HMS Bellerophon by freewheelinguy - FINISHED - Victory Models - Semi-scratchbuilt

[freewheelinguy]

I AM REPOSTING MY LOG FROM MSW 1.0.  I HAD SAVED THIS LOG IN PDF AND WILL TRY TO SUPPLY ALL THE UPDATES AND PICS I HAVE EXTRACTED FROM THIS FILE. THE LAST COUPLE UPDATES FROM THE LOG WENT DOWN WITH THE SHIP, BUT I WILL TRY TO RECONSTRUCT THEM ALONG WITH THE LATEST UPDATES AND BUILD’S CURRENT STATUS.

 

This is the start of my build log for the partial scratch build of the Bellerophon option of the Amati Victory Models Vanguard kit scale 1:72.

I wanted to see, if it was cost effective to build this kit by first ordering the plans from Online Hobbies. After reviewing the plans and going through the parts list, I found it to be cost effective. My estimate is between 50-60% savings. Doing this way will mean much more labor though. I used an evaluation copy on Corel Draw’s site to see if I could use it for my needs of importing and making drawings acceptable for making laser cut sheets. The program could do everything I required, so I purchased it on Ebay for a very reasonable price (<$70).

Below is a list of suppliers for this build so far.

Online Hobbies – cast and etched parts sets plus additional material. They are presently working on filling that order.

National Balsa – Basswood sheets for bulkheads and other cutouts. Purchased two laser cut sheets of walnut for gun carriages plus other items that I thought wouldbe difficult to scratch build. Working with Eric at National Balsa was very easy. After a couple of emails, sending my two drawings, I received material in about five days. The laser charge was about $40 that included the price of the walnut material ($12-15 per sheet for cutting). Thanks to Chuck for giving the idea for this.

JBModel - for 18 9lb barrels. These are the best I have seen. Very representative for ships of this time period. I looked in the book Arming and Fitting Of English Ships of War and these are exactly what is shown there. From order to receiving was a week. Very satisfied and highly recommend.

Cornwall Models - ordered 2mm sheets plus a couple of other things. The ship boats are made from this size and didn’t want to mess with using 3/32” (2.4mm) instead. I will say, if living in the US, my order took just about a month to receive. They do specify this on their site just beware that it could take this long when ordering. No problem here, but you do wonder if something happened to your order.

Hobby Mill - ordered maple strips for the decking plus a couple of other items. What can be said, but his product is the best and what a gentleman. He is super to work with.

Now for the build. I'm not building this one in the normal order. I have started with the 9 and 18 lb gun carriages. Size dimensions were taken from Ship Modeler's Shop Notes book. Attached is a pic of the partially built carriages. I'm presently making the eyelets and rings for these using #32 and #28 gauge black annealed wire.

There are ten eyelets and five rings per carriage and deck mounting, so there's several hundred needed. I've almost completed all.

Next I will be building the five ships boats before I start the ships hull.

That's it for now.

Happy modeling,

 

 

P1000358.jpg

Description: Gun carriages and some examples of laser cut parts

 

 

[freewheelinguy]

Build update:

Four ship's boats have bulkheads attached and are ready for planking. Each is built like the main ship ( same principles). Can't continue since I'm waiting for the walnut planking to arrive. I will be moving on to cutting out of the bulkheads and keel for the main ship, until the planking arrives.

 

P1000359.jpg  34’ Launch pieces

 

 

P1000362.jpg  Four ship boats

[freewheelinguy]

Build Update:

Just finished cutting out all the bulkheads (2 false keel, 2 deck, 17 bulkheads) and stand from the drawings. I had two sheets of plywood left over from my Syren build, so I used these for cutting out the seven midships bulkheads and stand. Plywood is a bear to sand and these wouldn't require much sanding, so it made sense to choose these. I don't have any power tools, so the basswood pieces were mostly cut with the scalpel knife and the plywood pieces with the 360deg. saw blade and

coping saw.

That's all for now. On to sanding and fitting all the said pieces.

Happy modeling,

 

P1000371.JPG  Shows tools used for cutting out bulkheads, center keel.

 

 

[freewheelinguy]

Build Update:

It's been a month since my last update. Things are progressing. I have all the bulkheads, stem, and keel attached. Started fairing hull, but still needs a little more work.

Most of my build time lately has been scratch building all the several sheets of lazer cut pieces that come when purchasing the kit. This is where you can really appreciate the lazer cut parts, but hey it's all fun and enjoyable.

