HMS Granado by HardeeHarHar - Caldercraft - 1:64 - Bomb Vessel

[Mick_S]

On 3/20/2021 at 1:45 PM, HardeeHarHar said:

Hey Philly,

Glad to hear that another Granado is in the making.  I have found the quality of the kit to be good, the vendor I purchased it from to be extremely helpful when needed, and from what I have seen on the forum, it builds into a beautiful ship when done with talent.  I gave a lot of thought to how to do the sweep ports, factoring in multiple approaches and ease and complexity, whether to cover them or leave them without covers, etc.  That and treenails have made me pause and debate the options.  With the sweep ports I had considered not cutting them in and faking it using just the lids, based on it being my second build and it seeming to be exacting work.  However, I really liked the look of them open and un-covered when done nice and meticulously like on some of the other builds you can see on the site.  Like you, I think I asked Vane and a few others if they had considered cutting the sweep ports in the gunport template, and the general consensus was that it hasn't been done very often if at all, I think mostly because you are going to have to cut them out again eventually when you plank above the wales and it might not save you that much time and effort.  So, I went along intending not even to cut them out at all and just stick lids on the hull where the ports would be, but after the planking above the wale was completed and I had gotten familiar with cutting out the lined gunports, I got possessed and ordered the micro-drill bits and expensive needle file(s) and cut the sweep-ports in too.  I took my time to make sure I had them positioned correctly, then checked again, and then it went very slowly and smoothly (I think ;-).  Now, I believe I will leave them un-covered.

 

Last night I finished one of the curved bulkhead panels with one of the decals provided, as compared to the amazing hand-painting others have done I am embarrassed to say.  However, it doesn't look that bad in my humble opinion, and it looks better when it is installed in the bulkhead with the dark walnut border.

 

I really don’t think you should be embarrassed at all as you are doing a great job and the bulkheads will look fine once installed.  I am part way through the Granado and will be doing mine the same as yours.  It’s a great kit and if you take your time and think it through you’ll end up with an excellent model.

[HardeeHarHar]

Thanks Mick, I hope you start a build log (did I miss it?) and/or share some pics of your Granado!  I was pretty hesitant to start documenting, but so far it has definitely been worth it for getting some helpful commentary and moral support.  

 

Here is a picture of the nearly finished bullwark dry-fitted in place....

 

We managed to join the Noble Maritime Museum and got a discount on 2 more lithographs to join our one hanging in the hallway.  The one below is "Schooners running for cover behind Cape Henry"

 

 

 

The one below is "Wild Calm"

 

 

And the one below is Dying in the English Kills....

 

Finally, here  are two ship-building kits that my wife likes to complete.

 

 

[Mick_S]

Thanks.  No build log yet, not felt brave enough or made progress that regularly.  Started a few years ago and it sat on a shelf when the planking got a bit tricky..😂. I have spent a bit more time recently and finished the planking and then moved on to some other bits.  I think we are pretty much at the same stage now....

 

If I worked out how to post them there are a couple of pics below.  Will be following your progress with interest.

Great lithographs by the way....👍

 

Mick.

 

[HardeeHarHar]

Great work there Mick!  Your deck planking, make that all of your planking work looks super nice, and the deck details, gratings look nice too.  I'd be showing that work to others, that is for sure! 

 

We are pretty much at the same spot for sure, so I am glad to see familiar images and progress being made.  Keep up the posts and you can post a build later as needed, but keeping sharing your work if you can!!!

[HardeeHarHar]

Progress continues with the quarterdeck bulkhead and planking, with fine tuning and cleaning up badly needed.....here the bulkhead panels have been roughed in and need to be cleaned/painted and poly'd.

 

Looks very rough with all the dust and debris, but I think it can be cleaned up quite a bit and won't look that bad when I give it a little attention....

 

The planking on the quarterdeck went quickly, and I think it looks pretty good so far.

 

You can see the bulkhead panels still need to be cleaned and painted/finished.

 

Now I think it's about time to clean this mess up, and then stop my procrastination and finish the cannon installation and tie down up front and get the foredeck planked.  

