HMS Terror by Keith S - OcCre - scale 1:75 - as she (dis)appeared on her final mission 1845 - first wooden ship build

[Keith S]

34 minutes ago, clearway said:

😁good idea about reducing the hole size- them new belaying pins look a lot more realistic, and as we know from the wreck shot the belaying pins are a brass alloy - still freaks me out because they look like they have only been underwater a week or so! 

 

Keith

 

Yeah if you look really closely it looks like there's still some shiny spots on them where the varnish hasn't flaked away yet. Unbelievable how well-preserved she is. She must be the most intact Royal Navy ship from this era in existence, considering restored ones have a great deal of their original wood replaced. This seaweedy picture shows one of the bulwark pin-racks, which compares favourably to the size of the 5mm ones on the model. 

[Keith S]

I'm back. After leaving this ship on the shelf since May, I have finally reached the point where I wish to work on it again. I decided to start by building the little hutch over the rudder head. There is quite a bit of detail to this little piece, and it's a funny shape. I am happy to be back at it. Next up I think I'll work on some boat derricks, and I still need to remove the pin-rails and replace them with proper holes for scale-sized pins. I'm also looking forward to beginning work on tapering and fitting out the masts. 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 24, 2021 by Keith S

[clearway]

welcome back to the terror club Keith- not sure if you seen it but got back to your question regarding the tops on my log- been a couple of posts since i answered.

 

Keith

[Keith S]

One of the things I needed to do was to break off all my belaying-pin racks and replace them with ones that fit the scale 5mm pins. Now they are all the correct size, except, I just noticed, the ones on the port side of the foremast. These ones will be sorted by plugging and re-drilling the holes rather than breaking apart that complicated structure. Also I made two new ones for either side of the bowsprit, having seen these depicted in the dockyard plans. 

 

 

I've made a start on the life-boat davits, having made two of the ones closest to the stern. This however has lead me to a bit of an impasse with respect to the two midships ones, that are depicted in many drawings as being mounted OUTSIDE the bulwarks rather than inboard. I have this dockyard drawing of a midships cut-away of the ship from 1838 that depicts an inboard-mounted one, but with the davit arm being mounted outboard.  However, it also depicts the racks for carrying spare spars, which are only mounted where these two davits would have been.  Also depicted are some strange little irons or brackets OUTSIDE the bulwarks. I can't work out what these are for, but in the side-view from the same era, we see five structures depicted. At first, I thought these were simply the stanchions from the inboard racks. However, after measuring them, I see their locations do not match up with the inboard stanchions. Furthermore, they are exactly the same size as the weird little brackets depicted in the cross-section. Therefore, I made some up out of brass. They are the correct size and shape, but I simply can not work out what they are for. 

 

 

Anyway, I made some of these little brackets. I am experiencing confusion about them, however. IF, as seems to be the case from the 1838 plans, these brackets were located along the waist of the ship, and IF, as also seems to be the case, the midships davits were installed OUTSIDE the bulwarks, they would appear to interfere with one another. The davits depicted in the cutaway are either not the midships ones, or there is a discrepancy in the plans somewhere. In the side-view, the davits are depicted in blue ink. The convention on this sheet seems to be that things inside the rails are in red, while those outside are in blue. So I'm pretty confused about what all these parts are and how they fit together. 

 

There are a few notes, barely legible. On the cutaway there is a faint "b" drawn beside the davit, and the note, in 19-century cursive, seems to say "a piece of plank secured to the ship's side to support the heel of the davit". This seems to refer to a vertical plank under where the horizontal moving part of the davit is secured to the outer side of the bulwark. 

 

The other note I can read refers to the vertical part of the midships davits, saying "This upright fitted but unshipped and stowed away". 

 

 

So, this being the case, I've decided to simply not put these davits on the model. I will instead install the little iron brackets, and the mounting hardware for the davits, but as for the davits themselves, I will not install them. The little irons seem to be meant to support a horizontal railing or spar of some kind, but I will not install that, either. In that way, if I later learn what the heck these things are for, and how ,if at all, they are meant to interact with the davits, I will be able to complete that bit of the model. 

 

One thing that remains mysterious to me, is WHICH of the davits are depicted in the cross-section. If they are not the midships ones, then it would seem to indicate that the horizontal sections of all the davits are mounted to the bulwark rather than to the uprights. 

 

Another mysterious thing is that, in the side-view, the line representing the bulwark railing is drawn OVER the davit uprights, rather than BEHIND them. This would indicate they are NOT mounted outboard. It's all very mysterious. 

 

I will have to think about this rather important point for a while before deciding what to do about it. 

