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

[tlevine]

Time for a bit of an update.  The quarter deck framing is completed.  There are several openings in the midline which need to be addressed.  Most forward is the ladderway, followed by the upper capstan step.  Behind that are three gratings panels.  Each of the gratings is designed to be different in width, so they needed to be made individually, rather than making a long strip of grating and simply cutting off the length required.

 

This leaves a final opening in front of the mizzen mast.  On the deck plan there is a dotted line within the outline of the hatch, suggesting that the was a structure inserted into the opening.  The openings for the grating do not have the same dotted line; therefore the structure was not a grating.  David states that it is possible there was a companion over this opening.  On the plan view there is no structure visible above the hatch coaming.  Below this opening is the salon...officer's country.  I doubt they would have wanted to get wet or, even more so, have their conversations overheard.  So a companion will be made for the opening.

 

Finally, there is a scuttle for the topmast tackle in front of and lateral to the ladderway opening.

 

 

 

 

 

[albert]

Wonderful work Toni.

[Elmer Cornish]

very nice!

[tlevine]

I made a companion for the opening in front of the mizzen mast.  The walls were made in a laminated fashion using two layers of castello and mica for the glazing.  In order to provide some contrast, the roof is pau marfin.  The dark line in the aft portion of the hatch is figuring in the wood.  Nothing will be glued in place until after the deck has been installed.

 

 

 

 

I have partially planked the quarter deck in the same fashion as the forecastle deck (a center plank flanked by two rows of decking).  These planks taper from fore to aft.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[druxey]

Very neatly done, Toni. I like the clerestory lights.

[albert]

Very great beautiful work.

[BANYAN]

Very nice Toni, that looks great.  i have just noticed your excellent ironwork also.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Jim Lad]

That just looks so beautiful, Toni!

 

John

[Maury S]

Very nice.  

Maury

[tlevine]

Thank you everyone for the likes and the kind comments.  

[tlevine]

I have not had much time to work on Atalanta lately.  I got suckered into restoring a friend's tourist quality model.  We have all heard the story...  "Dearly departed Dad loved it so much and it reminds me of him."  Unfortunately, dear dad had no compunction about smoking in the same room with it or spilling a beverage over it.  At least the local hospital auxilliary will get a nice donation as payment for my effort.

 

The deck has been scraped down and two coats of Watco's have been applied, separated by 24 hours between coats.  The shine is because I was not patient enough to wait until tomorrow to take pictures.

 

 

 

Next on the agenda is the steering apparatus.  I actually was looking forward to making a ship's wheel.  I have never made one and this was one of my driving reasons behind purchasing a mill.  On the plans there are faint pencil markings for where the wheel was placed.  These markings were obviously not part of the original design.  My guess is that a wheel was installed when she refitted and coppering in 1778.  There is also a model (not on display) at the Royal Museum Greenwich which definitely shows a tiller.  So, a tiller it is.  I made my tiller of a less extreme angle than shown on the model.  The end of the model's tiller looked like it was almost five feet from the deck.  I made mine to end just above waist level to facilitate handling.  The model also shows a cabinet built around the rudder head.  This definitely was not on the plan so I am leaving it exposed.  I spent too much time making that rudder head look good to cover it up unnecessarily.

 

The tiller is made of castello with a knob of pear.  Looking through the RMG collection of tillers I found everything from what looked like a 4x4 to a fancifully carved piece of art.  I did a simple embossing of the sides.  The top was left plain.

 

 

 

 

 

[druxey]

Nicely carved, Toni. With the tiller almost parallel to the deck, does it dip down too far toward the deck when the tiller is swung? If so, simply turn the tiller the other way up!

[dvm27]

Looks terrific, Toni. With the tiller you still have the option of installing a small binnacle aft of the mast if you like. The 1:96 scale Atalanta model is one of my favorites!

[albert]

Very nice work Toni.

[tlevine]

Thanks for the likes, everyone.  Druxey, thank you for catching that.  I inserted the tiller into the rudder for the picture, as you noted, upside down.  Greg, I plan on making the binnacle and may even show the capstan with the bars inserted.  

[Elijah]

Very nice job with your rudder, Toni! How do you make your iron work? It is very neat.

[Valter64]

Wow!

 

Wonderful job!

 

 

Valter

[tlevine]

Elijah, the iron work is all brass strip which has been silver soldered and then blackened.  The bolts in the rudder are brass wire.

[Jim Lad]

Lovely job on the rudder and tiller, Toni.

 

John

[giampieroricci]

magnificent !!

[Martin W]

Yes, that knob puts the final brilliant touch on it!

 

It's nice to hear you're using Watco's -- I really want to cure myself of polyurethane.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[rwiederrich]

I love these *exploded* assembly view models...definitely demonstrates the builders skill...and the vessels construction.

 

My oh my.

 

Rob

[michael mott]

Beautiful Workmanship Toni, a question regarding the tops of the frames on the open side, do they get trimmed to length or am I missing something?

 

Michael

[druxey]

Michael: those protruding timbers are formed into timberheads. I suspect that on the port side Toni will add these as separate items.

[michael mott]

 

I suspect that on the port side Toni will add these as separate items.

Forgive my ignorance Druxey but is this a common practice with this type of model?

 

Michael

[druxey]

No forgiveness required, Michael. In the color photo of Atalanta posted above you will see the black timberheads (for hitching lines to) below the roughtree rail. This was common before belaying racks and pins were more universally adopted. This was necessitated by the closed in and built up bulwarks.

Edited February 8, 2017 by druxey

[tlevine]

Thanks Druxey.  Michael, its is as he said.  It is too difficult for me to create the rail with the holes for the timberheads in the exact correct location so they were cut off on the port side and will be added later.  The final height for the frames is not exactly right a this time.  I was afraid, considering the lenghth of time for construction, they would get damaged.  They will get their final trim when I am closer to the end of the build.  Please keep in mind that I frequently travel to work for a week at a time.  Atalanta gets to travel with me in the back seat of the car so anything protruding from the top or either end is at risk of damage.

[michael mott]

Thank you Druxey and Toni for the explanation, now I understand.

 

Michael

[tlevine]

It has been a while since my last posting, not for lack of working on Atalanta but for a lack of acceptable results.  The next items to make were the rails surrounding the stairway.  There are four iron stanchions supporting a rail on three sides.  The aft two are shorter to compensate for the angle of the quarter deck.  My first thought was to turn the stanchions.  There is a ball top and a flared base.  Sounds simple enough...  I tried every imaginable rpm and feed rate and universally the piece snapped off before completion.  I looked at Dan's Vulture log and he stated that he was able to turn the stanchions.  Suffice to say, after way too many hours of frustration, I gave up.  On to Plan B.  I used segments of brass tubing threaded on to the correct diameter brass wire for the ball and flare, silver soldering them in place.  Then I hand-filed the appropriate shapes.  Two of the stanchions have a single eye soldered on to them and the other two have a figure of 8 so two rails could attach to them.  All told, this deceptively simple part took almost 8 hours (otherwise known as an entire weekend).  

 

The upper capstan is temporarily positioned and the cleats have been installed.

 

 

 

[druxey]

I agree that those stanchions are very tricky to make. I found trying to solder two eyes on the two stanchions that required them the worst part of the job. However, you've achieved an excellent end result, Toni.