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

[clearway]

looks the part Keith- i had the davit arms down as straight but look nice curved. I did notice on the cover picture of Matthews book the davit arms midships are curved (the enigma continues).

 

Keith

[Keith S]

I had a hard time deciding what to do about them, but this picture and others show something curved pretty plainly. It even looks in the sonar image like they might be curved. However, this drawing (which looks a lot like a "camera lucida" drawing) also seems to show the davit arms being supported by a bridle off the mizzen, rather than dedicated uprights. Luckily, it's all pretty removable if it turns out to be incorrect when we know more. Many models and drawings of other ships from the early 1800s show the quarter-davits being curved and being supported by ropes to the mizzen. But then we can see from other drawings that the beams supporting the extra boats and ice- plank are supported by the davit uprights, so they must have been there. 
 

The thing I am most curious about is that ice-bridge or ice-plank or whatever it's called. It's depicted in almost every drawing, but not in any detail whatsoever. Was it permanently installed? Was it removable? 

 

The other thing I am curious about in this drawing is a lower yard on the foresail. I've seen this before as well in other drawings. I always assumed all the courses were loose-footed, but sometimes in drawings you see a yard or boom on the bottom of the fore course. 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 19, 2021 by Keith S

[clearway]

i think the line at the bottom of the fore sail is actually the stays for the dolphin striker which lead from the striker to the catheads, yet more questions as opposed to answers with every pic we see!!!!

 

Keith

[Keith S]

Today I tried making a couple of the little stanchions that stand in a line parallel to the rail and form a rack on which spare spars and timbers were stored on deck. Of course, I am jumping around a bit- I've only completed one out of the eight boat-davits- (although I may only make four)- but I find myself worrying about "HOW" I'm going to make something, so I often try one or two so that when the time comes to make the rest of them, I've already worked out how to do it. 

 

Therefore, I soldered up a pair just to see if my plan would work. I think they are OK, the trick will be to make them all the same. I need at least ten of them, and if I'm reading the drawings right, maybe as many as 16! 

 

They turned out a little short, but comparing them to the model, if I made them much longer they would be higher than the bulwark, which would definitely not do. I may shorten the horizontal bits, after I double-check with the scale rule. 

 

 

 

 

 

[clearway]

look good Keith- i was looking at the plan view included in one of the books i bought and noticed there might be some towards the stern as well but decided to just fit them in the waist tween fore and main masts (any barrells we put down there will hide any that i missed)!

 

Keith

[Keith S]

5 hours ago, clearway said:

look good Keith- i was looking at the plan view included in one of the books i bought and noticed there might be some towards the stern as well but decided to just fit them in the waist tween fore and main masts (any barrells we put down there will hide any that i missed)!

 

Keith

 

I thought they might have something to do with restraining the barrels- although in the plan view the rope or chain that is doing that isn't depicted interacting with them. More mystery.

 

[clearway]

certainly takes your brain patterns on weird tangents, another thing bugging me is what is that piece of timber above the divers head peering down the skylight just forward of the mizzen (even looks like it has a bronze/copper plate on it but looks far too low to be supports for ice bridge/skid beams) !?!?!?

 

Keith

[Keith S]

7 hours ago, clearway said:

certainly takes your brain patterns on weird tangents, another thing bugging me is what is that piece of timber above the divers head peering down the skylight just forward of the mizzen (even looks like it has a bronze/copper plate on it but looks far too low to be supports for ice bridge/skid beams) !?!?!?

 

Keith

 

You can see that timber in other photos as well; it appears to be actually sitting on the wheel between two spokes. I would be willing to wager it's a fallen piece of rigging. It looks too small to be the driver boom, (although, speaking of that, where is it?) But it could be any number of things from aloft. At least some part of the masts are still standing, but there must have been quite a windfall of stuff falling from above when the rig began to come apart. 

[clearway]

Yep but it just looks soooooooooo straight, and it is below the skid beams which are still in place as when you watch the video they swim over them and then descend towards the skylight...jusst a pity all the kelp is hiding the good stuff!

 

Keith

[Keith S]

8 hours ago, clearway said:

Yep but it just looks soooooooooo straight, and it is below the skid beams which are still in place as when you watch the video they swim over them and then descend towards the skylight...jusst a pity all the kelp is hiding the good stuff!

 

Keith

Which video are you watching? I need to pay more attention.

[Keith Black]

1 minute ago, Keith S said:

Which video are you watching?

 Yeah, I wanna see. 