My source for the photo eched parts and many others has been a disappointment after several months of trying to get information on the order status, so I had to find another source. I do understand their situation to a degree, but a brief email that all things are well would have been appreciated. Sorry needed to vent alittle. Life goes on.

I still need the two parts from the casting set, although it's really four (I believe the Bellerophon stern decoration is in three pieces). The whole set sells for $48 (three options plus other parts), so I think paying $15 +shipping is a reasonable offer for these pieces.

That's all for now.

Happy modeling,

[freewheelinguy]

Since the last update the bulk of the time was spent making the parts that would have been lazer cut, if I had purchased the kit. Photo below shows most of the pieces made from various material and thickness'. Most items still have paper templates attached and some need to be finalized. I have also started fairing the hull, but is put aside for now until ship boats are completed. The 32 foot barge is almost complete. Still need to add a couple of things. I deviated a little from the kit instructions (added a rail, and changed the flooring from solid to wider boards with gaps). Boats have tabs which provide some support and act as a guide while planking and will be snapped off once planked, so can only glue stem and stern. Took some getting use to, but worked out well. Hull is double planked with .5mm thk planks and is rather sturdy once both layers are applied. I have only made ships boats in the past using the multi layer and carving method. I like this better, but it did give me fits until I got use to planking this way.

That's all for now. Have two more boats after these are completed.

 

Bulkheads.jpg  Bulkheads, 32’ Barge and 34’ Launch in early stages.  First two planks on launch shows the tabs.

LazerParts.jpg  Cut by hand with paper templates attached

EarlyBarge.jpg

LaunchBarge.jpg

LaunchBarge2.jpg

[freewheelinguy]

Build Update:

Finished the four ship boats. The 18ft cutter which I built last was the hardest to plank. Probably because of its size and shape. I also had to redue some of it because of it's swallowness. The gap between the seat boards and floor boards was almost nil. I gutted everything including the false bottom, ribs and started over. This gave me a reasonable depth between the seats and floor boards otherwise it wouldn't have looked natural. Crew would have had stumps for legs.

That's it for now. Back working on the main ship.

 

ShipBoatsPortView.JPG

 

ShipBoatsTopView.JPG

[freewheelinguy]

Build Update:

Have added decking on bow and stern. Using soft maple from Hobbymilll. Used Sharpie pen to simulate caulking, but had some bleeding. I never had this problem before using permanent ink, so I used one thin coat polyacrylic then added pen line (no bleeding).

Temporarily put all the false decks in so I could check that all the dowels would line up and seat properly.

Added all the deck gun port framing except for the poop deck. The lowest deck will have the gun ports closed, so I added solid framing where the lids will be glued.

These will be added first before the planking. The gun deck has two size openings which I made templates for the opening size. The five midships gun ports have no lids, so these are larger because of no stops. I will add 1 mm around the edge the smaller gun port template, so I can slip them into the opening and give me an edge to butt the planking up to. I made all the QD gun port openings the same size and will add stops for the ones that have lids (one full lid, two split vert. full lids, others

no lid).

I still have some additional sanding inboard, but won't do until the external planking is added.

The kit shows a raised bulwark enclosing all the gun ports on the QD, but drawings of the original design for this class shows the forward gun ports open with rails. I have framed those, but might change. I have a drawing of the Victory in Longridge's "The Anatomy of Nelsons Ships" which shows how Chris has shown this area on the kit. Not sure why Chris did it this way, or appropriate for the Vanguard, Elephant or Bellerophon or just an easier approach for the kit assembly.

That's all for now.

 

MastsBowspritAlignment.JPG

GunportTemplates.JPG

StbGunportFraming.JPG

[freewheelinguy]

Build Update:

Made the preliminary quarter gallery framing and glued in placed after satisfied stern decoration piece was aligned.

Completed the 1st planking on the port side of the gun port area. Started by adding 1mm around my 9x10mm gun port templates to provide the correct spacing for providing lid stops and giving an edge for planking. Placed templates into the four aft most gun ports and then added the top plank, continued on until first plank was completed. Started aft again with the lower plank for these gun ports, completed row, then filled in between ports with planks using templates as a guide.

