HMS Vulture 1776 by Dan Vadas - FINISHED - 1:48 scale - 16-gun Swan-class sloop from TFFM plans

[NenadM]

Wow, it looks easy as Lego ... except if you tried to make anything of wood ... then you realise what kind of SF is presented here

 

Extraordinary, inspirational and educational work

[Sonofagun]

Thanks Danny, for your suggestions on planning my new workshop! You clicked on a few very practical ideas I had not considered.

Your build is amazing. Very nice work. I agree with the others, the degree of detail makes the model look like a larger scale.

[Dan Vadas]

This Index continues on from the one on Page 1. To return to the first Index click HERE

 

 

Head Works 

 

Lower Cheeks

Hair Brackets

Wash Cants

Bolsters

Gammoning Chocks

Main Rails

Head Beam and Grating Battens

Head Timbers

Saddle

False Rails and Aft Seats of Ease

Cathead Supports

Eking Rail

Gun Port Lid

Bridle Port

Figurehead

 

Masts

 

         Deadeyes

         Chains

Preventer Plates

Lower Masts

Mast Cheeks

Bibs and Trestle Trees

Cross Trees

Bolsters

Starboard Side Black Strake

Iron Work in the Head, Spanshackle Ring and Fish Davit Cleats

Wooldings

Forecastle Railings

Berthing Rail

Billboard

Mast Heads and Caps

Topmasts

Topmast Trestles and Crosstrees

Topgallant Masts

Cheek Blocks

Bowsprit

Hearts

 

Standing Rigging

 

Collars

Bobstays and Bowsprit Shrouds

Gammoning and Boomkins

Fore Tack Step Blocks

Main Stay Collar

Mizzen Mast Shrouds

Mizzen Mast Forestay and Collar

Main Mast Lower Shrouds and Burton Pendants

Fore Mast Shrouds

Main Stay

Main Preventer Stay

Fore Stay and Preventer Stay

 

Mast Tops

Making Blocks

Blocks under the Tops

Top Stanchions and Railings

 

Catharpins

Euphroes

Crowsfeet

Futtock Shrouds

Ratlines

Shroud Cleats

Mizzen Topmast Shrouds

Mizzen Topmast Stay

Main Topmast Shrouds

Main Topmast Stays

Topmast Futtock Staves, Fore Stay and Preventer Stay, Topsail Yard Tyes

Topmast Ratlines

Topgallant Shrouds and Stays

 

Jibboom Crupper and Jib Traveller

Jib Net

Jibboom Horses

Fore Topgallant Stay

Jib Stay

Mast Trucks

 

Yards and Running Rigging

 

Spritsail Yard

Jeer Tyes

Topsail Sheet Blocks

Blocks fitted to the Lower Yards

Stunsail Irons

Truss Pendant Tackles

Spritsail Running Rigging

Crossjack

Mizzen Mast Cleats

Gaff

Jeers

Yard Lifts

Main Stay Tackles

Topsail Yard Tyes

Parrels

Topsail Yard Lifts

Topgallant Yard Parrels

Vangs

Braces

 

Lantern

Anchors

Fish Davit

Swivel Guns

Waist Rails

Hammock Cranes

Anchor Rigging

 

Clues, Tacks and Sheets

 

Fitting Hammock Cranes

Fitting Swivel Guns

Flags

Fitting Stern Lights Part 1

Fitting Stern Lights Re-Do

Fitting Capstan Bars

 

Pedestals

Rope Coils

Lantern Braces

Binnacle

 

.

[Dan Vadas]

Gun Port Lid

 

There is only one gun port lid on each side of Vulture - the aftmost one, or Number 8, which is in a cabin. With the exception of Number 1 which is in the Forecastle the others are all more or less open to the elements and don't need them. I'm surprised that Number 1 port doesn't have one.