Edited February 7, 2021 by Keith S

[Keith S]

OK guys, I hate to boast, but I am quite pleased with myself for once after this evening's building session. As I mentioned in the post above, I have been a bit confused about a series of brackets depicted in the various dockyard drawings. They seem to serve no apparent purpose. I decided to build a set and glue them on anyway, thinking that perhaps in the future their purpose would become apparent. I glued them onto the side of the ship (I will secure them with little brackets later) and still couldn't work out what they were for. Then on a whim I decided to lay a piece of rod in them, which seems to be depicted in the cutaway diagram above.

 

I suddenly realized what they are for. All the other boat davits on the ship hang outboard of the shrouds. Therefore, if the ship were rolling, the boats would bump harmlessly against the shrouds. In the ship's waist, however, a boat hanging from the falls would bash against the ship's rail... unless there was a fender of some kind. I believe these brackets form a fender that protects boats from bashing into the ship.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 8, 2021 by Keith S

[clearway]

Been bashing my head working this davit business out myself Keith!! I am basing the davits on the midship section plans as the ones for the skid beams so for the after eight sets of davits will put brackets on the outsides for the arms- as regards the midship davits i am seriously tempted to wait till Matthews book comes out as they can be added later. I am only leaving the davit posts in place where the skids are as they would interfere with handling sails while using them and will store them in the stanchions in the waist.

 

Keith

[Keith S]

I agree, I'm going to attach the arms on the outside of the bulwarks. As for the forward midship pair, the note on the dockyard plans does say that they are normally removed and stowed- so I think that solves the problem nicely. As for whether the midship davit posts were inside or outside, after I put the little fender hardware on there, I can see that there is lots of room for an outside davit. Perhaps these ones were located outboard because of the spar storage inboard. At any rate I think I'll attach the metal hardware but leave the posts off, because of that note in the plans.

 

Do the aft-most davit posts block the driver boom? All the drawings of the ship under weigh show a pair of boats hung from davits near the stern- I suppose those must be the ones by the skids.

 

[DanielD]

Keith very nice work figuring this out! It makes so much more sense now...

 

Now the quandary, do I build more small boats? With one hanging on the stern davits, one upright mid ship, one upside down on top of that, two on the stern racks above the capstan, two over the side on the davits near the stern, and now two over the side mid ship. Well, that accounts for nine of the 12. That’s progress! 
 

I like the small boats so I’m inclined to build them...gives some perspective how massive this expedition was.

Edited February 9, 2021 by DanielD

[Keith S]

I like 'em too, but man that's a lot of boats. I think I have six of them, including the two small double-ended metal ones, which I figure are OK to put upside-down on the beams between the main and mizzen mast. With two piled up in the middle, one one either side on the stern davits, and two upside-down, well I guess I could put one more in the pile in the centre, and hang one off the transom, and that would make eight. I wonder where they put the other four? I suppose the really little ones could be partially disassembled and stored below. I've heard of small boats being stored inside big ships and used for storage...

 

Edited February 9, 2021 by Keith S

[DanielD]

I think I figured out where all 12 small boats were placed and leaves the davits at the stern free to work on the rudder and propeller. I will apologize in advance if I don’t have the correct terminology for all the locations 😃. Here we go, mid ship between the fore and main mast with another stacked on top (forward green <top> and yellow <bottom> boats in the image). On the timber frame between the main and mizzenmast another pair right side up <green> (as seen in Matthew Betts work), with another pair upside down on top of those <yellow>. That makes six. Then there are 3 pairs of davits along each side of the ship, the forward pair with the bumper you figured out <highlighted blue> then 2 more pair, aft of those (in red of the attached image) with my drawing of boats in blue. So each pair of davits can hold a small boat. So three small boats hanging on each side of the ship, for 6 more, thus a total of 12 small boats. Thoughts?

 

 

Edited February 9, 2021 by DanielD

[Keith S]

The math checks out. But man! That's a lot of boats! As well as all the barrels stored on deck, and the frames holding spare spars and other wood, how did they even move around? It would be fun to try to depict the ship burdened with all this deck cargo, but I'm worried some of the detail we've already done will be buried in a solid coating of boats! 

[Keith S]

pToday I fixed the other half of the fife-rail on the foremast, to hold the correct number and size of belaying pins. Also, continuing with the micro-blacksmithing, I made the thingies that are described in the plans as "guards to prevent the chain cable striking the winch" 

 

I actually managed to drill little holes in the ends to tie off the cord depicted in the plans, but it's so small I found it too fiddly to attach the cord. But I did make the rings, in case I decide to try again. Maybe I will buy some reading- glasses. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hate taking these close-ups. I don't feel like my work is equal to the nice, crisp work of the other guys who are building this ship. 

