HMS Terror by sir francis haddock - FINISHED - OcCre - scale 1:65

[sir francis haddock]

Hello, this is my 1^st build. I had only ever made airfix kits in the past (a long time ago) and they always went wrong, with the wings dropping off and the like. I found the Terror kit and thought this would be a good start. I could practise and discover if (1) I could do this, (2) enjoy doing this and get the equipment I need as I am going along. So everything is new to me and I am sure there will be lots of mistakes. But I hope lots of fun.

The skeleton went together easily. The instructions are more pictures showing the order to make it with very little actual instruction. Without the YouTube guide I would be totally lost.

[sir francis haddock]

Contact glue is not the easiest thing to use... But it worked after some trial and setbacks. The deck was easy to clean up, pencil the lines and sand. The mirror (board at the back of the deck, not sure of the names?) I noticed has a slight curve around the deck. So I flexed it to see if it would bend, thinking I might have to soak it. It snapped. After I glued it back and stained it I had a big white line of non-stained glue. Will deal with later.

[Haliburton]

A great start.  I have this kit waiting Sir Francis so will be following along - Scott

[Pat Lynch]

Making mistakes is the best way to learn - I've made heaps and am still very much a beginner  Do you have a photo of what the completed model will look like? The deck planking looks interesting!

 

Pat

[sir francis haddock]

Hi pat, this is a pic of what the completed model should look like (I hope).

[sir francis haddock]

Sanding the reinforcements took some time to get flush with the false keel. Then the sides to be bent, stained and attached (on the YouTube video it’s called the armour). I live in southern Ireland and there are not many model shops around.  Most of the tools I’m using have to be ordered online so I ordered an electric plank bender and small tool kit that had a pin pusher, which were used for the 1st time on the armour. They were easy to use and no problems yet.

 

[sir francis haddock]

Next is the planking. This and the rigging is what I expect will be the most challenging parts. The information I found was to start at the top work my way down, then go from the bottom up and meet in the middle, pinning and gluing as I go.

The stern planking was so easy, short planks with no bends. But trimming the ends with a hobby knife and nothing to rest against is something I think will happen a few times with this project.

[sir francis haddock]

I did both sides at the same time because I read doing one side at a time could warp the hull. Soaking the planks bending getting the pins in the right place were challenging but ok to do with some patience. So far I’m having a great time enjoying it coming tougher.

[sir francis haddock]

The planks for the bottom of the hull needs to twist 3 ways and I needed to find a way to soak all the length of the planks in one go. The bath was the only place I have big enough. But the wood floated, had to enlist some extra crew to hold them down.

[sir francis haddock]

The bottom of the hull planking for the prow I felt ended up untidy, but I was able to sort of clean it up. It’s a learning experience and will be covered by the 2nd layer. The YouTube videos skipped over this bit.

[sir francis haddock]

The planking all done, edges tidy, some gaps. Nothing to big that filler cannot fix. Am amazed it all came together and looks like a hull. The instructions and video say to leave the pins in but I thought it would be easier to sand if I took them out.

 

6 pieces of plywood for the bow reinforcements and lots of sanding. Was braver this time and used a heaver sand paper that really saved a lot of time. I also discovered that sanding filler is something best done outside.

 

[Haliburton]

I can’t tell from the picture - did you plank the bow reinforcement or is that the sanded ply?  It looks like planking and if so those bends look tricky.  Scott

[TOM G]

you tube can steer you wrong on a lot of things, your on course for being your first build.  and you are enjoying it......... i think you will be building another.    mind you these ship kits take a long time to build, and you have to educate yourself as you go along.     you may reach a point where you feel exhausted    but don't give up the ship....... take some time off, and you will bounce back.   now about planking   go here    http://modelshipworldforum.com/ship-model-framing-and-planking-articles.php                 www.syrenshipmodelcompany.com/resources/ChapterchapFour.pdf     it took me a while to wrap my head around all this, 🙄    this is the right way to do the planking process.       TOM G  cleveland, ohio u.s.a.     

