[TomShipModel]

Looking Great!  It's amazing how a very slight change makes such a difference.

 

Tom

[tlevine]

The next piece to install is the upper finishing.  This is the carved "roof" over the quarter badge windows.  These are covered with carvings.  I ran into two problems: first, the design is impossible to determine from the plans and second, the lack of skill carving wood.  I also looked at photos of the model held at RMG and could not determine the design from them either.  Since the pilasters will be the same design as seen on the taffarel, I chose a leaf and vine design to complement them.  The upper finishing is a bear to make as it must fit snugly to the upper stool and bell light as well as the hull.  I roughly shaped it oversize to compensate for any mistakes made with the carving.  The horizontal munions were replace before the final installation.  At this point nothing, including the lights are glued in place.

 

 

The next two photos show the carving on the upper finishing.  I was unhappy with the shape of the crown on top and sanded that down, fabricated a new one and installed it after the upper finishing was glued in place.

 

 

 

 

The last photos show the quarter badge after the pilasters were installed and  after a coat of Watco's had been applied.  The deep areas look overly dark because the finish was still wet when I took the pictures.  I still need to add a small base and capital to the pilasters.

 

 

 

 

[kurtvd19]

Outstanding!

[druxey]

This, and the lower finishing, are really tough things to do. I think you did very well on your upper finishing.

[paulsutcliffe]

looks great toni, nice work

Regards Paul 

[ChrisLBren]

Looks terrific Toni !!!

[Trussben]

Very nice Toni

[mtaylor]

[TomShipModel]

Well done Toni.  The whole presentation looks terrific.

 

Tom

[tlevine]

Thank you folks for your kind comments and thanks everyone for the likes.

 

After much wailing and gnashing of teeth I have finally completed the quarter badge.  The lower finishing is comprised of five separate pieces: three carved pieces and two moldings.  The patterns were taken from the plan.  The round part at the bottom appears to be a carnation-type flower on the plan.  I hope you don't have to use your imagination too much!  The console brackets are the carved decorations on either side of the badge.  Having practiced with the NRG/Passaro carving blanks made this go a lot easier than I had anticipated.

 

 

 

[frank shurick]

Very beautiful. You have top shelf modeling skills.

 

Very impressed!

[dvm27]

Congratulations on completing a very difficult area, Toni. It looks wonderful!

[druxey]

Now you know why it's called the finishing. I bet you are glad to be finished with it! Well done.

[tlevine]

Druxey, you had better believe that I am happy to be done with it.  It suddenly hit me today that I am nearing the end of this project (except for the figurehead which is project all in itself).  My goal is to have it completed to take to the NRG Conference in October.

[MEDDO]

Would love to see it in person.  It looks so good in pictures.

[tlevine]

Well, I certainly have not added much to the build log lately but I have been busy.  I have started going through the punch list, finishing small parts that I was afraid would get lost or damaged along the way.  I also made the cat crown.  I held off on making this while I practiced some more with relief carving.  After the quarter badge I think I have had all the practice I want for a while!  The color difference will go away after a finish is applied.

 

 

There are eight stanchions (hammock cranes) on the quarter deck rail.  These are made of square brass rod with brass tubing silver soldered to the end for the passing rope.  Each one of these is a different height to compensate for the rise of the deck.  Two holes were drilled into the base and bolts were passed through the holes into the rail.  The bolts are actually brass lil pins whose heads have been filed into a flat square.  You can just barely make them out in the second picture.  To facilitate drilling the holes in the rail I removed the quarter rail temporarily.  There is a scale 7" clearance between the quarter rail and the stanchion.  Next on the to-do list is the anchor.

 

 

 

[albert]

Great work, very very nice.

[alde]

Absolutely incredible.

[TomShipModel]

Very well done Toni.  I note that there is a skylight on the quarter deck.  You might have answered this already, earlier on, but can you tell me if the skylight was on your plans?  I am doing a 6th rate as well.  I'm thinking of putting on a skylight but it isn't shown on any of the plans that I have.  I'm building it as it was after two rebuilds, so a skylight could have been added.  I'm wondering if that was a typical practice.

 

Tom

[Maury S]

Toni,  Looking great! Looking better and better.  The middle stanchion in the photo looks like it has  a more rounded bend than the others.  I'm surprised that a plate was not called for at the bottom of the stanchions.  (Picky, I know, but I miss little details all the time and appreciate it when fresh eyes point them out.)

Maury