Added an additional plank below. Made lower deck lids. Measured down from main gun ports for proper position of the lower gun ports and drew a line. Added a plank to this line and temporarily added the lids by glue sticking. With these in place provided bottom edge for bottom plank, and proper spacing for the planks in between. These lids can now be removed for further assembly.

From the main gun port top plank added planks in similar manner, but since I made the port opening the same some will need stops for those with lids.

Provided a couple of pictures that show the templates. One shows a template inserted next to one partially inserted.

That's it for now. Starboard side is next.

 

PortGunports1stPlanking.jpg

 

GunportTemplates.JPG

 

GunPortTemplateView9x10mm.JPG

Edited May 8, 2013 by freewheelinguy

[freewheelinguy]

Build update:

Finished first planking. Typically would taper planks but this time just ran planks to fill in area. Will run planks correctly on second planking except maybe the area that will be covered by copper plates. Did some work on the roundhouse area at the bow. Started planking inboard bulwarks. That's all for now, til later.

 

PortFirstPlanking.JPG

[freewheelinguy]

Build Update:

Progress is going slow and steady. Planking a ship of this size is quite different than doing a brig or sloop.

Gun deck bulwarks are installed.

Lower counter is installed. Original piece I made from one piece walnut split when I tried to form on stern, so I remade a piece from 1mm basswood sheet stock then planked with walnut strips.

Finished second layer of planking. Didn't take time to taper planks below waterline. These will be covered by copper plates, so additional time wasn't needed

All gun port lids are planked. Details will be added at a later time. For now just installed temporarily for fit. Sanded flush with hull. As for now, my plan is for all gun port lids to be closed. Since the lowest gun port lids are going to be closed not sure if I wanted to have a mix of others being open and guns run out.

Had a minor set back while planking and rotating model. I snapped the stem down in half. The break was clean and didn't splinter, so glueing back was easy.

Whew!!!

Well that's it for now. Next step will be painting the gun deck bulwarks, then installing the deck.

 

PortBowSecPlking.JPG

 

StbBowViewSecPlking.JPG

 

StbAftSideViewSecPlking.JPG

 

LowCnterPlkingView.JPG

[freewheelinguy]

Build update:

All gratings and coamings are made.

Upper gun deck is painted.

Ladders down hatches are made.

Stove and brick platform is made.

I made a jig for making the stairs (copied from Historic Ship Models by Mondfeld). Jig shown in photo.

Experimented with simulating caulking. On other builds I just used a permanent ink pen, but didn't work well on my maple strips. Not sure what the problem is but it bleed onto spots on the strips. Second, I tried a #2 pencil and wasn't satisfied with the thickness. Third, I made strips from black construction paper and put them between rows. When I used a scraper to remove excess, it pulled the paper up. So I tried just sanding and worked fine. The thickness of the paper gave me the look I

was trying to achieve. We'll see how this works out on the actual build. After coamings are in place I will be starting the decking, but at the farthest spot below the above deck.

Copied Chuck's technique for making brick strips, but didn't groove longwise. I glued the strips to a 1/16" sheet one at a time, and put a spacer between each strip and repeated. Then I painted and added polyacrylic to seal the simulated bricks. I mixed up a patch of water putty (powder which is beige) and added a drop of black paint (gray color) and brushed into the cracks and spaces. Once try sponged excess putty off the bricks.

The only mod from the stove pieces and instructions was it called out for two dowel pieces, but I used Evergreen styrene tubing instead.

Til next time.

 

BricksStoveStairs.JPG

 

CaulkingTest.JPG

[freewheelinguy]

Build update:

Painted the gun deck bulwarks and gun ports.

Glued in place the gun deck gratings, capstan bases, stove base.

Cut in four simulated sheaves for the tack lines into the planking. Made with 1/32" wood. Cut in the exterior one, then drilled the two holes until they punctured theinterior (this aligned position for interior one), then cut that out. You can see one in pic (black smudge between two gun ports). When applying these I am puzzled by the one for the main tack. It is on the gun deck between gun port 12 and 13 below the quarterdeck. I found additional rigging diagrams of ships this large or larger and it appears to be correct. Not being a sailor when ships were wood and men steel (US navy Vet) I would have thought you would have needed to see the sail. Maybe someone can enlighten me.

