HMS Supply By Jeff E - Modellers Shipyard - 1:60 Scale

[Jeff-E]

Hello All, 

Welcome to my build log of the HMS Supply. As far as I can tell after searching through this forum this is the only build log of this ship by this manufacturer. Although I think this will build up to a nice model straight out of the box I will be making a few modifications to enhance the kit.

A brief history of the ship.

The keel of the Supply was laid down 261 years ago on the 1st of May 1759, she was designed by shipwright Thomas Slade as a yard craft for the distribution of naval supplies. Construction was contracted to Henry Bird of Rotherhithe, a Borough of Southwark in the county of Surrey.

The vessel, measuring 168 20/94 tons (BM) was to be built in 4 months at a cost of 8.80 English pounds per ton. Actual construction took 5 months, which is a lot shorter time than it will take me, from the time the keel was laid on May 1 to her launch on the 5th of October. As built she was larger than designed at 174 76/94 tons (BM) and with a length overall of 79ft 4in, a beam of 22ft 6in and a hold depth of 11ft 6in. She was commissioned on the 17th of October 1759.

She was a square rigged brig with two masts, was armed with four 3lb cannons and six 1/2lb swivel guns and had a crew of 14 while being used as a yard vessel. When converted to an armed tender in 1787, in preparation for her duties with the first fleet, her crew rose to 55 which included marines and she was fitted with four 12lb carronades as extra armament.

The Supply left Spithead with the rest of the ships in the first fleet on the 13th of May 1787 under the command of Captain Henry Lidgbird Ball. Supply was under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip, who had transferred to the Supply from HMS Sirius at Cape Town because the Sirius was deemed to slow, when she entered Botany Bay on the 18th of January 1788. After the rest of the fleet arrived and Botany Bay was deemed an unsuitable place for settlement the Supply was the first ship to enter Port Jackson, a few miles up the coast, on the 26th of January 1788 where a settlement was established.

HMS Supply served as a tender to the penal colony until the 26th of November 1791 when she sailed for England arriving on the 21st of April 1792. She was sold out of service and used as to carry coal in the Thames area until 1806 when I presume she was broken up.

 

The Kit

The kit is well presented with laser cut parts for the bulkheads, keel, false keel and decks. The bulkheads and keel are out of 4mm ply and the decks 2mm ply.

              

               

               

The timber strip and dowels for the planking and the masts and spars looks to be of good quality although I can see some damage to the 0.5mm mahogany strips for the second planking.

                

The prefabricated parts such as the windlass, capstan and deck cannons as well as the rigging blocks, rigging cord and other fittings are all presented on three cards.

                

                 

                   

The bottom of the hull is to be coppered so 1300 copper plates are also supplied these look to be of a reasonable quality also.

                    

continued in the next post.......

 

Edited May 15, 2020 by Jeff-E

[clearway]

you didn't waste much time jeff😉- what a difference to the plastic bin full of fittings that take several hours to sort through you get from billing!

[Jeff-E]

The instructions come in the form of a large 74 sheet booklet which include the rigging instructions and mast and yard dimensions. 

           

There are photos of the building stages accompanied by a brief description of the step.

           

There is a parts list and a drawing of the laser cut parts, showing their number in the front of the book.

            

There are some fold out sheets in the book which show the locations of deck fittings ect. but these are not to scale and there are no 1:1 scale plans supplied. Some dimensions are supplied in the description at certain stages of the build but not all the mast and yard dimensions are next to their drawings but the drawings are not to scale but at what distance a blocks are spaced on a yard for example is not so some educated guessing will be required.

            

              

The main downfall of this kit is the rigging cord which I did not realise before I purchased it that while being of good quality only three sizes are supplied, 1mm black cord for all of the standing rigging, 0.5mm tan cord for all of the running rigging and 0.25mm tan cord for the ratlines. I have since purchased some extra rigging thread in various sizes in both tan and black so that the rigging can be more authentically presented in my humble opinion.

