HMS Beagle by The Gimps Chimp - FINISHED - OcCre - 1:60

[Cathead]

Nice job on the figurehead, I like the way that looks. Though I admit that when you said "like a real beagle" I honestly thought of Snoopy first and was momentarily confused by the brown!

[The Gimps Chimp]

In the last few weeks I've made great progress with the rigging.  All three masts now have their yards rigged and are fixed in place.  I must admit tying off the lower section of the foremast was very difficult as access was near impossible now all the deck fittings are fitted.  The belaying pins under the forecastle by the winch were particularly difficult to get to and I ended up tying them off to the top of the pin and not looping underneath but it was the only way I could get them to attach.

 

Apologies for the quality of the photo but it's on max zoom.

 

Other parts of the rigging went well and were more pleasing to accomplish.

 

Tying off to the belaying pins on the side of the deck was so much easier!

 

At one point I came back to the model to continue work and discovered the rigging at the top of the mizzen mast was all slack.  Which after all this effort was somewhat disheartening, to say the least.  I thought I would have to strip it off and refit it all.  I couldn't understand what had happened.  It was then under closer inspection that I discovered that the joint of the fore topmast and topgallant mast had failed at the topmast trees and cap.  It might have been better to pin these joints rather than relying on a glued joint.  This was fixed by clamping the topgallant mast just above the cap and driving a wedge between the two to force them apart and back into position whilst some new CA glue was applied.  When dried the clamp was removed and fortunately it worked.

Now I just need to fit the davits, boats and anchors and I'm done!  I'm not going to be fitting the sails to this model.  It shouldn't be too long now before it's finished  

 

Chimp

 

 

[RossR]

Nice work.   Looks great.   I struggled with the pin rail in front of the windlass on my Beagle.   Yours looks really good.  
 

 

[The Gimps Chimp]

SHE'S FINISHED!!!

 

Finally, after many, many months of work (on and off) she's finished. 

 

Here are some photos of the finished article (apologies for the number of photos).

 

 

And finally one of her alongside my first ship HMS Ballahoo.

 

Now I need to clear my workspace before embarking on my next ship, HMS Granado.  A kit which I've owned for some time now but haven't wanted to start until the Beagle was finished.  Well, that time is now!  

 

Many thanks to all that have followed this log, left comments, given advice, pointed out errors etc, etc...  Hope it's been of use.

Hope to see you on the next one   (hopefully coming soon).

 

Chimp

[ccoyle]

Nice work -- congratulations!

[Loracs]

Lovely...

[HardeeHarHar]

Beautiful work!!!!  Looking forward to seeing your Granado build, it is a good kit IMHO.

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

Your pair of ships are beautiful !  Congrats on completing both .

[The Gimps Chimp]

Thanks very much for the 'Likes' and kind comments everyone.  They are very much appreciated .

 

I feel that now I've finished the Beagle I should sum up my experience of building the kit, which may be useful to others thinking of building this kit.

 

I'll gather my thoughts and post something in the coming days.  It's taken nearly two years for me to build so I guess I might have a lot to say!

 

Chimp

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  I've seen other builds more or less 'out of the box', and wonder if (as OcCre instructs) the middle portion of the yards (where flat wood is bonded around the yard to make a polygon) appear a little 'fat'.  One could file flats around the middle portion of the yard prior to gluing on the additional wood, so the diameter in that area would be reduced.  

 

  The studding sail booms might be a tad oversized (thus the rings for them also), and are they normally placed atop the yard?  I simply don't know but generally see the booms near the bottom of the yard, perhaps slightly aft.   Foot ropes might not descend as much as shown, and deadeyes seem to be typically dark in color.

 

  That's all the details I care to ponder, as your work is significantly better than anything I've done.  KUDOS !

[The Gimps Chimp]

14 hours ago, Snug Harbor Johnny said:

  I've seen other builds more or less 'out of the box', and wonder if (as OcCre instructs) the middle portion of the yards (where flat wood is bonded around the yard to make a polygon) appear a little 'fat'.  One could file flats around the middle portion of the yard prior to gluing on the additional wood, so the diameter in that area would be reduced.  

 

  The studding sail booms might be a tad oversized (thus the rings for them also), and are they normally placed atop the yard?  I simply don't know but generally see the booms near the bottom of the yard, perhaps slightly aft.   Foot ropes might not descend as much as shown, and deadeyes seem to be typically dark in color.

 

  That's all the details I care to ponder, as your work is significantly better than anything I've done.  KUDOS !

Hi SHJ,

Many thanks for your comments.  There are many things with which I'm not 100% at ease with on the model and think I could have done better, had I put in more effort.  However, this has been a learning curve for me and I've gained an enormous amount of knowledge and experience (and pleasure) from the build.  Given the quality of the kit, and my inexperience at this hobby, I understand why it's not up to the standard of many ships on this forum, but I'm fine with that.  If nothing else it gives me something to aspire to.  

 

You're correct when you say you think the thickened sling section on the mast is too 'fat'.  The OcCre instructions indicate using 1mm x 3mm lime wood for this.  However, during my build I was running short of that for some reason and used 5mm x 2.3mm from what was surplus from the first planking.  This was then cut in half, so 2.5mm x 2.3mm.  This then made it way too 'fat' and I shaved it down to what I thought looked about right (to the instructions).  Looking into it following your comment I realise maybe I should have taken it down further to maybe 0.5mm.  