[HardeeHarHar]

Slowly continuing with the quarterdeck.  The instructions are a little unclear when it comes to the bullwarks, and I could use a little help here....  The manual says to use a piece of scrap  1.5 mm walnut ply and cut out the shape of the bullwarks above the quarterdeck and glue into position, which I have done on the port and starboard sides after I painted them red ochre (see the pictures below).  I have also shaped another piece of scrap to fit on the stern bullwark, and am planning on painting that red and gluing that in position.  However, the manual then says the bullwark should be planked in 1x4 mm walnut strips, which should be trimmed back to the bullwarks and painted red ochre.  So, apparently I got the red ochre paint out  a little early, and still have to do a wee bit of planking!?!  When I look at other Granado build logs its not clear that people used planks, but I guess it makes sense to have them be the same thickness of the vessels sides.  Any words of wisdom would be appreciated....

 

 

 

[Timmo]

I can't recall what I did at this point, probably 1x4 trimmed down(?), but that scrap piece you did looks like a good flush fit so my suggestion would be go with what works.

 

The build is looking good.

 

[HardeeHarHar]

A wise man once said to me...."my suggestion would be go with what works".  So, I believe I have appropriately followed that advice and arrived where the instructions intended.  I took two long 1x4 walnut strips and placed them side-by-side and gave them a couple of coats of Red Orchre.  They fortuitously stuck together securely enough to allow me to run a bead of medium CA down the seam to weld the two planks together more securely.  Cut roughly to the appropriate length, I loaded up the CA on the bullwark sides, and slapped the twin plank segments on and held them there until they set firmly.

 

 

 

 I am not sure others would have done it the way I did, but nevertheless, the sides are done now, and present a uniform width and fairly flat surface for the capping rails (pictures to come soon). The stern is a completely different story, needing to be planked with 1x4 that is carefully shaped to fix previous heavy handed filing, and will be tackled next.

[HardeeHarHar]

Here the quarterdeck planking on the bulwarks has been sanded flush, with the port-side filed down to a relatively even finish with the hull. The starboard bulwark planking has been roughed down, but not given a good finish with a file.  I promise I will eventually clean up the horrid looking bulkhead panels and the banged up walnut dividers and get the edge of the quarterdeck planking tidied up more...but it still roughly resembles the HMS Granado I think. 😃

 

[HardeeHarHar]

Another shot as I am plugging away, dry fitting, staining, etc.  The capping rails up to the quarter deck add a nice clean look, and I blew some of the dust off of it, but not enough 😃.  I am getting ready to put the rudder on, and then I will be done with most of the remaining work below the wale.

 

[HardeeHarHar]

So, I did manage to finish the rudder and get it in place using guitar string as opposed to the kit supplied "nails" or using fishing line (e.g., 50lb mono painted black).  Specifically, the rudder is set with nickle wound A-string and tuned accordingly ;-).  It looks pretty good in person, as opposed to the quality of this photo.  It amazes me how much touch-up there always is, and how much dust and debris can accumulate.....  I really want to finish the stern transom and put the capping rail in place, but that will have to wait.  I still have to tie down some cannons and finish the forecastle deck planking, and a million other things to do!!!!

 

 

[HardeeHarHar]

I've cleaned my work up a bit and put a coat of wipeon poly on the main deck in preparation for installation of the cannons under the forecastle deck.  I have also finished most of the rigging on the 2nd cannon that goes under the forecastle.  Before I put the forecastle decking on top, I thought I might even hang a few hanks of rope under there, and put a barrel or two, just to make it a little different and unique. 

 

I have completed the assembly of the hatches, and the mortar housing and mortars, but I still don't see much reason to put them in place just to get dusty or mishandled.  Does any one know of any reason why I should put the mortars in early?

 

I have finished the stern vents and will glue them in place today, hoping that they don't get mishandled over time....

 

A few pictures 

 

 

 

[Mick_S]

You are doing a grand job there, looking very good….👍👍

[allanyed]

Nicely done planking!   Glad to see you are not putting in treenails at this scale which so many (including me in the distant past) have tried without success as they are near impossible to do at scale, especially the deck planks. 

Allan

[HardeeHarHar]

@allanyed and @Mick_S - Thanks for the kind words and reinforcement of previous (difficult) decisions.  I am mostly pleased with the appearance of the decking and planking, and had worried A LOT about whether to treenail or not, and even did some experimentation.  However, I decided to not pursue them at this scale, particularly since I still plan on leaving the hull mostly unpainted (and thought it might look toooooo busy or drive me crazy in the process).  Progress has been very slow lately:  I have finished the stern vents now, and am still delaying the installation and "glueage" of the two cannons in the gunports under the forecastle deck.  That seems to be a mental hurdle for me for some reason.