 

I'm rather glad I didn't build a Victory - I'd have needed to make a few more . This one port with it's hinges took me three days   . The only other port I'll be making will be the port side Bridle Port, it's a little bit easier as it doesn't have as many eyebolts and rings. No port lids will be fitted to the open starboard side.

 

I made the hinges from a piece of 2mm thick brass strip, and incorporated the knuckle into it by filing rather than soldering a separate piece on (I've run out of suitable tubing). The majority of the work of removing the surplus was done with the disc sander, the rest with needle files. I drilled the holes for the bolts and the hinge pin just after tapering the top face, while the piece was still attached to the rest of the strip. This made clamping to the mill vice easier :

 

 

The Hooks (the other part of the hinges) were made in similar fashion. I silver soldered the pins to them after first drilling holes for them :

 

 

The Port Lid itself was made by cross-laminating seven pieces - the external face has three and a bit planks which follow the run of the hull planking, and the internal face has three planks which are fitted vertically. After blackening the hinges they were epoxied and pinned to the lids. I used 0.8mm round-headed pins (shaft diameter of 0.4mm) :

 

 

Eyebolts and rings are fitted both inside and outside for the port tackles - these will be faked as there is no way that they can be fitted at this late stage of the build :

 

 

The hinges REALLY WORK :

 

 

 

I'm off to the Port Macquarie Model Show in the morning - I've got Vulture almost exactly to the stage I'd planned on a couple of months ago for this show .

 

  Danny

[allanyed]

Danny

 

Wouldn't it have been quicker to order a piece of tubing and soldering than sanding and filling     Disk sander or not, that is a LOT of material to remove.

I must say they do look very very good.

 

Allan

[druxey]

Those are good-looking pieces of hardware, Dan, but that was a lot of work! Good luck at Port Macquarie.

[dgbot]

Danny you are a either a nut or a masochist.   That is a ton of work.  But the ends justifies the means beautiful work.

David B

Edited August 8, 2014 by dgbot

[mtaylor]

Have fun at Port Macquarie. That was an interesting method of making hinges but they turned out beautifully.

[DORIS]

My admiration to your masterpiece and professionalism. Looks outstanding!

Best regards
Doris

[scratch]

Lovely work Danny . One of these days I'll make time to go to one of those model shows in NSW and get a good look at your masterpeice .

[Dan Vadas]

My sincere apologies for not posting sooner - my computer was either very sick or dead these past few weeks - all fixed now .

 

Thank you for your replies Allan, Druxey, David, Mark, Doris, David, Crackers and Johann, much appreciated.

 

Wouldn't it have been quicker to order a piece of tubing and soldering than sanding and filling

 

 

Of course it would have Allan (and David , but you must have missed my comment regarding that bit - I didn't have any tubing of the right size, and to get some would have meant a 1 hour round trip with no certainty of success in getting any from the "local" hobby shop . I figured correctly that I could file the hinge straps in about the same time .

 

Deadeyes

 

Although my computer has been down I haven't been idle. I've turned ALL the Deadeyes and drilled them as well - all 142 of them, in four sizes - 64 off 10" (real size) or 5.3mm, 20 off 8" (4.25mm), 42 off 7" (3.7mm) and 16 off 5" - a tiny 2.65mm, the holes were a lot of fun to get right in these ones .

 

First, an explanation of why I made my own when there are very good quality ones available from companies like Syren Ship Models and some of the Russian sites. While these are of very nice quality, none of them had them in the sizes I needed. For example Chuck supplies all of his in even millimetre sizes (with good reason) and I thought the differences in some of the sizes I needed would have been too great and noticeable. For the 8" and 7" deadeyes I would have had to go with a 4mm deadeye for both, as you can see from the previous paragraph. The 5" deadeyes would have been either too large or too small.

 

Besides - I like a challenge .