Completed installation of the gun deck decking and simulated caulking. The deck is soft maple purchased from Hobby Mill. The caulking was made from cut strips of black construction using my mini paper cutter. Once a plank was glued into position I used glue stick to hold a black strip against the plank until the next plank could be glued. Once sections were installed I used diluted white glue to add some adhesion and stiffness to the paper before I came back to cut excess away, then

sanded. I made the margin plank out of solt maple sheet from manilla templates. I was going to use hook planks to butt up to the margin plank (but didn't because won't be seen), although I did on each end of next to last plank (this possibly will be visible). This deck will be almost completely out of view once these additional decks and other things are in place, so it was good practice for the visible decks to be added later.

Next step will be making capstans, other gun deck pieces (eyebolts, bitts, etc).

Until next time.

 

GunDeckInProgress.JPG

 

GunDeckPlanking.JPG

 

GunDeckCloseup.JPG

[freewheelinguy]

Build Update:

Completed Capstans.

Added four large cleats.

Added Bits and QD beam that attaches to aft bits.

Added waterway, just a triangler piece of 1m strip.

Drilled holes for gun breech and tackle lines.

Added deck and bulkhead eyelets, but not for breech (to be added when breech lines are assembled.

Added cannon ball racks to deck (drilled holes in wood strip to hold each ball. Using 2.5mm ball for larger guns, will use 2 mm ball for FC and QD guns).

Made Top and butt planking pieces for the main wales , but before adding starting doing more construction of the side galleries. While trying to aligned all pieces I came up with a problem. The pieces I cut out for the part 162 have the larger wood material forward. Looking at the drawing on page 25 appears the same, but whenlooking on page 29 where the etched parts are attached shows the larger wood piece aft. This would appear right since the forward only needs a column piece added

where aft has a column plus scroll piece. Has anyone else been here and can help, if I am missing something or am I correct and need to make new pieces to support this.

Also I don't find any mention of the piece that holds etched part 377 was added or what it is.

Since I didn't purchase the kit, can someone tell me how part 514 is shaped or supply a picture. In the item list it says it is a cast piece of which I didn't order.

That's it for now.

 

DeckFixStb.JPG

 

galleryCompare.jpg

[TBlack]

Len,

Thanks for putting this back. As I recall, you provide a lot of very useful information and experience. One thing, back in your first post you mentioned that you bought sheet stock from Cornwall. I'm assuming that you did that to get lumber dimensioned in mm rather than in.?

 

Sorry to miss you at RI, but I know it's a long haul for you. During the event the various ship model clubs were called away for a group photo. At the next event we could do a MSW group photo as well!

 

Tom

[freewheelinguy]

Below find discussion comments on my gallery problem :

From Mitsuaki: I don't know I can answer your question completely, but I try it.

Firstly, about direction of part 162. I believe larger area should be positioned forward, because etched part 434 should be solid decorative work protruding from "after side of stern" on actual ship, not mere bas relief on side gallery represented in kit etched part. Stern deco works of HMS Victory at Portsmouth and NMM HMS Edgar plan will help your interpretation.

In my instruction booklet, page 12 shows etched part 377 on lower finishing. My instruction booklet contains no mention about side gallery deco on pages 25 and 29.

Perhaps, some editorial version are existing

Last two pictures of this post are part 514 in kit. I believe decorative strip scraped from wood with mould on metal edge will show much more favorable result

Hope these your helps,

lower_gallery_deco_hms_victory.jpg

Instruction.tiff

Edited May 8, 2013 by freewheelinguy

[freewheelinguy]

Mitsuaki, you have been more than generous with your information. I can't express how appreciative I am for your explainations. The pages I reference are called Hull Assembly 11 and 14 which is the page I believe you supplied a picture showing the area in question in your last post.

The Victory picture shows it clearly, but if we build according to that side view on the drawing sheet you supplied there's still a need for more material aft (column and part of part 434 with rest extending on stern piece) and less forward ( column on gallery piece and part 436 butts up against it on side of ship). I see on the stern drawing to the left of the side drawing on that sheet there is room to attach a piece as shown on the Victory.

There sure is a lot of part 514. I see where it is also called out on the stern. I was surprised when I first saw your picture. I was expecting only a couple of pieces. I may try to make the shape using styrene sticks or out of wood as you suggest. Thanks for the pic. Shows the profile quite well.

From Arthur:  I've also been following this discussion closely as I'll be trying to assemble these parts myself in the not too distant future.