 

[HardeeHarHar]

Well, small steps still count.  I finished the stern vents, but they still need to be cleaned up and the lines adjusted a little.  The transom relief is just tacked on with blutak, just begging me to mess it up with some paint.

[HardeeHarHar]

You know you have an illness when you freak out with joy when you receive the Granado Part 1 box from China CAFMODEL safe and sound....and....you still have a long way to go to finish the Granado by Caldercraft you are currently working on.  I am thinking I should also get the CAFMODEL cross section view to round it all off.  I told you it was an illness.

[HardeeHarHar]

Sooooo, it turns out one of the mental blocks preventing me from moving ahead at speed with my build were the rope coils for the guns under the forecastle deck.  My coils looked pretty lame.  However, I finally made a jig that semi-works, and when it works it makes relatively nice coils.  This has encouraged me to get moving and check the "fit" of the cannon and its rigging with it temporarily plugged into the bullwark.   It looks ok with that one coil in the picture with the cannon a little small compared to the "standard" size I have been making.  I think it could be a little bigger and not look bad.  However, does it make sense to have different size coils?  Each cannon rig will have one coil on each side and one on the back of the carriage rigged into the deck with a block.

[HardeeHarHar]

So, my biggest fear so far has been overcome, and I have managed to install one bow chaser cannon with gun tackle and flemish coils included.  The picture shows every wart and wrinkle, and I still have to do some real housecleaning to remove the dust and debris, and a whole lot of touch up work to remove some residual blue tak (don't ask), touch up the bulkhead painting, etc., etc., etc.   Since the bow chasers will be covered with the forecastle deck, they won't really be visible, so I used the ugly duckling cannon (even though most of mine look about the same).  I have to admit, I am just glad to get one in and prove to myself that it can be done and have it still look relatively nice if you stand far enough away 😃 .  I can't wait to install the second one and finish the forecastle decking, so I can move on to some other aspects of the build before I have to install ten more cannons (ugh =).  Even the flemish coils are a challenge, but I really like the look of a cannons with the tackle laid out for inspection.  One step forward, even if it isn't that great, is still one step forward perhaps....

[Spellapeaka]

This is looking fantastic! Cannons were frustrating for me on my current build. I would say yours are looking superior in every aspect to mine. Going forward, I will try to have "other tasks" to jump around on while doing cannons as it gets pretty boring after the third one or so. Keep going, it really is looking fantastic!

[HardeeHarHar]

Spellapeaka,

Your very kind words are much appreciated and further encourage me to try my best and continue to push ahead as time permits.  As long as your eyesight is challenged, and you don't zoom in to far on the photos, I think my Granado build doesn't look that bad, and that makes me very happy.  That feeling of "I haven't wrecked a good kit, yet" is a surprisingly compelling reason for me to continue, just as it was with my first build [the Bounty Launch (aka, Jolly Boat, by Artesania Latina).  Thanks again for your kind words!  

[glbarlow]

On 3/29/2021 at 8:35 AM, HardeeHarHar said:

Any words of wisdom would be appreciated....

I planked the quarterdeck bulwarks, same as the main deck, and painted red ochre. 
 

Your model looks great, you’re doing fine.  There is no reason to overthink thinks or feel apologetic about your work. This is a hobby with vast differences between skill levels and experience, all supporting each other.  Have fun, enjoy, make a mess, break things then fix them.  Cannons are a bit of a pain, no reason to expect identical coils, they wouldn’t have been on a real ship.  I intentionally made mine a little messy on Cheerful.

Edited September 18, 2021 by glbarlow

[HardeeHarHar]

2 hours ago, glbarlow said:

I planked the quarterdeck bulwarks, same as the main deck, and painted red ochre. 
 

Your model looks great, you’re doing fine.  There is no reason to overthink thinks or feel apologetic about your work. This is a hobby with vast differences between skill levels and experience, all supporting each other.  Have fun, enjoy, make a mess, break things then fix them.  Cannons are a bit of a pain, no reason to expect identical coils, they wouldn’t have been on a real ship.  I intentionally made mine a little messy on Cheerful.

