HMS Winchelsea by Greg M - 1/48 scale

[Greg M]

Thanks Frank and everyone for the likes.  I think you nailed it on the head that the prints on the galleries have a bit more green than the ones on the back.  I'm taking the approach that the color behind the columns should be consistent and something that will complement the differences of the friezes without trying too hard to match either one.  I think I've found a color that works well, but I'm still going to take a day or two to sit on it and move onto the roof and moulding above the windows.

 

I'm going to test edge bending the boxwood moulding above the windows and hope it responds the same way as cedar.  The thinner mouldings worked well with brute force, but that extra 1/64" adds enough rigidity to make me think it will break if I get too aggressive.

 

Edit: turns out it wasn't so much edge bending as application of heat and  a bit of twisting.  Regardless, I was impressed with how easy the boxwood bent with the application of heat. 

 

 

Edited August 12 by Greg M

[Greg M]

Window Installation time.  I’ve been looking forward to this and stressing in equal measure. There was a little curveball with the acetate that ended up making things simpler for me in the long run.  When I pulled the acetate sheet for the windows out of the bag, I discovered a long scratch all the way across the center.  $10 and 24 hours later, I have enough .005 acetate sheets to last me 4 or 5 lifetimes.  I started to think there’s a greater than 0% chance I may have to replace a window at some point in my lifetime, so I tried to put this part of the build together in a semi-permanent way so I could replace a window without needing to rebuild the gallery if I had to.

 

Before I started this step, I grabbed a can of compressed air and got every little bit of dust I could out of the galleries.  I then donned some gloves and started by cutting a piece off acetate almost to the height of the roofline and then set it in the groove without any glue.  I tack the window in place with a spot of wood glue at the upper right, upper left and bottom of the window.  Once set, the window is solidly in the groove and there’s no chance of an accidental glue smear on the acetate.

I cut the acetate long to act as a guide for the filler piece which I cut out of 1/32” cedar.  This is the same thickness as the windows.  I shaved the filler pieces to height rather than sanded as I didn’t want any dust to get in the galleries through the little gaps in the top.  I also cut a little dust cover and taped the doors to the gallery.  I think I spent a bit too much time trying to get the perfect bend on the moulding and it really marred the finish on the uprights, but this gets hidden.

Mouldings went on smoothly once I stopped fighting with them and focused on a straight run along the filler pieces.  It looks like it’s drooping at the front, but it’s the camera angle.  The moulding is only held by a dot of glue at both ends and it sits flat.

The ends of the columns had a bit of a learning curve.  The funky angles kept throwing me off thinking I was doing something wrong.  The bottoms are floating a tiny bit as well., but It isn’t noticeable at a normal viewing angle.  I’ll wait until I finish up the other side to see if I will have the same issue there and then determine if I should add a little bit extra underneath the columns.

Added the column bodies and then carefully gave everything except the window frames a brush with WOP.  

Finally, a little cleanup and poster tack for the figure and the drop to make sure everything is lined up properly.  It’s not perfect, but I’m pretty happy all the same.

I'll finish up the columns on the other side tomorrow and then on to the roofs.

Edited Saturday at 09:32 PM by Greg M

[scrubbyj427]

That looks really good Greg! 

[Greg M]

Thanks JJ for the encouragement as well as everyone for the likes.  It’s been quite the ride the last couple weeks as applying the friezes and closing up the galleries really shows how far off the mark from the plans the build is going.  Luckily, issues have been cosmetic rather than structural.  It dawned on me today as I was finishing up  that the digital adjustments I made to the upper counter friezes directly aligned with the gaps underneath the column bottoms.  Building a template using the upper counter frieze would have made a really easy way to align the aft ends of the gallery framing.

 

There’s  a lesson here to stop working when you are tired and not try to get one last thing done.  The upper moulding has a small edge bend and I did it in the wrong direction.  Luckily, it popped off very easily.

A few minutes and a little bit of heat and a much better run.

Poster tack back out for testing the drop and figure.

 

Onward to the roofs.  Other than the fiddly rails on top of the roofs (that I may ignore for a few chapters more ), the rest of the chapter seems pretty straightforward.  I also realized I never faired the deck to remove any high points, so I'm going to work this in over the next week.  

 

 

 

 

 

[Chuck]

Lovely work