Mitsuaki: I wondered about those un-numbered parts on sheet 2418. At least I now know where they go. Are they used like filler blocks? The two together only add up to 10mm and that section looks deeper than that. I've had a look at your pictures of the galleries which will be a great help, I'll just have to see how Len fits those pieces.

Len: Your gun deck looks great. Your list of things you've just added looks as though it can be used as my 'To do' list!

My comment: Man this keeps getting more complicated. I missed those pieces as well. Looks like one above and one below. I was wondering on the drawing Hull Assembly 14 the drawing above and to the left of the "Side Gallery assembly complete" has a line below part 160 and a line just below where it adds the 1 x 3mm walnut strip. They must represent these pieces. 5mm does seem like the right thickness. Part 160 isn't pointed out on the assembly drawing either, but is the part just below the three

windows with a piece of the unnamed part below it. I'm sure Mitsuaki will respond and verify this with us.

I looked at the Edgar Drawing more closely and there's no way I could even attempt to mimic that detail, so I'll be doing it like the drawing. I'm presently making the new pieces with the wider area to the rear. I have only seen one complete build of this kit and looks like he didn't know what to do with part 434 because of lack of room aft, so he just glued it onto the aft end of part 160. He also didn't add the cast stern decoration

From Arthur: Len: I think I've got it now thanks. I'm sure you're right.

One of those un-numbered pieces (the smaller one) goes on top and is rounded over. A decorative trim (not numbered but I'd guess 378) runs along it, across the tops of columns 406-409.

The 1 x 3mm strip sits on top of it, like a miniature bulwark, and decoration 350 fits on it.

I think you have different drawings to me (and Mitsuaki) as you quoted different page numbers to us in your previous post. On my drawings, part 160 isn't shown.

That was the bit that had me puzzled. I now see that it's the bottom panel, below the windows, part 162.

The larger of those un-numbered parts goes below that with decoration 377 on it and 447 under it.

Simple!

As far as decoration 434, aft of the lower windows, is concerned, I'm confused!

I have some extra information that I suspect you don't have, namely the kit box. Looking at two of the pictures on the box, we should throw those parts away – they don't exist!

(They are on the profile view of Plan 1 though.)

From Mitsuaki: I've just finished to read discussion between Len and Arthur while I was sleeping and going to work and prepared pictures for this posting.

I almost agree Arthur except larger one among unnumbered MDF goes on top. In fact, it became apparent that this piece is slightly smaller than it should be when its after end beveled to fit stern fascia. Maybe I will scratchbuild it from excess 5 mm walnut sheet.

Picture DSCF2181.jpg is showing etched part 436 is on border of part 162 and hull side in my building. Perhaps it would be wrong way and part 436 is looking better on hull side. I also found in my computer's hard disk another Edgar drawing without stern deco. While it lacks deco details, it shows basic structure more clearly and width of areas on which columns are running vertically are completely identical I really hope modellers who don't yet build quarter gallery will be benefited from these infos.

BTW, etched part 434 or its equivalent scratchbuilt 3D part can be omitted in some way. Picture of bottom of this posting is of famous Bellona coppered model.

Apparently there is no such decoration part on its lower gallery corner except columns

DSCF2181.jpg

Description: Unnumbered MDF parts are roughly shaped and dry fitted to their positions. Upper part seems to be slightly smaller than it should be after its aftend was beveled.

DSCF2181.tiff

edgarWOdeco.tiff

copperedBellona.tiff

[freewheelinguy]

Build update:

While contemplating gallery assembly I glued into place the main wale. I used Top and Butt Planking as described in a book I have. A couple of mistakes were made by me. They are suppose to be 20 ft real scale sections with 6 ft and 14 ft as the taper lengths. I cut mine for some reason 24 ft with 8ft and 16 ft. Didn't realize my mistake until all the pieces were cut. Not redoing. Before attaching pieces laid in a batten to give a guide. Started from bottom row up. Wale is 18mm scale width.

Placed gun port lids that will be inline with wale and placed the wale piece with glue on the gun port. Once glue dried removed piece and carefully cut out gun port edge. First pic shows unglued plank with glued gun port lid. Second pic shows last two gun port lids with wale attached. Gun port lid 12 has very little wale, so I just filed wale, no material added.

Found another mistake. Stern is too low, but I will live with it.

Next step construction of the Galley, I think.

 

StbGPWaleGlued.JPG

Description: Glued gun port lid, not glued plank.

 

StbGunPortsWale.JPG

Description: Last two gun port lids in place.