 

I swear, from a foot back it looks pretty good. Oh well

 

 

[clearway]

Nice work matey, i was just considering making them out of a piece of black L shaped iron wire but like the look of them😁

 

Keith

[Keith S]

Thanks Keith. I think I'm mostly focussing on these little metal bits because I'll do almost anything to put off getting started on the masts and tops. Lee's book is making my head ache. Plus, I'm waiting for some walnut and basswood planks to arrive before getting started on them. I think I have a plan for the tops based on Lee's but will wait till the timber arrives before trying it out. I'll just use your dimensions for them if you don't mind!

 

[clearway]

feel free Keith- in hindsight though i would add about 3mm to the fore top at the rear of the mast to allow room for the topmast stays to pass through and run down to the deck (i had to drill file a hole in the chock on the mast to allow this)! Thinking more on the boats and looking at the plans in the books i had which are smaller copies of yours, it looks like some were stored on the decks just forward of the deckhouses- it must have been a bit crowded on deck to say the least!

 

Keith

[Keith S]

20 hours ago, clearway said:

feel free Keith- in hindsight though i would add about 3mm to the fore top at the rear of the mast to allow room for the topmast stays to pass through and run down to the deck (i had to drill file a hole in the chock on the mast to allow this)! Thinking more on the boats and looking at the plans in the books i had which are smaller copies of yours, it looks like some were stored on the decks just forward of the deckhouses- it must have been a bit crowded on deck to say the least!

 

Keith

 

Do you mean to say you'd add 3mm so the lubber's hole could be made bigger? So the main topmast stays could fit down through the foretop?

 

Yes this ship seems to have been covered in boats, like turtles on a log. 

[clearway]

Yes Keith make the lubbers hole longer so the rear cross tree is far enough back to let the ropes through the hole abaft the fore mast like on my main top (hindsight tis a wonderful thing i should know better by now)! Love the turtles on a log analogy😁.

 

Keep up the good work,

 

Keith

 

 

[Gus M]

what a great thread of research and progress, your work is impressive, I'm glad you didn't quit when you got tired and came back to it, so I can follow your progress and learn.

It's a kit for the future, but this way, I'm already learning a lot of things.

Thanks for sharing

[Keith S]

I haven't been making a whole lot of progress on my model, but I thought I'd post what has been done so people don't think I've given up. 
 

Lately I've been working on the boat davits: They are highly-detailed little pieces and I've run out of the 3mm square light-coloured wood so I have only made eight out of twelve of the vertical posts. They fit into little sockets I have made from slices of brass tube, and brackets on the rail made of brass strip. I've also made the actual davit arms, which I bent after steaming them in the rice-cooker and laminated, but I'm leaving them off for the time being because I still need to make the brackets they fit into. 

 

Using "Lee's" book, I worked out the taper ratio for the lower masts, and tried it out on the main mast first. I thought it turned out OK so I proceeded to apply the hounds and cheeks, and paint, hoops, and bands. It think it looks pretty good so I will proceed with the other two. 

 

I don't have a lot of time for model-building lately, because of work, but I spend a lot of time reading Lee's and thinking about how I want to depict certain parts. 

 

I like photographing the model in the sunbeam through the kitchen window, now that it's early spring and the sun has come back.

 

 

[Keith Black]

 Keith, my apologies for being away from your build for far too long. This is a fantastic first build and your progress since my last visit is amazing. I thought I was following but I guess I wasn't and I lost track. That won't happen again. 

 

 I've enjoyed reading about your research, the resulting authenticity is evidence of your efforts. 

[Keith S]

..sometimes model-building is just maths. 

[Keith Black]

16 minutes ago, Keith S said:

sometimes model-building is just maths. 

 Yeah and it makes my head hurt. 

[clearway]

Wecome back Keith- glad to see she is under way again.😁

 

Keith

[gdollow]

Hi, I have just caught up with this build, the ship is coming along nicely.  I am currently build this model.  I have the plans from the Royal Maritime Museum, and I have modified the belaying pin racks around the fore mast. This has altered the attachment points for the rigging.  Looking at the belaying pin rack by the main mast, is totally different from the Occre plans, again altering where the rigging is tied off.  Do you have a rigging diagram which shows where the ropes would be tied off using the modified belaying pin racks?

[Keith S]

3 hours ago, gdollow said:

 Do you have a rigging diagram which shows where the ropes would be tied off using the modified belaying pin racks?