[sir francis haddock]

53 minutes ago, Haliburton said:

I can’t tell from the picture - did you plank the bow reinforcement or is that the sanded ply?  It looks like planking and if so those bends look tricky.  Scott

The bow reinforcement is just sanded ply.

[sir francis haddock]

1 hour ago, TOM G said:

you tube can steer you wrong on a lot of things, your on course for being your first build.  and you are enjoying it......... i think you will be building another.    mind you these ship kits take a long time to build, and you have to educate yourself as you go along.     you may reach a point where you feel exhausted    but don't give up the ship....... take some time off, and you will bounce back.   now about planking   go here    http://modelshipworldforum.com/ship-model-framing-and-planking-articles.php                 www.syrenshipmodelcompany.com/resources/ChapterchapFour.pdf     it took me a while to wrap my head around all this, 🙄    this is the right way to do the planking process.       TOM G  cleveland, ohio u.s.a.     

Thanks Tom, the planking instructions seem a bit abstract at 1st. It wasn't until I was actually doing it that it then made sense, after the mistakes .

Edited April 28, 2019 by sir francis haddock

[sir francis haddock]

The wood for the 2nd layer is very thin and brittle and with the contact glue sticking instantly it was hard to tapper it. There is a limited amount of this wood so I didn’t want to have to pull it off.

[sir francis haddock]

Next is the bumper, doing this used up a full tube of superglue and a lot of sanding to get the angle. I used the front piece of the keel to try to get the gap at the front as close as possible. I think it went ok.

[sir francis haddock]

I tried to cut down the 2nd layer where the keel goes in but even with a new sharp knife blade and going slow it splintered. If I can remove this part I have enough left to replace it.

The other side looks a lot better.

[sir francis haddock]

The bumper sanded and finished and the rail on. I painted the back where it had snapped with brown acrylic paint, it looks better but think I will paint the whole piece to match.

 

[sir francis haddock]

I traced the deck potholes from the 1 to 1 deck plan, I thought this would be easier than measuring out every position and used a normal electric drill to the pit the holes in. 

[sir francis haddock]

Putting large permeant holes into all my hard work with a power tool was a moment I was glad did not go wrong.

[Haliburton]

Looking good, the holes are not intended to be fully symmetrical?  Scott

 

[EJ_L]

Nice build! It looks like you are moving along and doing good for a first build. I hope you are enjoying it overall, though I'm sure you have faced frustration as well. Anytime you drill or cut holes into finished planking is a scary moment. Glad yours have turned out well. The rigging is indeed tricky but take your time and think through the steps and you will be fine. Try to work from the center outward as much as possible and have a couple pairs of long tweezers handy. Keep up the good work and you will have a nice model!

[sir francis haddock]

On ‎5‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 11:45 PM, Haliburton said:

Looking good, the holes are not intended to be fully symmetrical?  Scott

 

Hi Scott the holes have 3mm brass portholes to cover them and where they are is from the plans. I think they were put where they needed light below deck.

[sir francis haddock]

In the instructions the windows are painted on, I didn’t think that looked so good. So I decide to cut out the windows and put plastic to glaze them instead, thinking this would look better.

The windows will be covered by a wooden frame so it did not need to be so neat.

Next was the rudder. This was a bit of a challenge, getting the cut down pins into the metal strips took some time due them flying out of the tweezers. I lost so many of these.

[Haliburton]

Great idea. Seems odd they would design for paint on windows. 

[sir francis haddock]

The windows ended up being so small that cutting them out didn’t matter. Unless a strong light is put close they just look black.

[EJ_L]

The cut in and built up windows look much better than if you would have painted them. Good choice!

 

 

[sir francis haddock]

On ‎5‎/‎27‎/‎2019 at 3:38 PM, EJ_L said:

The cut in and built up windows look much better than if you would have painted them. Good choice!

 

 

Thanks EJ_L

[sir francis haddock]

The next part on the instructions is the belay posts. This was where the 1 to 1 deck plan fell apart a bit. I followed the plan with placing them, then watching the YouTube guide and the pictures in the instructions saw that the foremost post needed to be much further forward.