[freewheelinguy]

Build Update:

Continued working on galleries and stern.

Attached new gallery window parts with larger wood area in the rear. Prior to glueing in place painted and glued in window frames. I glued on one side of a piece of black paper behind each frame. After dry slipped a clear plastic piece then glued the other side. I don't have a glue for plastic, so the paper holding it in place work well. I applied this same treatment to all windows.

I attached stern cabin section and columns. On a couple of the pictures the yellow ochre looks like light yellow, but the stern decoration picture shows the correct color.

After putting the three pieces of the Bellerophon cast pieces on the stern, found that it wasn't going to work. The reason is this piece will not bend and it is too small (my guess shrinkage in making process). I know the new kits have now resin pieces except for the Bellerophon. I cut a piece of 1/16" to replaece the decoration piece and bordered the perimeter with 1/32" basswood to form an edge. I am doing something similiar to Mitsuaki's build for the individual stern decoration pieces, but

couldn't find the products he used. I used a couple of products called ComposiMold and ComposiCast. The mold product is heated to liquify then hardens after poured, then can be heated and reused for additional molds. Once the resin pieces were made I cut and sanded to form each individual piece.

I have decided to paint the gallery and stern in yellow ochre and black as the HMS Victory is now. The stern decoration piece is still not resolved. The plans say to use red, blue or black for the field and yellow ochre for the details. I've seen models with gold details, and ones using various colors that would represent real color choices.

This has been one of the most difficult areas for me in ship modeling. So easy to screw up. Will be glad when this is behind. Thank god it's a hobby and not life threatening.

Until next time

 

ResinMold.JPG

 

PortGallery.JPG

 

SternCabin.JPG

 

SternDecor.JPG

 

I bought the ComposiMold from the manufacurer and the ComposiCast from them via Amazon ( had a gift card). Both were shipped from the manufacturer though. I purchased two small sample jars of ComposiMold and Bubble Blaster for $21 (free ship +$20 order) ComposiCast free (Amazon coupon code). I didn't buy the mold release, but should have. I tried a couple of things and they produced unsatisfactory results. Many holes and weak detail. I emailed support and they recommended to try talcum powder or mineral oil. I had neither, so didn't use anything on next try. These produced satisfactory results, but extra work was needed to remove mold material that stuck to the castings. There's a good video on youtube for making a toy soldier.

I was thinking of making a nametag with the forums logo for the show.

Just some additional info. Was speaking with Chuck at the conference about the stern deco on my build. He suggested since I made the molds that I could use Sculpey to make the pieces then could work on improving detail before baking. This got me thinking. When I got home I thought why can't I make the molds from Sculpey and bake, then use these to make the pieces also in Sculpey? I did this and results are fine without any improving. If I had the ability to improve them I can

see how using this process would work for those talented enough. The picture I provided here shows some of the pieces placed on the stern. The whiter pieces are Sculpey and the off white pieces are using ComposiCast resin. For a piece of $2.00 Sculpey I believe you get a slightly more detailed piece plus the workability before baking to harden and less messy and much cheaper.

While I'm here on the pic shows the Bellerophon pieces and the Elephant. As you can see they are identical except the most center piece. This leaves me a little annoyed. If you look below the Pegesus horse on the drawing right side you will see a profile of an elephant. Why would the Bellerophon have an elephant? This makes me suspicious of the pieces shown on the Bellerophon. I believe if you want a historically accurate portrayal of this part of the ship this isn't it and some

research is involved, if available. Just my spin on this.

Also I didn't state in an earlier post why I blackened the windows. For me this was a better choice. The inside of the galleries and stern aren't showing realistic, so I didn't want viewers looking in on unfinished wood pieces. This also used the black paper as a support for the clear plastic.

 

P1000609.JPG

 

Tip from Chuck:  Len...that turned out really well. You should give it a try to change those pieces or improve on the. Its not too difficult once you get a few crappy attempts out of the way. The trick is to use Sculpey softener. Dip a brush in the liquid and wash a thin coat over the piece. It smooths it out and also makes adding small lines and details easier. You can just use a sharpened tooth pick or even a blunt toothpick or even just a stiff paint brush.

But from what I see your pieces look just fine the way they are. Also...you saw how many different colors the clay comes in. You could actually mix them together and come up with a color that would simulate your wood color exactly. Then no painting is needed at all.