              

Oh and some extra belaying pins too.

More to come soon

Thanks for looking.

All comments welcome.

 

[clearway]

😁 niceeeeeeeeeeeeee

[Jeff-E]

Thanks Keith, with the Pickle nearing completion I thought I best get started on another one. The packaging is rather neatly done with most parts in their own separate plastic bag.

[clearway]

love these smaller type of vessels ( maybe because my dad is a fisherman and i grew up on 50 foot wooden boats when they still had lots of varnished wood and polished brass).

 

Keith

[Jeff-E]

Hello All,

With the Pickle nearly complete and just waiting in between for coats of varnish to dry I have made a start on the Supply. 

All of the bulkheads were numbered and their slots on the false keel were also numbered, they were then cut from the 4mm boards and dry fitted together. Some of them will need shims fitted into the slots so that they are level with the top edge of the false keel while most of them will need their slots squared, both on the bulkhead and the false keel as they have been cut on a slight angle.

       

        

          

All of the bulkheads are a nice snug fit on the keel.

Before any bulkheads are glued to keel there are a few things that I want do to it.

1. Mark and sand a bearding line.

2. Drill two holes through the keel and into the false keel for pedestal mounts between bulkheads 4 and 5 and bulkheads 9 and 10. I was planning on 3mm holes for the mounts but seeing as the false keel is only 4mm thick I have opted for 2mm holes for now.

3. Drill 1mm holes for dowels through the keel, stern post and stem post and into the false keel.

4. Glue support blocks to the false keel where the pedestal mounts are.

So the first job was to mark up the bearding line, a template was made from card of the area around the last 3 bulkheads and using this I marked the line on both sides of the false keel.

         

           

And then carefully sanded the excess material away on a slight taper so that the rear edge of the false keel was 2mm thick. The first planking will also have to be sanded back in this area as it is 2mm thick and the stempost is only 4mm thick.

           

            

Thanks for looking and the likes.

All comments welcome.

[clearway]

pulls up a chair and watches with empathy at the pleasure and pain people inflict on themselves🤪😁

 

keith

[Jeff-E]

Thanks Keith and welcome.

The keel, stempost and sternpost were cut from the ply sheet, I left the tabs connecting them together as it made it easier to clamp the whole assembly to the false keel while the dowel and mounting holes were drilled.

      

       

       

Once that was done the support blocks for the mounts were glued on.

        

They were given a slight chamfer so as not to interfere with the lower planks. 

As mentioned before some of the slots in the false keel and bulkheads needed to be filed out so that the bulkheads could sit square with the false keel without putting any strain on it.

         

This was done and the ones that need a shim to allow them to sit level with the top of the false keel was also completed.

         

Then the first two bulkheads were glued on. I am gluing the bulkheads starting at the bow and the stern and working towards the centre because of the small gaps between them in these areas so that I can clamp blocks to the bulkhead and keel to keep them square.

          

            

Thanks for looking and the likes.

All comments welcome.

 

[clearway]

a lot of prep work here can save a lot of pain later on Jeff- too many jump right in with the glue pot.

 

Keith

[Jeff-E]

Yeah your right Keith, I have been one of those who jumped in to early, just to keen to get started but found out the hard way later on!

Hello All,

Two more bulkheads have been glued to the false keel.

      

While waiting for the glue to dry I turned my attention to the transom area this is made up of 6 parts, 2 bulkheads and 4 supporting pieces which give shape for the counter planks to sit on.

      

2 of the supports fit into slots in both parts but the outer ones just sit flush onto the face of the bulkheads so they were drilled and doweled with 0.75mm brass nails as this area has to be faired into the deck and other stern bulkheads and I did not want them separating when the filing and sanding starts.

The instructions call for the transom to be planked with 0.5mm mahogany and supplied nameplate to be affixed to it with a piece of decorative timber around the top.