 

After turning the diameter of the "huge" 5.3mm deadeyes I used a 1mm Parting Tool to cut the groove and also part it from the stock - the Digital Readout came in very handy to keep them all to exactly the same dimensions. For the 7" and 5" ones I ground an old parting tool down to 0.7mm. I rounded the edges with a needle file :

 

 

 

To drill the three 0.6mm holes for the 10" and 8" ones I used my new Rotary Table in the Mill. The holes are 1/4 of the way in from the outer edge and are spaced evenly at angles of 120 degrees apart. The 7" and 5" deadeyes have 0.45mm holes :

 

 

 

All the deadeyes separated into sizes :

 

 

An idea of the small sizes of them. Some 10" and 5" deadeyes on top of a 5 cent piece :

 

 

  Danny

[Jim Lad]

Very nice, Danny!  Now all you need to do is explain to non Aussies how big a five cent coin is!

 

John

 

PS The five cent coin is 19.41mm in diameter!!

[Dan Vadas]

Thank you Brian and John.

 

PS The five cent coin is 19.41mm in diameter!!

 

 

Which means I can fit 7 of the 5" deadeyes across one and still have room to spare :

 

 

Chains

 

Construction of the Chains - the "support braces" for the lower deadeyes - begins with the Upper Link or Deadeye Binding. As it's name suggests this is a forged steel binding which wraps around the deadeye. It passes through the channel and has a loop in it's lower end which attaches to the Middle Link.

 

To make these, which are all the same for this size of deadeye, I used a jig. The 0.7mm brass wire was first bent into a rough oval and the join silver soldered. Then it was tightened around the wooden pin and nail with needle-nose pliers to form it's shape :

 

 

 

 

The wooden peg in the jig was turned down to give a push-on fit over the outer diameter of the deadeye. Final fitting was accomplished with needle nose pliers. I needed to make one up to measure the following links - this one was later opened up and the deadeye removed prior to blackening of the wire :

 

 

 

Continued next post......

[michael mott]

How come that silver solder looks like soft solder? Beautiful job on the dead eyes not only did you drill a lot of holes but you did a lot of spinning of that rotary table as well.

 

Michael

[Dan Vadas]

..... continued.

 

Thanks Michael. I use a mini gas torch for all my soldering, and silver solder paste. It flows beautifully, but the joins MUST be a zero fit as it won't fill any gaps.

 

The Middle Links and Lower Links were both made by first cutting all the pieces to length - oddly enough ALL the links finished up the same length of 28mm, even the upper links. According to TFFM the middle lengths should have been of varying lengths to allow for the change of angle, but as they also sweep up slightly as the go aft the difference was so minimal (0.2mm) that it didn't warrant a whole lot of extra work .

 

To bend the pieces I used a simple two-nail jig. The lower links were then silver soldered and shaped around a 1mm drill bit at their lower ends. The upper ends were finessed with pliers around a wedge shaped piece of brass held in the vice similar to the one shown here :

 

 

 

The three links ready for final fitting :

 

 

Once the lower links were soldered and shaped the middle links were fitted between them and the upper links and soldered together. The middle link was then tightened down using the jig shown above :

 

 

 

I use a piece of pumice stone ($4.00 from a supermarket) to hold the pieces for soldering.

 

  Danny

[Mirabell61]

beautiful work Danny,

 

the making of the deadeyes in Wood and brass Looks very nice. The torch heated Joints with silver solder are very well done. Thanks for sharing that pic sequence

 

Nils

[gjdale]

Great work Danny, and thanks for sharing your methods again. There is always so much to learn from reading your log !

[BANYAN]

Very nice Danny and thanks fr showing your techniques - I like the vice jig in particular.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[michael mott]

Thanks for the explanation Danny.

 

Michael

[mtaylor]

Lovely work all around, Danny.  Thanks for showing us how the chains are done.

[Dan Vadas]

Thanks once again for the kind comments Geoff, Nils, Grant, Pat, Michael and Mark .

 

Here's a pic of a completed deadeye with chains. The deadeye was fitted after the chains were soldered and blackened by clamping the deadeye in the vise and squeezing the upper link tight with needle nose pliers :

 

 

I've made all the various size deadeye/chain assemblies. The last of them are pickling in vinegar at the moment, prior to blackening.