[Keith S]

I find "dive" videos are all the same. Way too much footage of the divers getting ready and fannying about on their boat, and then a lot of bubbles and "glooping" sounds, a lot of seaweed, and the thing you want to see just flashes by the lens as it pans from one frond of seaweed to another, or else a super-close-up shot of a piece of oak or a grouper or something. They are universally awful.

 

[clearway]

it's the parks canada vid where they swim towards the mizzen mast and head down to the skylight which is behind the mast and not in front as mentioned in last message (oops sorry)!!- didn't realise at first myself till i orientated with the model and thought "whoa what is that obstacle they had to swim over.

 

Keith

Edited April 23, 2021 by clearway
missed info

[Keith S]

Here are the little brackets, or whatever they would be called, that form the racks on either side in which spare spars were kept on deck. 

 

These were fun to solder up, but installing them was fiddly and annoying, (as is everything in 1:75 scale). So, even though I feel there were probably more of them closer to the stern, I think I will take a page from Other Keith's book, and disguise their non-existence behind a row of barrels.

 

[clearway]

looking better and better Keith- watch out though i noticed you have made the mastheads black and by this time they would most likely have been white (only the doubling parts on top and topgallant masts though with rest of them varnishished).

 

Keith

[Keith S]

24 minutes ago, clearway said:

looking better and better Keith- watch out though i noticed you have made the mastheads black and by this time they would most likely have been white (only the doubling parts on top and topgallant masts though with rest of them varnishished).

 

Keith

 

Oh, thanks Keith. I painted them because I didn't like the plywood hounds and was planning on leaving the trees, tops, bolsters et cetera in plain wood. I'm using a bit of artistic license with the paint, only painting certain parts and leaving others in bare wood. Thanks for the heads-up on the mastheads. 

[clearway]

no problem Keith, i do like the contrast of the black bands and hoops on the white lower masts. 

 

Keith

[Keith S]

It's getting to the point now where I can never remember exactly what it is I thought I ordered.

 

[Keith S]

I took the plunge and started working on the main top. First I carefully studied Lees', as the book contains dimensions for these things that are proportional to some arbitrary metric, in this case percentages of topmast length if I remember correctly. I measured and drew a template of the top on paper, then based the size of the crosstrees and trestletrees on that. I carved the pieces more or less the way they are depicted for "after 1835" in Lees'. I omitted the rebate for the mast in the centre, because I feel I made the mast top a bit too narrow, so leaving out the rebate will account for that, and once I build up the mast top with battens and hoops, and stick on the bolsters, it probably won't be particularly noticeable. This is actually pretty rewarding work, to find the numbers in the historical record and then see them fit on the model. Must be how the boys in the "scratch builders" section feel, ha ha.

 

Also, repainted the mast tops white per Other Keith's helpful suggestion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 29, 2021 by Keith S

[clearway]

coming along nicely and the lower masts look better being all white as per practice of the time, I was torn between the tapered top you are building verses the parallel sided ones as built and stuck with earlier type. To be honest after we finished building the basic hull we have been in the realms of scratchbuilding since we stopped following the occre instructions😉.

 

Keith

[Keith S]

Work has been rather busy lately but finally got down to my workbench to tinker with my model. I finished making the brackets for the davit arms, and fitted the davit arms and uprights with cleats, chocks, and eyebolts for the falls, spans, and guys. They are removable the same way the real thing would have been, which will make it easier to rig the falls later. I have them pinned in place with little nails; when they are mounted permanently I will make some pins that look better. I have a feeling on the real ship these would have been painted white. I'm probably going to leave them just varnished- I am going to be sparing about what I paint, because I like the look of wood. I'm only going to paint enough parts to "suggest" the ship's paint scheme rather than try to replicate it and risk getting it wrong. 

 

I also attached some cleats inside the bulwarks, and tapered the bowsprit, using the chart from Lees, and marked it where the various fittings ought to go. Much of my "model building" time is actually spent poring through books and measuring and drawing. The bowsprit looks a mess now but it will be painted white so these markings will disappear. I have determined that I can't use any of the caps from the kit, so I'm on the lookout for some appropriate wood to make new ones.

 

 

 

[clearway]

looking great Keith, our Terrors are really evolving now

 

Keith

[DanielD]

How did you make those lovely curved davits? I love them!

[Keith S]

Thanks Daniel! I used an old model-aeroplane trick for laminating curved outlines for stabilizers. I steamed  some 1x3mm basswood strips in the rice-cooker and then bent them around a form I made with nails: 

 

 

Whether or not the "Terror" actually HAD curved davits is another matter- but I strongly feel she did, based partially on first-person drawings, plus shadows on the side-scan images of the wreck. 

