peveka Posted February 27, 2019 Share #1 Posted February 27, 2019 Hi all. After having finally finished the San Francisco (first version) I tackle my next project: H.M.S. Bellona. I believe I have made every mistake in the book with my previous builds (a generic clipper, a botter, the Gretel, SF1) and I now feel emboldened enough to start something big. Why the Bellona? Well, I wanted to build a ship that comes with a real history, I like the size -not too big-, I want to use paint and I believe there's quite some stuff that can be added and/or changed. E.g. the kit comes without boats and without spare yards or masts. I also want to try some sculpting but I'll cross that bridge when I get there. About the kit. Everything comes neatly packed, instructions seem clear, there are accompanied by 14 70x50cm detailed drawings. Apart from these I will probably be using Lavery's book on Bellona a lot. This kit looks like a different version of Bellona that Harlequin is building because it doesn't have the metal gun ports, I'm curious what more has been changed. Nope, it's the same version. Harlequin added the metal gun ports. All the pieces come detached, that makes life a little easier. Nothing seems to be warped. Even the gun carriages are precut but I haven't looked at them in detail. Wood quality seems very good, there's some rigging material in brownish colors, no black included. Blocks are of the same quality that I know from other builds, they look ok, correction: the smallest blocks are crap, I'll have to order replacements. Not sure what I am going to do with the bling ... the photo edged sheet looks nice though. I plan to paint the upper part of the hull, I already bought the required admiralty colors. I won't copper the lower part because I am not going to cover up what will probably be achieved with blood, toil, tears and sweat over the many months to come. Well, like the Dutch say: my fingers are itching, this is going to be an exciting journey ;o) ccoyle, GeorgeKapas, kier and 2 others 5 Quote Some much wood so little time ... Current builds: Nulli Cedo, an 18th century Dutch war clog, HMS Bellona Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontiachedmark Posted February 27, 2019 Share #2 Posted February 27, 2019 Gidday peveka. Like you I have made every mistake in the book. So I am currently writing the second volume of mistakes. Please forgive my attempt at humour. The kit looks very good. Is there a mixture of metal and plastic in the gilt parts? Looking forward to your build. Wishing you all the best. Mark. peveka and Elijah 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peveka Posted February 27, 2019 Author Share #3 Posted February 27, 2019 Hi Mark Thanks for your comment. All the gilt parts are metal, no plastic around. Not building right now, we've got 20° and clear blue skies in La Bretagne right now so I lit up the bbq first time this "winter"... Cheers Pieter Elijah and pontiachedmark 2 Quote Some much wood so little time ... Current builds: Nulli Cedo, an 18th century Dutch war clog, HMS Bellona Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katsumoto Posted February 27, 2019 Share #4 Posted February 27, 2019 This is a nice kit doh. Wood quality and metal party are excellent. The plans however are doubtable... good luck with this beauty. 🙂 peveka and Elijah 2 Quote Regards, Peter Current project - Wappen von Hamburg 1669 heavily bashed Previous project - Xebec Cazador 1750 bashed Previous project - Santa Maria bashed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peveka Posted February 27, 2019 Author Share #5 Posted February 27, 2019 Hi Katsumoto She's definitely going to be a challenge ;o) Cheers Pieter Elijah 1 Quote Some much wood so little time ... Current builds: Nulli Cedo, an 18th century Dutch war clog, HMS Bellona Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontiachedmark Posted February 27, 2019 Share #6 Posted February 27, 2019 Gidday Pieter. Thanks for the prompt reply. The kit looks good. I am looking forward to your build. Wishing you many more B.B.Q's. Mark. peveka 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peveka Posted February 28, 2019 Author Share #7 Posted February 28, 2019 (edited) Question for the mods: will this log be visible on facebook? If so, how can I prevent this? Cheers Pieter Edited February 28, 2019 by peveka Elijah 1 Quote Some much wood so little time ... Current builds: Nulli Cedo, an 18th century Dutch war clog, HMS Bellona Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harlequin Posted February 28, 2019 Share #8 Posted February 28, 2019 peveka…..I added the metal gunports……….they were NOT in the kit.....there was a reason i used them because of how the build was going. Elijah and peveka 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peveka Posted February 28, 2019 Author Share #9 Posted February 28, 2019 Hi Harlequin Aha, so not a different version then...thank you for clarifying! Right now I'm dryfitting the first pieces together, everything fits nice and snugly. Cheers Pieter Elijah 1 Quote Some much wood so little time ... Current builds: Nulli Cedo, an 18th century Dutch war clog, HMS Bellona Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harlequin Posted February 28, 2019 Share #10 Posted February 28, 2019 (edited) If I can help with anything I will be more than happy....although I started this in 2013 so probably forgotten what I did.... Edited February 28, 2019 by harlequin peveka 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peveka Posted February 28, 2019 Author Share #11 Posted February 28, 2019 