Hey Glen,

Thanks for the input and words of encouragement.  I looked at your pictures of your Granado, and I must say it is a beautiful ship model in all regards.  Your work is so clean, and the rigging is beautiful.  I wish it had a build log I could hack from! 

 

I am super-stoked that I have been making progress and doing a relatively good job as I go along.  I am new to this art, especially painting, staining, and most other aspects of ship modeling, but eager to learn and apply new knowledge.  I too agree that the cannons are a bit painful to rig and handle during installation, and note that there is no way any of my coils will be identical to another coil =), but I do have a rig made now that makes it easier to make and look fairly consistent (with just enough mess to look very real).  

 

With respect to your comment about planking the quarterdeck, I did in fact plank the quarter deck and painted it ochre red.  I'm not sure what the forecastle deck and bullwark will look like when I am finished with the bowchaser cannon installation and get the forecastle deck in place.  Did you do anything special up front for bullwarks on the forecastle?  Any advice or commentary is GREATLY appreciated.

 

Best regards, and I will peruse your other builds to learn more from your beautiful work!

Brian

[glbarlow]

55 minutes ago, HardeeHarHar said:

Did you do anything special up front for bullwarks on the forecastle? 

Unfortunately I built it over ten years ago, I don’t recall. I’m sure I did it the same as the quarterdeck. 

[HardeeHarHar]

So, hurdle finally cleared, and looking downfield for the next one.  I got the second bowchaser in place and locked down.  Woot!  It looks alright, but I see all the mistakes and warts, and there are a lot of them if you look closely.  However, if your eyes are as bad as mine, it looks fine (especially when you consider they are covered and will remain unseen.  You will also note that I starting seizing the tackle lines with black on the second cannon, and will adapt that approach going forward.  I also added some barrels and a rope hank just for kicks, even though they will never be seen again (I hope).  I am now planking the forecastle deck!!!  Full speed ahead (until next hurdle).... 

[HardeeHarHar]

Hey ya'll experts around here, and especially those who have completed the Granado.....i have one quick question:  The bowsprit step has a hole in it to receive the bowsprit, but the hole is like half the diameter of the prescribed 8 mm diameter dowel that is to be used for the bowsprit.  Since I already covered the bowsprit step with the forecastle, I am left thinking that I should just reduce the diameter of a small (4 or 5 mm) portion at the end of the dowel that will be used for the bowsprit so that it can slide into the step and be glued in place, rather than try to drill the hole in the step to a size that can accommodate an 8 mm diameter dowel.  Does that make sense, the instructions don't appear to address this issue AT ALL.  =(

Any thoughts are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated!!

Thanks, 

Brian 

Edited September 28, 2021 by HardeeHarHar

[VTHokiEE]

Looking good so far!

 

On 9/27/2021 at 9:18 AM, HardeeHarHar said:

You will also note that I starting seizing the tackle lines with black on the second cannon, and will adapt that approach going forward

I'm curious what made you decide to switch to seizing with black?

 

9 minutes ago, HardeeHarHar said:

I am left thinking that I should just reduce the diameter of a small (4 or 5 mm) portion at the end of the dowel that will be used for the bowsprit so that it can slide into the step and be glued in place

This makes a lot of sense to me.

[HardeeHarHar]

Hey @VTHokiEE

Thanks for the shout out and kind words.

Good question about black seizing....as it does look strange side by side with one without the black.  I got the concept from watching this video (see below).  I ordered the finest thread i could find for use on the more visible cannon tackle. 

I am glad you agree I can reduce diameter at end of bowsprit and not worry that much about it.  thanks very much!  

 

Edited September 28, 2021 by HardeeHarHar

[HardeeHarHar]

@VTHokiEE  one other question.  How do you get the NRG badge etc. tp show in your comments.  I recently joined and have enjoyed their one publicatin i have received!

Cheers!

Brian

[VTHokiEE]

35 minutes ago, HardeeHarHar said:

I got the concept from watching this video (see below).

Ah I see, if you enjoy the contrast go for it. I believe that historically the the same color as the rope would have been used, but the contrast is pretty neat 🙂.

 

35 minutes ago, HardeeHarHar said:

How do you get the NRG badge etc. tp show in your comments.

You can add your NRG number in your profile and message moderator James H if it doesn't show

 

Good luck with the rest of your build - such a cool ship.