Edited May 24, 2021 by Keith S

[clearway]

THE BOOK is fast approaching to answer all our questions Keith- i feel kind of scared and elated!!

 

Keith

[Keith S]

4 hours ago, clearway said:

THE BOOK is fast approaching to answer all our questions Keith- i feel kind of scared and elated!!

 

Keith

 

Well, it will certainly be a great resource. I don't feel you've much to worry about, though. You did get your measurements from Lees after all. The thing I'm the most curious about is the "icing bridge" or "icing plank". All the period drawings I've seen depict it in dashed lines and don't have any details, other than one drawing from the 1830s that shows it side-on with some railing detail. How it was mounted, and whether it was flat or followed the camber of the deck (which our models don't have anyway) - a mystery. I'm hoping THE BOOK has details on this. It would be a very nice detail on the models. 

[clearway]

it will indeed Keith, and the ice bridge can be added after the mizzen is rigged (after rigging the parrels on the driver boom i am definitely leaving the skid beams etc till after the rigging is done)!

 

Keith

[Keith S]

No significant building to report, but last night I was doing the tedious job of measuring drawing out the foretop and mizzen trees. Since I've decided to use the mast sizes of a Royal Navy 10th rate Frigate, this being the ship that most resembles the Terror in length that I can find in Lees', all other measurements stem from this. Lees actually provides a couple of ways to divine mast lengths from a single measurement, whether this is the length of the lower deck (I suppose this approximates waterline length?) and then a list of proportions. I have decided to use the chart at the back of the book giving sizes of all masts and spars for various ships, and like I said the 1833 definition of a "tenth class" seems to fit the best. 

 

Anyway the tops are defined as being proportionate to the length of the associated topmast. So here the foretop is 0.33x the fore topmast WIDE, and 0.75x the width in length. The hole in the middle is 0.4x the overall width of the top, and in length is 0.93x the width of the hole. The back edge of the hole is located 0.2x the width of the top forward of the back edge of the top. For the mizzen, which did not have a top or crossjack in the era we are modelling here, I drew a top anyway, just to get the dimensions of the trestle and cross-trees, which would again have been proportionate to the size of the missing top via the size of its topmast.

 

It seems like a lot of work, but of course it's worth it when one compares all this to the plywood tops from the kit. They are a little undersize, which you know I doubt I'd notice on the completed model, but let this be a warning to anyone who opens "The Rigging and Masting of English Ships of War 1625-1860". This is the work that "scratch builders" do.

 

Also, with great annoyance and then great relief, while measuring all this, I noticed the height of the hounds on the foremast and those on the main mast did not seem to be all that different from each other. Checking THOSE measurements, I discovered that I had made my foremast 4/16" too long! Which translates to a foot and a half on the real ship... quite noticeable. Now the offending plug has been sawn off the foremast the relative size between the two looks much more appropriate. I can't say why I didn't notice this before, but I'm glad I noticed it before I started on the shrouds! 

 

 

 

[Keith S]

I tend to hop about a bit on this model. As I get bored or frustrated with one part, I switch to another. I went downstairs with the intention of finishing the trees for the lower masts, and ended up making the lower cap for the main mast instead. I made the battens that go above the top as well. This was frustrating as I wasn't able to cut notches in such small pieces of wood to allow the bands to pass through, so I just laid the battens over the bands, which is a bit sloppy but it's near the limit of my ability to make and manipulate small bits without destroying them in the attempt. 

 

Also, I made a decision about the rigging, which needed to be made before the trees were glued on permanently, and that's with respect to trysail masts. In many drawings of Terror, I am quite sure I see a furled trysail on a gaff behind the main and fore masts. Looking at lots of pictures and models of ships, it seems to me that trysails had replaced staysails at some point. The "Beagle" model lots of people are building has trysail masts, and Lees' has a picture of how they were mounted. I've decided to include them in my model. 

 

As usual, I'm not super thrilled with my workmanship, but also as usual, I feel like I'll get over it. I am quite pleased at the model's stature with a topmast (temporarily) mounted. She is bound to be an impressive model if I don't completely stuff up the rest of it. 

 

[clearway]

i would leave final verdict on fitting trysails till Matthews book comes out (hopefully should be getting a message about mine within next 10 days or so),

If you look on twitter he has put a couple of teasing shots on his tweets , one being a video of the fully detailed outboard profile drawing though still wont help you with the trysail quandry.

 

Keith