 

Well, that is a good question! I have a copy of Lees' "Masting and Rigging &c." in which there are some belaying schemes in the appendix. I also have another useful book, the title of which escapes me, which shows the complete rigging of a late 18th century frigate model in a paint-by-numbers series of drawings. I plan on making reference to both, along with some of the tutorials available on this forum, when the time comes. Also you can try to "Google" something like "Barque belaying scheme" and see what you find: like this guy's site: 

 

http://www.jans-sajt.se/contents/Navigation/Modelling/Themes_Belayings.htm

 

I have basically stopped referring to the Occre plans for anything from the deck up. For me, and a couple of other guys like Clearway (Keith) and Dan D, this has become more of a scratch-build than a kit at this point. 

 

"Terror" was a highly modified ship, and information about how she was rigged at the end is a little sparse. I assume we're all doing what we can here by scrutinizing period drawings and lithographs, making assumptions and semi-educated guesses based on experience with other models (in other Keith's case) or observing other similarly rigged models (any barque-rigged turn-of-the-19th century flush-decked ship should be broadly similar) discussion and hopefully a bit of common sense. 

 

As for me, I'm using dimensions from Lees' for the "class 10 Frigate", and I haven't really started thinking about the belaying pattern. I am hoping a lot of it becomes self-evident as I go along!

 

I am finding lately that this part of the model is a lot of maths, and relatively little actual woodwork. 

 

 

 

Here is an example of a belaying diagram from Lees', which I think is the one that has the most similarity to how Terror may have been rigged. The trouble with it is, in order to interpret it you need to understand what things like a "garnet", "clueline", "buntline" or "vang" are, because he describes everything verbally. 

 

Edited April 14, 2021 by Keith S

[clearway]

that's the belaying plan i am using for a reference keith, but will have to make some alterations as not all pin rails are the same. Yep bit confusing when starting out with all the names for the rigging!

Keith

[Keith S]

6 hours ago, clearway said:

that's the belaying plan i am using for a reference keith, but will have to make some alterations as not all pin rails are the same. Yep bit confusing when starting out with all the names for the rigging!

Keith

It is the greatest challenge! 

 

[gdollow]

Thanks for the info, what is the book you are using.  I have pre-ordered 

HMS Terror: The Design, Fitting and Voyages of the Polar Discovery Ship: The Design Fitting and Voyages of a Polar Discovery Ship by Matthew Betts, which is due out on the 30th May. 

 

This is a description of the book from Amazon

Quote

This book documents the history, design, modification, and fitting of HMS Terror, one of the world's most successful polar exploration vessels. Part historical narrative and part technical design manual, this book provides, for the first time, a complete account of Terror's unique career, as well as an assessment of her sailing abilities in polar conditions, a record of her design specifications, and a full set of accurate plans of her final 1845 configuration. Based on meticulous historical research, the book details the ship's every bolt and belaying pin, and ends with the discovery and identification of the wreck in 2016, explaining how the successes and ice-worthiness of Terror may have contributed to the Franklin disaster itself. It is an ideal reference for those interested in the Franklin Mystery, in polar exploration, the Royal Navy, and in ship design and modelling.

 

 If it lives up to the description it should be very useful.

 

Edited April 15, 2021 by gdollow

[Keith S]

1 hour ago, gdollow said:

If it lives up to the description it should be very useful.

 

 

I think you'll find it will be very useful indeed. If I was just starting my model now, I would probably not bother doing anything above deck-level until the book comes out. 

 

The other book I have besides Lees' is one called "Rigging period ship models" by Lennarth Petersson. This book is very specifically about the rigging of the 18th-century HMS Melampus, and the authour cautions modelbuilders that, obviously, it might not be correct for models of other ships or other periods. The reason I bought this particular book is that it helps me understand what the names of various things are, and it gives me a starting-point and sensible "order of operations" to begin with. I am hoping to make era-specific corrections to the information from Petersson's book by referring to Lees'.. which does give era-specific information but presupposes a high degree of existing knowledge on the part of the model-builder. I am hoping that with the help of both books, I should be able to create something believeable. Here is an example of a page from Petersson's book, showing how he uses little arrows to illustrate the run of the line in question. Basically there is a page for each different rope in the running rigging. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Keith S]

Today I worked on banding the foremast, which I tapered and painted yesterday. While I was doing that and waiting for paint to dry, I worked on the quarter-davits. I've steamed strips of wood in my wife's rice steamer and laminated four davit arms on a jig. Today I tried to make the hull fitting for one of the arms. It's so small it took me four tries to make one without destroying it, but finally succeeded. It took me about three hours. The next ones should go quicker, now I've worked out how to drill all the little holes without bending the brass till it snaps. The little brass pin on the davit arm will pull out so I can remove them in prototypical fashion. That way they won't get damaged when I am working on the mizzen rigging. 

 

Finished tapering and banding the masts, too. I still have to make rubbing paunches and then onto making the tops, I suppose.