Thank you very much for your kind offer Harlequin, I will certainly come back to you ;o) At the moment I'm trying to figure out how to fit the poop deck with it's camber ... it needs quite a lot of pressure to hold it down. Do you remember how you did that? Cheers Pieter Quote Some much wood so little time ... Current builds: Nulli Cedo, an 18th century Dutch war clog, HMS Bellona Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harlequin Posted February 28, 2019 Share #12 Posted February 28, 2019 a length of string wrapped around the entire frame and poop deck and a few pins which were pushed 3/4 in and later removed after the glue had set. peveka 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peveka Posted February 28, 2019 Author Share #13 Posted February 28, 2019 Thanks Harlequin, I'll do that. Cheers Pieter harlequin 1 Quote Some much wood so little time ... Current builds: Nulli Cedo, an 18th century Dutch war clog, HMS Bellona Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccoyle Posted February 28, 2019 Share #14 Posted February 28, 2019 12 hours ago, peveka said: Question for the mods: will this log be visible on facebook? Build logs are not visible via FB. FB users can only view logs by visiting MSW. We occasionally share photos from build logs to our FB page to highlight activity here in an effort to attract visitors to our site. peveka 1 Quote Chris Coyle Greer, South Carolina When you have to shoot, shoot. Don't talk. - Tuco Current builds: Brigantine Phoenix, Bf 109E-7/trop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peveka Posted February 28, 2019 Author Share #15 Posted February 28, 2019 Hi Chris Thank you for your answer, that is reassuring. Cheers Pieter Quote Some much wood so little time ... Current builds: Nulli Cedo, an 18th century Dutch war clog, HMS Bellona Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontiachedmark Posted March 1, 2019 Share #16 Posted March 1, 2019 Gidday Pieter. If you are experiencing difficulty with the deck camber you can attempt to lightly, I mean lightly, score the underside of the deck. This technique can be fraught with danger as you may cut too deep. I have used this method and it worked for me. Others with more knowledge may have a method that is easier on the deck. Wishing you all the best with your build. (I don't eat red meat so can you please put some fish on the B.B.Q.) Mark. peveka 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peveka Posted March 1, 2019 Author Share #17 Posted March 1, 2019 Hi Mark Thanks for the tip but I'm afraid with 2 mm plywood there's not much meat on the bone ... Fish is good, we live about 10 car-minutes from the sea, they don't come fresher! Cheers Pieter Quote Some much wood so little time ... Current builds: Nulli Cedo, an 18th century Dutch war clog, HMS Bellona Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontiachedmark Posted March 1, 2019 Share #18 Posted March 1, 2019 Gidday Pieter. I didn't realise how thin your decks are. I've used the technique on thicker ply. Fresh fish sounds great. All the best. Mark, peveka 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peveka Posted March 1, 2019 Author Share #19 Posted March 1, 2019 (edited) Right and off we go. I think there should be an expression for this special moment in the ship modeling process where one glues the first parts together. Something like "first light" in astronomy. I humbly suggest "first glue". Everything fits perfectly, no wobbling and I only needed a few strokes with a fine file on certain pieces. I haven't yet glued pieces 6 and 13 because it was already a bit of a pain to fit the poop- and the main deck with all pieces dry fitted. Tip for young parents: it really pays off to invest in lego/duplo. Far more useful than Barbies horse. Cheers Pieter Edited March 1, 2019 by peveka ccoyle 1 Quote Some much wood so little time ... Current builds: Nulli Cedo, an 18th century Dutch war clog, HMS Bellona Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccoyle Posted March 1, 2019 Share #20 Posted March 1, 2019 14 minutes ago, peveka said: I humbly suggest "first glue". I like it. peveka 1 Quote Chris Coyle Greer, South Carolina When you have to shoot, shoot. Don't talk. - Tuco Current builds: Brigantine Phoenix, Bf 109E-7/trop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peveka Posted March 3, 2019 Author Share #21 Posted March 3, 2019 (edited) Question. To place the dummy guns Bellona's plans ask for some 40 small "boxes" to be placed before the planking starts. That seems a lot of work as compared to the solution for HMS Bellerophon (flyer -Peter- from Switzerland, thank you for your pictures!). What would speak against using the Bellerophon method on Bellona? Is there something I missed? IMHO gluing horizontal "platforms" and vertical "walls" between the vertical frames would only add to the hull's stability and I would have more room to manoeuver. I stole Peter's picture to show the Bellerophon method (hope you don't mind!). Any ideas? Problem solved. It helps when one compares the numbers on the drawings with the numbers in the instruction manual and the numbers on the list of materials AND the actual material in the box... Cheers Pieter Edited March 4, 2019 by peveka Problem solved Quote Some much wood so little time ... Current builds: Nulli Cedo, an 18th century Dutch war clog, HMS Bellona Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snow Posted March 4, 2019 Share #22 Posted March 4, 2019 Gday nice ship I'll pull up a chair Have fun building this one looks great Cheers snowy peveka 