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

[druxey]

Any takers, then?

[dgbot]

I will not take that bet.

David B

[tlevine]

Sadly, Druxey, you have got me thinking.  Should the sailor have a mug of grog while he is lying in his hammock?  Or reading his Kindle?

[mtaylor]

Uh-oh.....  better order in more popcorn. 

[robbl]

I suspect "kindling" would be frowned upon below decks of a wooden ship ....

[tlevine]

OK, here we go with my interpretation of hammocks.  Remco, I'm glad you are so far ahead of me so I don't embarrass myself attempting to duplicate your hammocks!

 

First of all, I had no idea how the hammocks were designed.  I found some pictures and sketches on the web to guide me. The hammocks are a regulation six feet long.  I made mine three feet wide.  Multiple cords (nettles) are sewn to the hammock and end in a ring.  A lanyard then extends from the ring to the batten and then doubles back and is secured proximal to the ring.  The right hand picture actually shows the hammock suspended from battens on the far side of the beam.  The drawing in TFFM suggests they are suspended from the near side of the beam, so I used that interpretation.

 

 

 

The next problem was materials.  After some experimentation, I decided to use 2 ply of Kleenex impregnated with dilute yellow glue.  The look was initially too shiny but after rewetting a few times and rubbing them down the final look is one of used canvas.  I added ten nettles per side and secured them on the underside with an additional single ply strip of Kleenex.  I used an unblackened brass ring to secure the nettles.  I was afraid the blackening would rub off with all of the handling.  I used the finest thread I had available (No. 100 Cordonet) for the nettles, but they are too heavy appearing. The lanyard is No.30 Cordonet.

 

 

 

Now comes the "interesting" part.  I like to think I am a pretty decent surgeon.  Surgery is easy compared to sculpting.  I made my sailor out of Sculpy.  He is 5'6" tall.  When I baked him he got a little burnt.  I guess I won't have to paint any brown shoes on him.    I am not home this week and so he won't be painted until next week.  I moistened one of the hammocks and wrapped it around my sailor so it would look like he was laying in the hammock.  The other two hammocks will be shown trussed.  These were also moistened to that they could be folded.  After the folds had dried, the hammocks were trussed.

 

 

 

 

I tried to hang the hammocks as depicted in the drawing but simply could not get the thread tied proximal to the ring. So I tied the hammocks off to the batten.  I removed two ledges to gain access to the area.  They have been temporarily replaced for the picture.

 

 

 

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

I used an unblackened brass ring to secure the nettles.  I was afraid the blackening would rub off with all of the handling.

 

 

That's not a problem if you give the part a polish with a Q-tip or similar - it removes any flaky residue and nothing will come off later.

 

  Danny

[dgbot]

You did a nice job your carving is good too.

David B

[mtaylor]

Nice work on the hammocks, Toni.  And the sleeping sailor is a very neat touch.

[michael mott]

Only one crew sleeping?

 

Michael

Edited March 24, 2014 by michael mott

[gjdale]

Nice work Toni. If you need more crew members, you could always sub-contract Doris!

[tlevine]

Danny, I'll keep that hint in mind for the future.  David, Mark, Michael thanks for looking in.  Grant, all I kept thinking was how pathetic my one sailor looked compared with Doris's masterpieces.  Later in the week I will add some details and paint.  It looks better in real life than in the pictures but I may end up throwing him out and starting over if I am not satisfied with the end result.  One thing I learned from this is to add small pieces (like feet) after the main body has been baked. 

[dgbot]

You have nothing to be sorry about Toni.  Your work is a pece of technical perfection.  I wish I had half the skill you have.

David B

[tlevine]

I was never happy with Mr. Crispy Toes so I have made two new crew members.  Small items, like the head and feet, were added after the torso was baked and then epoxied in place.  The captain has prohibitted drinking in bed so I have my sailor sleeping with his hands behind his head.  His buddy up top is holding a mug of ale.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[druxey]

Now you are having altogether too much fun!

[dgbot]

I like the way you can now visualize the size of the vessel as compared to the crew.

David B

[dvm27]

You have definitely one-upped me Toni. Love it!

[Remcohe]

Mr Crispy....

 

Nice work Tony, I know how hard it is to sculpt figures.

 

Remco

[tlevine]

Robin, you are absolutely right.  They are pretty clunky looking.  I am not one to put figures on a model.  And as you pointed out, my sculpting skills leave a lot to be desired.  My intention is to use only the reclining figure.  The hammock is under two decks and will barely be seen.  This location was deliberately chosen for that very reason.  Please keep in mind that the size of these creatures is 1 3/8", so in real life they look much better than in the photo. 

 

Druxey, they were fun but illustrate why I model ships with minimal decoration.  Greg, I can only hope to achieve your skill.  David, the figures really put the scale of the ship into perspective but one figure is plenty.  The joinery is already busy looking and a painted figure detracts from the woodworking, unlike on a completely planked ship where figures could complement the scene.  Remco, it is amazing how difficult sculpting is.  Someday I hope to concentrate on learing this skill but with only a few hours of modeling time a week I would rather work on the build. 