      

Which looks OK but after doing some research and looking at a couple of paintings of the ship I am fairly sure that it had deadlights (stern windows) and I have decided to fit them, my first thought was to cut them straight into part 16 but the two slots for the support pieces would interfere with at least 2 of the windows so I marked the shape of part 16 onto a piece of 2mm ply and drew on where the windows would go making sure they were below the line of the quarter deck.

       

        

The windows are 6mm wide and 8mm high, once they and the part are cut out I will reduce the thickness of the ply to 1mm and the thickness of part 16 to 2.5mm so that when they are glued together along with the inner planking it will give an overall width of 4mm (the original thickness of part 16).

Thanks for looking and the likes

All comments welcome.

 

 

Edited May 14, 2020 by Jeff-E

[clearway]

bit unusual for a ship from this period not to have them jeff🤨

 

Keith

[Jeff-E]

Yes I think it would be, looking at plans in the british maritime museum website the section under the quarter deck was divided into what looks like sleeping quarters for the officers on the starboard side and storerooms on the port side with what looks like the captain's day cabin and dining room in the centre which would have windows to let the light in, any way that's what i'm going with.

 

[Jeff-E]

Hello All,

The rest of the stern windows were cut out and the part cut from the ply sheet.

      

       

The part was reduced in thickness from 2mm to 1mm by carefully shaving off 1 layer of ply and then sanding it to size. The vertical frames for the windows were then fitted.

        

These are made from 0.87mm styrene rod.

Thanks for looking and the likes.

Comments always welcome.

 

[clearway]

looks o.k. so far-i was going to use styrene rod on my victory but due to the sheer amount of windows used self adhesive address labels cut into thin strips for the window frames.

 

Keith

[S.Coleman]

Love it! I have the Perseverance from modelers shipyard and cant wait to start her. 

Looks like you are off to a good start.

[Jeff-E]

Thanks Keith, I was a bit worried about the thickness of the styrene rod but once the transom is planked and some decorative strips are added that should give them some depth and they should look OK. I can understand you not using it on the Victory's stern they are time consuming to cut and fit neatly into place.

 

 

[Jeff-E]

Thanks Scott, the Perseverance looks like a nice model of our early ship building history. I didn't realise she was built here. 

I look forward to watching you build her when you start.

[S.Coleman]

The windows came out great. What are you looking to use as glass? This micro kristal klear works good.

[Jeff-E]

Thanks Scott, I was planning to paint behind the windows a light blue and then give it a few coats of gloss clear, but I might look into getting bottle of that, is it available in locally?

[clearway]

Hi Jeff- on my terror i am going to paint the ply black on the transom then use acetate behind the frames for the panes- you could put 1mm packing strips to lift new transom away from original a little🤔.

 

Keith

[S.Coleman]

2 hours ago, Jeff-E said:

Thanks Scott, I was planning to paint behind the windows a light blue and then give it a few coats of gloss clear, but I might look into getting bottle of that, is it available in locally?

I got it from one of the hobby stores here in perth.  Think it was ace hobbies. Just as a coincidence im doing the stern windows as well.

[Jeff-E]

Thanks for the suggestion Keith, I did consider using acetate but I want to keep the transom thickness as close to 4mm as I can, which it will be when these parts are glued together.

Thanks for that Scott I looked it up and did find it at BNA models so will order some when I think of what other supplies I want from them to make the postage worthwhile. 

Meanwhile I did a little experiment with white glue ( which dries clear) and two part epoxy on a piece of scrap.

        

May be a bit hard to see in the photo but the 2 part epoxy is the clearest however it is a bit harder to smooth out and get rid of the air bubbles. Anyway something to think about as there is no rush.

The horizontal frames have been fitted to the window frames and I am fairly happy with how they turned out.

         

          

           

The frames and the inside edges of the frames have been painted white. The transom has also been assembled.

           

            

The transom has also been painted duck egg blue where the window openings are located.

            

I think it will look OK when the transom is completed.