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peveka Posted March 5, 2019 Author Share #23 Posted March 5, 2019 Hi snowy welcome! Cheers Pieter Quote Some much wood so little time ... Current builds: Nulli Cedo, an 18th century Dutch war clog, HMS Bellona Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peveka Posted March 5, 2019 Author Share #24 Posted March 5, 2019 Progress report. Put some balsa on the bow and reinforced a bulwark near the stern where I sort of expect some trouble because of the acute angels of the planks. I cut out some space for the dummy-gun-boxes. The part of the stern (the transom?) was fidgety but finally fits nicely. When all is dry I can start fairing tomorrow. Part 3, 6 and 13 are not yet glued, I first want to place the decks. Note to self: don't forget the hole for the bowsprit in 3! Cheers Pieter Katsumoto, paulsutcliffe and KARAVOKIRIS 3 Quote Some much wood so little time ... Current builds: Nulli Cedo, an 18th century Dutch war clog, HMS Bellona Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peveka Posted March 7, 2019 Author Share #25 Posted March 7, 2019 Thanks for the thumbs up! Or is it the thumb ups? Today's progress. Glued the main deck. Been struggling a bit with how to get an even pressure to hold it down and ended up with this solution. Seems to work alright. Piece 6 is glued too now. Right now I'm very busy letting the glue set. Cheers Pieter KARAVOKIRIS 1 Quote Some much wood so little time ... Current builds: Nulli Cedo, an 18th century Dutch war clog, HMS Bellona Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Collingwood Posted March 7, 2019 Share #26 Posted March 7, 2019 Like a scene from gullivers travels. OC. peveka 1 Quote Current builds 28mm Battle of Waterloo attack on La Haye Saint Diorama. 1/700 HMS Hood Flyhawk with PE, Resin and Wood Decking. Completed works. Dragon 1/700 HMS Edinburgh type 42 batch 3 Destroyer plastic. HMS Warspite Academy 1/350 plastic kit and wem parts. HMS Trafalgar Airfix 1/350 submarine plastic. Black Pearl 1/72 Revell with pirate crew. Revell 1/48 Mosquito B IV Eduard 1/48 Spitfire IX ICM 1/48 Seafire Mk.III Special Conversion 1/48 Kinetic Sea Harrier FRS1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peveka Posted March 7, 2019 Author Share #27 Posted March 7, 2019 5 minutes ago, Old Collingwood said: Like a scene from gullivers travels. I knew I'd seen it before somewhere ... ;o) Cheers Pieter Quote Some much wood so little time ... Current builds: Nulli Cedo, an 18th century Dutch war clog, HMS Bellona Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Collingwood Posted March 7, 2019 Share #28 Posted March 7, 2019 8 minutes ago, peveka said: I knew I'd seen it before somewhere ... ;o) Cheers Pieter Good start on the build all the best. OC. peveka 1 Quote Current builds 28mm Battle of Waterloo attack on La Haye Saint Diorama. 1/700 HMS Hood Flyhawk with PE, Resin and Wood Decking. Completed works. Dragon 1/700 HMS Edinburgh type 42 batch 3 Destroyer plastic. HMS Warspite Academy 1/350 plastic kit and wem parts. HMS Trafalgar Airfix 1/350 submarine plastic. Black Pearl 1/72 Revell with pirate crew. Revell 1/48 Mosquito B IV Eduard 1/48 Spitfire IX ICM 1/48 Seafire Mk.III Special Conversion 1/48 Kinetic Sea Harrier FRS1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peveka Posted March 9, 2019 Author Share #29 Posted March 9, 2019 (Not so much) progress report What could be more exciting than watching paint dry ... I wanted to glue the other two decks and start fairing the hull but it seems like a good idea to position some PE parts first because with the decks fitted that could get tricky. But they have to be painted first. The Corel manual comes with an extensive list of how to paint which part so that's handy. I use a waterbased primer because the admiralty colors are waterbased too. I put on two layers of primer because one layer didn't cover enough. After that I needed 4 layers of yellow ochre. I really like the colors, they are quite warm and don't sort of explode off the ship if you know what I mean ;o) I used Harlequin's idea of blackening the windows with a pencil and I think that works quite well, thanks HQ! Now I just let the paint dry. Mean time, just to do something useful, I experimented a little with the dummy cannons. They have to be put in small box-like structures. The kit comes with two U-shaped "bars" and one has to cut off different lengths for different cannon sizes. When put in said box it doesn't really look right so I stole someone's idea to make a dummy carriage and that came out like this, not half bad. So now I've got to make about 40 of these. Oh, nearly forgot. The PE doors come without doorknobs so my admiral supplied me with some raw material to fix that little problem. First layer of primer drying. Cheers Pieter harlequin and Old Collingwood 2 Quote Some much wood so little time ... Current builds: Nulli Cedo, an 18th century Dutch war clog, HMS Bellona Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peveka Posted March 14, 2019 Author Share #30 Posted March 14, 2019 Small update. Decks are glued, bulwarks are faired (is that the expression?), area at the stern has been prepared to avoid becoming too thick as compared to the rudder ... Right, let's start planking ;o) I just saw that 6 people are following this log, thank you for your interest! Cheers Pieter Rudolf and harlequin 2 Quote Some much wood so little time ... Current builds: Nulli Cedo, an 18th century Dutch war clog, HMS Bellona Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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