 

Preventer Plates

 

I've also made the 32 Preventer Plates, which fit to the lower end of the lower links on the Fore and Main shrouds. The plates were made by drilling the 0.6mm holes 7mm apart in a strip of 3mm x 0.8mm, and then filed to shape. A line was marked between the holes to simulate the way they were originally made - the piece was forged from square bar on the original.

 

A dog-leg was then bent into the upper end to give clearance for the chain from the hull. I made a simple jig by taping a piece of 0.8mm plate to the top of my small anvil. Another thicker plate was then placed over the piece and tapped a couple of times with a small hammer to make the first bend, then the other bend was tapped in by hitting the end of the piece :

 

 

 

  Danny

[Remcohe]

Nice metalwork Danny, you fooled me into thinking the plates were forged together

 

Remco

[Mirabell61]

Hi Danny,

 

I love the way you do the selfmade Fitting out rigging parts, probably many thoughts and Prior Trials went into the parts manufacturing, until they meet with your satisfaction, well done !

 

Nils

[Trussben]

Very Nice Danny, I will remember the Pumice stone idea for using as a solder base!

 

ben

[Dan Vadas]

Thank you for dropping in again Remco, Nils and Ben .

 

Lower Masts

 

Sometime soon I'm going to need the Masts for alignment purposes to go ahead with fitting the deadeyes to the channels. Up until now I've "made do" with a couple of "dummy" masts, but now it's time to make the real things .

 

I was lucky to buy one of the last of the Masting Packages for the "Swans" from Hobbymill about a year or so ago. As usual, Jeff's timber and packaging is EXCELLENT - there are TWO pieces supplied for every part needed in case of "oopsies" (I've already made one ).

 

The masts (and just about everything else) starts out as square stock - no dowels in this lot, that would have been counter-productive . Following usual practice for making "round" masts from square stock I marked out two sides with the taper required. I've also tapered the masts below deck as per the original. The pic below shows the marking out for the section between the Partners and the Heel :

 

 

After tapering these two faces with a chisel and sandpaper I marked out the other two and tapered them as well. Then I marked out each face for the edges where the "octagonalling" would finish. I cut the tapered square section into a tapered octagon using a "V" jig and a sharp chisel :

 

 

 

Then I rounded the octagon using a sanding block, and cut the lower tenon into it :

 

 

The Mast Head remains square for now - much more work to be done here later :

 

 

Fore and Main Lower Masts fitted to the ship :

 

 

Note - I had to make two Main Masts (the oopsie mentioned earlier). I'd made the main mast a bit too thin at the partners on the 1st one and wasn't happy with the result. Just as well that Jeff had supplied plenty of timber .

 

  Danny

[Remcohe]

Danny I just realize it's been way too long you've show an overview picture of your Vulture. You always have been showing all the details but I was stunned  (but not surprised ) to see how beautiful everything is in the overview shot above.

 

I can only say 'please show me more!'

 

re: the masts, you'll find that lots of fun.

 

Remco

Edited August 29, 2014 by Remco

[Jim Lad]

Looking good, Danny!

 

John

[allanyed]

Danny

I like the varying vee block set up.  Are there just the two we see in the photo or do you have more to support longer pieces so they do not bend during the chiseling process?   I am very happy to see you demonstrate that a sharp chisel can do wonders, and dowels are not necessary to make masts or spares.

Allan

[Dan Vadas]

Thank you Remco, John and Allan.

 

OK Remco - you asked for it :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are there just the two we see in the photo or do you have more to support longer pieces so they do not bend during the chiseling process?

 

 

There are four supports Allan. They work fine at the moment, but as I get into the smaller sizes I'll remove a couple of them and replace them between a couple of the existing ones. BTW - this jig came with the Masting Package.

 

  Danny

[Jim Lad]

Thanks for the photos, Danny.  She really looks the goods!

 

John