[freewheelinguy]

Build Update:

Painted Wales and Hull.

Continued working on Stern and Galleries area.

Made molding from boxwood strips for this area trim.

Cut out and then made two stern gun port lids.

Purchased some Vallejo paint to try after reading Chris Watton's rave on his prototype Bellona build in Victory Models update thread. I agree with Chris. I used the Black for the hull and the Royal Blue on the stern. Dries to a light satin finish much flatter than Admirality paints which I have been using.

I've been making many pieces of stern decoration items. Since I switched to using clay, I have made pieces first in white clay and painted, then bought some goldclay (no need to paint). You can see some of the pieces I painted in the pix. Painting such tiny items for me is extremely hard although cutting out detail on the goldpieces isn't much better (although I was fairly satisfied until these close up pictures). I will try to improve a few of these items. I have decided that I like the goldpieces better.

I have also replaced the three etched pieces (above upper windows, and long piece in the center) with gold clay pieces so they match the other stern items. You can see the long piece mold and the gold piece before trimming in one of the pix.

I'm presently working on the stern railing pieces. This is another tricky area. The three pieces for this just don't mess well, so I may replace some of it with wood pieces. Let the experimenting begin.

 

FullSternDecorView.jpg

 

CloseUPSternDecorView.JPG

 

WoodTrimBladeView.JPG

[freewheelinguy]

Build update:

Stern and Quarter Galleries are pretty much finished. Just some minor touching up to do.

This area as I said before was quite challenging and caused much vocabulary adjustments. I even left area to work on port lids to recover my sanity before gettingback to things at hand. I must move on and accept this as is and store for future as experienced gained.

Things I have found out is: the balcony floor is a little high because the bottom of the railing aligns about 1/8" low. Raising just mis-aligns other parts. I have lookedat other builds and seems same problem, so I don't think I did anything wrong from instructions. I didn't like how the photo etch bottom rail left/right pieces didn'tmeet up with the molding on the quarter galleries, so I removed the rails from the bottom and changed to wood moldings to match. I also removed the upper rail

because I didn't like how these pieces aligned to each other.

When I got to the quarter galleries I discovered my biggest frustration. The photo etched part that fits between the upper and lower windows didn't fit (pic below). My reason when I cut out and used new pieces to move the windows more forward and provide more area aft for decoration piece it seems after mounting the columns on the sides of the windows causes moldings to be too low. This is when I left (just to get away and decide a course of action). My thoughts were to rip out and start

over, but I decided to just live with it and make the best. This is suppose to be fun and I have spent way more time in this area than I wanted. I didn't think this out properly and lesson learned I hope, but life goes on and the build continues.

I am presently working on the painting and adding additional moldings to the ship sides plus building up the port lids.

This is my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

DecSternView.JPG

 

DecSternStbView.JPG

 

GalleryStbView.JPG

 

PartMisaligned.JPG

[freewheelinguy]

Build Update,

Have been working on port and stbd gun port lids, mouldings.

I've made the decision, but could still change, all gun port lids will be closed. I have drilled the holes for the ropes, but will add them later in the build. I have purchased some electrical heat shrink tubing to similate the leather rope chaffing piece. Will see how that works out. The top three mouldings shown in the picturesare:1. made from 2x1mm and 1x1mm glued, 2. purchased 3x2mm piece called out in kit, 3. scraped profile from1/16x3/32 swiss pear strips I had. I made a new piece instead of the part 87 I had cutout previously. It didn't fit right to match the other moulding, so the upper portion was a piece of 2mm which I cut out to match. The lower piece is a section of the matching moulding and two decorative pieces I made out of boxwood. I have a little further filing to do and painting.

At this point I want to get the hull coppered, so I have cut 2200 plates (judged this qty. by estimating what was shown on the hull coppering page). Copper plates need to be real 4ft x 15in. which is approx. 11/16in. x 7/32in. for this scale. I have copper tape 1/4in wide which is a 1/32in to wide, but close enough for me. Hull needs to be copper now because I need to turn model upside down, so after can complete gun deck and others.

Be back once hull is coppered. Til then.

 

PortTrim.JPG

 

PortTrimCU.JPG

[freewheelinguy]

Build Update:

First thanks for the comment Ian.

Second it's been a while since an update. Have been working as usual, but lazy in providing updates. I've provided a picture of the current status of the build.