[dgbot]

I fully agree with you Toni.  Some use figure to help tell a story others will use a figure to show the scale.  Your way of doing it wih that one fiure below deck will work wonders inrelating the size and scale of your work.

David B

[Remcohe]

 Someday I hope to concentrate on learing this skill but with only a few hours of modeling time a week I would rather work on the build. 

 

When that day comes, may I recommend "Creating lifelike figures in polymer clay" by Katherine Dewey. This book really helped me to get the proportions of faces and figures right. I started making lifelike figures in no time after putting the described concepts in practice. Some tweaking is needed as we work on a much smaller scale, but the theory is still the same.

 

Remco

[Mirabell61]

I was never happy with Mr. Crispy Toes so I have made two new crew members.  Small items, like the head and feet, were added after the torso was baked and then epoxied in place.  The captain has prohibitted drinking in bed so I have my sailor sleeping with his hands behind his head.  His buddy up top is holding a mug of ale.

 

 

 

The Crewa.jpg

 

 

The Crew2a.jpg

 

 

The Crew3a.jpg

 

 

The Crew4a.jpg

 

Toni,

 

I love that Atalanta model of yours, especialy the neat and clean wooden joinings, there must be several hundreds of them by now..., and I like the Patience you have and in not becoming less less acurate in your Ambition in facing all the Details yet to come...

Very well done !

 

Nils

[Martin W]

Beautiful work, Toni.  All I can say is wow!  make that WOW!

 

Anyone with a dog for a shipmate is ok in my book.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[tlevine]

Not much progress to show over the last few weeks.  Spring has finally arrived so the model does not get as much attention as it desires.

 

I decided to install the string at the waist and the forecastle and quarter deck clamps.  The string at the waist is a single row of planking with its lower surface forming the top of the gun port and its upper surface forming the top of the bulwark. It continues fore as the forecastle clamp and aft as the lower quarter deck clamp.  Hook scarves are used throughout. The apparent decorative element at the fore end of the quarter deck clamp will actually be used to help lock in the spirketing.   

 

 

 

The upper quarter deck clamp has simple butt joints.  In the pictures is appears that the lower edge of the string overhangs the gun port.  It actually is flush with the top of the port.

 

 

I encountered two problems.  First, I measured the height of the clamp at the stem incorrectly and had to replace it.  On the picture you can see a faint pencil line indicating where the clamp was originally positioned.  The second problem has the potential to be more serious.  I have two rows of planking with the top edge just coming up to the bottom of the aft port opening.  David's layout shows the planking runs above the level of the port with a chock connecting the planks fore and aft of the port.  At this point it is too late to change the port.  I think I measured the port height off David's mylar and the clamp height off the NMM plans.  Hopefully it will all work out OK.  The key is that the top of the opening is below the top of the deck beams.

 

 

 

 

[jaerschen]

Lovely work Toni. Especially the row of hook scarf are come out very well.

[Jim Lad]

Every little bit you manage is a delight to see, Toni!

 

John

[tlevine]

Juergen and John, thanks for you comments.  Thanks to everyone for the likes as well.  The one thing I have found since putting in the quarter deck clamps is how much stiffer the aft timbers are.  Considering the number of times I have broken that assembly that means the clamps would have prevented the damage or the damage would have been a whole lot worse than it usually was.  

[tlevine]

Finally got a little time this week to work on the ship.  I have made the upper deck hatch coamings and have started on the gratings.  I forgot to take any pictures so let me verbally summarize the construction.  The fore-and-aft pieces (coamings) have a rabbet to accommodate the ends of the grating strips.  There is no rabbet on the athwartship pieces (head ledges).  On the lower deck coamings I made a simple half-lap corner.  The actual construction technique involves angling the mortise in both the x and y planes, effectively locking the pieces together.  I simplified this to angling only the x plane (the y plane angle would not be visible). In contrast to the lower deck coamings, these taper towards the top rather than being slab sided.  The top of the coaming is curved to match the curve of the deck beam.  The top of the ladder way is parallel to the water line whereas the hatches follow the angle of the deck.

 

Dan (shipmodel) showed a method on QAR for making serrated strips for hatch gratings that I stole.  Thank you Dan.  I have always used the Preac saw to "mill" the slots for hatch gratings, but I would eyeball the distance between slots.  He glued a strip of wood to the top of the saw with CA to act as a sled so that each slot is equidistant from the last.  A little acetone and the top of the saw is as good as new.  My only complication was that the slots should be 0.053" wide and the widest saw blade I had was 0.048".  So once the slots were cut I used a razor blade to shave the slot to the correct width.  I made the slots in the grating ledges deeper than normal and the grating battens thicker than normal because the lateral edges need to be sanded to follow the curve of the  hatch coamings.  

 

 

The hatches are temporarily tacked in place, awaiting pegging and final finishing.  The opening in the aft hatch for the bits will be made after they have been shaped.

 

 

Edited May 4, 2014 by tlevine

[Trussben]

Really nice Toni, I assume you used holly for the gratings??

 

Ben

[tlevine]

Thanks Ben.  I used castello for the gratings.  It looks lighter than the beams because of the cherry coamings.