HMS Winchelsea by Fred Healey

[scrubbyj427]

Hi Fred,

I found those aft planks, where they intersect the counter to be extremely difficult, after my first three I was unsatisfied and decided to change it up. I start my strake in the front and work my way aft but before I start making the last plank Before the plank to intersect the counter I actually decided to leave that gap open between the two and build the last plank first that way I can work from the stern forward and meet in the middle. This takes the pressure off of trying to make that intersection perfect as well as have it Meet the previous plank. I started to get much better results this way.
first I give the end of the plank a slight radius to fit the counter plank and test fit.

 

i cut the plank a little longer than mid bulkhead so i have some room to move aft as it will certainly pull aft once I add a bend to it.

I use a heat gun to try and achieve that nasty little bend, I’ve since switchEd to making the radius Over a large socket.

 

once the aft most plank is glued down then all I have to do is meet the two in the middle which goes much smoother than trying to manipulate the tricky aft one to fit.
 

ive got a bit of sanding and clean up to do but you can see the results have improved as I head inboard.

JJ
 

 

 

[jfhealey]

Thanks folks.

 

JJ - your method is certainly better than mine and your Winnie is looking superb.

 

Chuck - should the roof on the QGs be sanded flush to the outer wall of the QG as in the pictures below or do I need to add the fancy moulding and sand the roof to the ouyer edge of that?

 

Fancy mouldings next. I've never tried that before.

 

Fred

[Chuck]

Add the molding first.   But the roof should be just shy of flush with the molding AFTER the shingles are added.

[jfhealey]

Thank you Chuck

[jfhealey]

[jfhealey]

The English have a saying - I expect every nation has a variant - "London buses - you wait for ever and two come along in two minutes". So it is that no one has posted for days and Bob and I post within minutes.

I'm coming along reasonably well. I have found the mouldings on the lower part of the QG far and away the hardest pert of the build so far. They require edge bending, twisting along their length and plain old bending. After a number of goes I came up with something acceptable for the moulding immediately below the windows. I'm still working on the lower moulding.

[jfhealey]

I think my QGs must be a little low or the sides of the ship too high or a combination of both. You can see on the close up of the QG that (a) I had to cut in a little bit more frieze and (b) the fancy rail on top of the QG fits under the laser cut fancy moulding whereas it should intersect it. Still, I quite like it that way though I suspect my multiple inaccuracies will lead to problems down the line.

[rafine]

Fred, it's turning out great. I am the poster child for inaccuracies requiring adjustments in future work, so I know exactly what you're talking about.

 

Bob

[Beckmann]

Hi, your model looks beautiful, but what happened to your friezes? They Keep in better condition, of you spray them with varnish, before gluing them in place.

Matthias

 

[jfhealey]

Thanks Bob and Matthias and for the likes.

 

Matthias - I glued the friezes on with a prit-stick (which works well and allows for a tiny bit of sliding around) and, when dry, hand painted (with  a brush) with Admirality Flat Matt varnish from Cornwall Model Boats. I think Admirality paints are connected to Caldercraft/Jokita.

 

I have not used Admirality varnish before but it seems to me just about the perfect product. It goes on with no hint of brush marks. You can overcoat a small section of woodwork and not see the join with the adjacent not-overcoated section. Brushes wash out in water. We can not as far as I know get wipe on poly which all our American friends seem to swear by in the UK but I can not think its any better than this stuff.

 

I've used only the flat matt but I like the satin appearance of the varnish before it dries on the friezes and mouldings. I may give those a coat of satin.

 

All the best

Fred

[scrubbyj427]

She’s looking really good Fred! Can’t wait to flip mine over now!

 

JJ

[jfhealey]

Thank you JJ.

Here are some more pictures as I near the end of chapter3.

Observations on chapter 3: 

The laser cut scrolls are superb and really look the part. I had real doubts about the paper freizes having never used anything like that before but they are straightforward to apply and with a coat of varnish look completely authentic. The QGs are not easy but well worth putting the time into. The QGs and the open great cabin beyond contain a level of detail I doubt can be seen on any other commercially available product. I cant wait for chapter 4!

Things that have gone wrong: the winchelsea frieze didn't fit my inaccurately built stern. You can see where I've spliced in little bits and stippled sir paint over the joint. It looks fine to my eyes. I had to do the same with some of the other friezes. And the mouldings could have been a bit cleaner but for a first attempt I'm pretty happy with them.

[jfhealey]

[jfhealey]

[jfhealey]

[scrubbyj427]

Looks very nice! 
 

JJ

[jfhealey]

Chapter 3 finished. I'm pretty pleased with it it though there are obvious errors. I set the upper beam of the quarter gallery too high with the result that the fancy moulding across the transom is too high hi and there is no run for pedestals for the laser cut columns. I painted the the piece about the windows red but I didn't like it it and prefer it plain. I've ordered the the resin parts from Syren.

[jfhealey]

Please forgive the spelling errors. I used voice recognition on the phone which is at least better than my typing

[rafine]

Nicely done Fred.

 

Bob

[jfhealey]

Thank you Bob

[Rustyj]

Looking really good Fred!

[Edwardkenway]

Hi Fred,  just re-read your log, and you got a hull to be proud of. The cherry looks beautiful with the finish on it. The QG's look fine and I love the colour on the transom. 

One question: where did you get your cherry strips from? 

Great job and may it continue in chapter 4👍

[jfhealey]

Thanks all.

I got the cherry strips from Arkowood Oliver Konig in Germany. I paid £138 including shipping and have easily enough for this Winchelsea and reasonable start on another. I wish I had graded day strips. Some are very clean of grain and some show a lot of grain. If I had used the grainy strips under the Wales and friezes I was had a cleaner finish..

A good table saw seems a very attractive idea but I have no idea how the cost of of home cut strips compares with commercial strips.

fred

[jfhealey]

Here we are

[jfhealey]

Here is W1. It is rather gathering dust and I do not suppose I will ever finish it now W2 is underway. I can see now that I was hopelessly optimistic taking on a model of this size and complexity as a third build – but I learned a lot!

 

 

 

The resin figures were nearly a disaster. I thought if I painted them with fairly random mix of browns, whites and yellows well thinned the pigment would run into the low points and bring out the highlights. I hated the result so painted on another coat. That made things worse so I painted them gold. At that stage they looked awful so I gave them a bath in nail varnish remover with acetone and they actually ended up looking quite good. I have never used weathering powder but I might try a bit of that. Here is the figurehead dividing his time between W1 and W2.