Things I have done since last update are:

Coppered hull using copper tape (cut 2300 pieces used most guess between 2000-2100 needed).

Added rudder and associated pieces.

Added gun port lids. Made ropes for gun port lids using Gil's Victory instructions for making splices with needle. Purchased the smallest size heat shrink tubing from a Radio Shack store for simulating leather gun port rope protectors.

Presently, finishing up gun port assemblies for upper gun deck and making breech and gun tackles plus reworked all blocks necessary for same. Once complete will move on finishing everything needed for upper gun deck.

Until next time.

 

StbCopperGPRopes.JPG

 

Port Lid Ropes Info mostly copied from Gil’s log:

1. Treated line with diluted white glue for stiffness.

2. Cut a length a little longer than needed

3. Slipped a cut section of shrink tubing through the line and heated up with solder iron until shrunk to smallest size.

4. Put line and tubing into pre drilled hole using tweezers and formed.

The tubing because of the size and line because of the stiffness doesn't require any glue. Pieces are held in place on their own.

Don't really know what is correct for the hinges below waterline. I just prefer the contrasting look and ease of assembly I guess you are refering to them being copper, but thought it would be a mess for me to do it that way.

Ben, I just let the copper age. This is my third ship which I used copper tape from tape I bought back in 2007. Very little aging so far.

Chuck, I attached a close up of the tubing. I would have liked the tubing to be just a little thinner walled and to be able to shrink down some more. This was the smallest tubing I could find. My other thought if this didn't work was to try and find some 30 gauge insulated wire and strip it for the tubing, but I settled for this method. At normal eye viewing this satisfied me. If you would like to see further magnification let me know.

 

StbBowView.JPG

 

StbMidView.JPG

 

StbCloseupLids.JPG

[freewheelinguy]

Build Update:

Finished making blocks, rings, eyelets, hooks for 14 guns and mounted ,rigged breech and tackles. Having gun port closed should save me from mounting any moreguns since won't be seen. Used 28gauge annealed black wire for hooks, rings, and eyelets. Blocks are Model Shipways 3/32" which I did some reshaping. Breech lines are Amati .025 (.75mm) to scale breech lines should be .021 but I thought this thicker line looked better, and tackles lines are DMC Ecru no.100 .011. Lashings

are made from UNI-Thread 6/0 white thread .0075. I didn't add rear tackles because having the guns presented this way didn't leave enough space to fit these. Just didn't look right. Need to straighten some lines and touch up some gun assemblies yet before finished. Most all of this will probably be hard to see once upper deck is complete with all ship's boats added.

Presently finishing re-workiing stove and adding false upper decks, then will be planking same.

 

GunsUpperDeckRigged.JPG

 

 

THIS IS THE END OF WHAT I HAVE FROM MSW 1.0, THE BUILDS CONTINUES ON MSW 2.0

[freewheelinguy]

Build Update:

 

Added false QD/FC deck piece.

 

Had to trim away the inner QD sides to a more appropriate thickness before adding the planking.  The bulwarks were much too thick because of what material I used to frame the bulwarks.  Then added planking and made up the screen bulkhead assembly.

 

Assembled and then added the required grating pieces to the deck.

 

Added the margin plank.

 

Tried a different approach for caulking planks from what I did on the gun deck.  This time instead of putting black paper strips down the side of the planks I glued the planks to black paper sheets.  Once dry ran a knife down the edge.  This gave me a plank with a border on one side that I could fold up.  Having the bottom and one side with black paper stopped the problem of the paper coming up when trimming and sanding the finished deck.

 

Added QD planking and sanded and sealed.

 

Assembled ships wheel, cannonball racks, cheats, stanchions, binnacle and bitts.

 

Made up ten 18lb cannons and everything else associated with them.  That's it for the QD for now.  Next up Poop deck.

[freewheelinguy]

Build Update:

 

Followed same procedure as the QD for the Poop Deck.

 

Added deck pieces, rails and all associated pieces shown in the poop deck picture.

 

Next up gangway and boat beams.

[WackoWolf]

Maybe next year we will see this at the show in CT.

[gjdale]

Lovely to see your wonderful log back Len. She really is a credit to you!

[Jeff-E]

Excellent work Len , good to see you back

[Ray]

Hi Len great to see your build back I for one look forward to watching it progress

[Trussben]

Great to see your log back again Len, I will continue to follow your build.

 

Ben