All comments welcome.

Thanks for looking and the likes.

        

[Cabbie]

Very nice Jeff glass should look very good, too many new skills in this business to learn.

[S.Coleman]

Looking very sharp. Windows came out great. All look nice and even.

[Jeff-E]

Thanks Cabbie, I haven't settled on what I'm going to use yet but I have ordered a bottle of Micro Klear and I will see how that works when it turns up.

 

Thanks Scott, I am fairly happy with them.

 

Hello All,

The main 14 bulkheads have all been glued to the false keel.

         

          

           

There are two half bulkheads, parts 18 and 19 which fit at either end of the main deck still to be fitted but they need some work done to them before they are glued on.

The kit supplied 4 bow filler pieces which are to be glued to bulkhead one, one into the slot in the bulkhead and the other to the false keel.

           

           

Because of the shape of the bow I don't think there will be enough support to give the planks a nice smooth curve around the bow so I am not going to use these parts and I will shape my own bow filler blocks from 19mm pine.

            

Thanks for looking and the likes

All comments welcome.

 

 

[clearway]

she evolves jeff

 

Keith

[S.Coleman]

The extra time spent here pays off later in the build. Good planning. The second picture looking down on the ship looks like it’s in water by the type of glass on your table top!

Is there going to be reinforcement blocks added for the masts like you have done for your stand? I’ve put them in my Endeavour build but made the fatal mistake of not documenting them so it’s going to be a mystery to solve come time to drill the deck for them 😩

Overall looking very nice and professional job.

[Jeff-E]

19 hours ago, clearway said:

she evolves jeff

 

Keith

Yes it is starting to look like something resembling a ship!

 

Thank you Scott.

1 hour ago, S.Coleman said:

The second picture looking down on the ship looks like it’s in water by the type of glass on your table top!

Yes it does, lucky it isn't or she would be on the bottom in the state she is in.

 

1 hour ago, S.Coleman said:

Is there going to be reinforcement blocks added for the masts like you have done for your stand? I’ve put them in my Endeavour build but made the fatal mistake of not documenting them so it’s going to be a mystery to solve come time to drill the deck for them 😩

Yes, I plan to use some of the ply strips that were in the slots on the bulkheads and false keel and position them about halfway between the bottom of the slot for the mast and the deck and maybe have some at the bottom of the slot to form a 'step' for the mast.

Does the Endeavour have the mast holes cut into the deck so that you can use them for a guide to drill your blocks?

 

Hello All,

I have shaped the bow filler blocks roughly to the shape I want them with a chisel, rasp, smooth file an sandpaper. 

            

              

                

As can be seen by the pencil lines on the last two photos they are still a bit oversize but I will leave them like that until they are glued to the model and then fair them into the bulkhead. LIke they say it is easier to take material off than to add it on!

The instructions don't call for bulkhead 19, which sits in between bulkheads 3 and 4 at the front of the main deck, to be planked at all, probably because the windlass sits in front of it and they think it won't be noticed but I think parts of it will be seen so I am going to plank it with 0.5mm sapele strips. 

            

             

This is much easier to do off the ship. It will be sanded and painted red ochre when finished.

For part 19 which is the aft cabin bulkhead the instructions call for it to be lined with 0.5mm mahogany and 2 doors, which are 2mm thick, to be painted black and glued to the bulkhead. I think this would not look very nice at all so I have decided to fit one door recessed into the port side of the bulkhead and cut a window into the starboard side, both just off the centre line as access ladders to the quarter deck will be fitted next to the port and starboard bulwarks and there a cabins on either side under the quarter deck.

            

            

The doorway and window was marked out and holes drilled so that the waste could be cut out and then the edges were cleaned up with a file.

            

              

This bulkhead will also be planked with 0.5mm sapele and painted.

Thanks for looking and the likes

All comments welcome.

 

[clearway]

good idea with the bow filler pieces Jeff- easier to remove material than adding it😱

 

Keith