The studding sail booms are made from supplied 3mm lime wood dowel.  The rings are made from supplied 1mm diameter brass rod.  Again, looking further into it you're correct in what you say and these might be oversize.  I guess OcCre want to limit the variety of supplied material to keep the cost of their kits down.

 

Regarding the placement of the studding sail booms it appears I didn't follow the instructions.  They should be placed 45deg forward of the yard (although not very clear in the instructions).

According to the instructions the stirrups for the foot ropes should descend 5.5mm from the yard.  On my model I made them 8.5mm, not because I thought that was better but it just happened that way.  Again looking further into it, it would appear to me from pictures I've found that 8.5mm x 65 (scale) = 0.552m (21.75 inches) maybe a little short?.  I would be interested in what others think.

 

With regards to the deadeyes, unfortunately on this kit the supplied deadeyes were plastic, so not that easy to colour.  I believe OcCre now supply wooden deadeyes for this model.

 

Looking into the points you've raised has encouraged me to do further research, albeit to late for this model, but will be useful for my next build .

 

Once again thanks for your comments.

 

Chimp

[Auger]

Superbe build! I’ve been eyeballing this kit for some time, I believe you’ve nudged me into the purchase. 😉

[Cathead]

Lovely work, something you'll be proud to display and gaze upon. Thanks for sharing the journey.

[The Gimps Chimp]

5 hours ago, Cathead said:

Lovely work, something you'll be proud to display and gaze upon. Thanks for sharing the journey.

Hi Cathead,

It was good to have you along for the whole journey . 

Many thanks for your interest, 'likes', kind words and encouragement along the way.

Hope to have you along on my next one .

 

Chimp

 

[Thukydides]

Great job. Congrats on an excellent model.

[The Gimps Chimp]

Here are some notes and thoughts about my build and the OcCre Beagle kit.

 

After I had finished my previous kit HMS Ballahoo (Caldercraft), which was my first ship build, I started looking around at what to build next.  To some extent I was overwhelmed by the choice available on the market. It therefore needed to be narrowed down to something which was within my capabilities.  Despite feeling very confident after completing Ballahoo I was conscious that I didn't want to make too big a leap forward and over-stretch myself.  Therefore, I restricted myself to looking within a certain price range, which was still toward the lower end (max £150/$185).

 

I considered many kits but eventually settled on the Beagle for a number of reasons.  First of all HMS Beagle was a very historically significant ship and this would be a good way of finding out more about her.  OcCre appeared to offer good value for money as a supplier and there were also good resources to help the build, OcCre's 130 videos of the entire build plus the AOTS book.

 

After ordering and receiving the kit I checked the parts and discovered the flags were missing.  I contacted OcCre about this and they immediately dispatched the missing parts without any issue. This would indicate that their after-sales service is very good. Unfortunately, after I received the missing parts I found the original parts within the kit placed under other parts.

 

The build has taken me nearly 3 years to complete so I'm not a fast builder, but as someone rightly commented "It's not a race".  Generally, the quality of the kit is good/reasonable.  Along the way I have had some issues with the kit, luckily nothing major. The main issue was the instructions on how to mount the fore channels, which supports the dead eyes for the fore mast. The instructions show the channels mounted the wrong way around (3 dead eyes followed by 2 as opposed to 2 followed by 3).  Luckily this has been picked up in other build logs so I was alerted to it before I also made the mistake.  It would be good if OcCre would amend their instructions or maybe just add an addendum note in the kit.

 

The kit material quality and quantity were generally fine.  Timber for first and second planking, I had enough to build two models.  Other timber and some brass wire I would have run short of if I hadn't been very careful.  My biggest gripe was the supplied thread for the rigging.  In my opinion I would say it was hopeless and I refused to use it.  The thread was 'hairy' and in my opinion would ruin the model.  In a way this was a blessing for me as I then acquired a ropewalk and made my own rope using Gutermann thread, which was far superior.  This will now carry forward onto future models.  I've not been aware of others complaining about the supplied thread so it might be that I had a particularly bad batch or maybe OcCre have improved their supply.  (or maybe I'm just too fussy).

 

The instructions for the kit were frustrating at times as there are multiple A3 sheets covering different areas, part identification, hull assembly, mast assembly, and rigging.  I don't have much space where I build my models and I always had problems finding the right page on the right set of instructions and ended up have to flick between different sheets time and time again. Then I would jump over to the video instructions on YouTube and check with the AOTS for the Beagle.  There did seem to be much cross referencing between different parts of the instructions.  By the time I had finished the build I knew where the different information was and it became a lot easier.  I know it sounds like a minor point and a failing on my part but when you're struggling with a particular part of the build the last thing you want is to be sent on a wild goose chase to find a piece of information.

 

I would say the scaling of some parts and accuracy of others (e.g. belaying pins, mast metalwork) may not be as accurately modelled as they could be but I guess this is a compromise for many reasons.

 

In hindsight I don't think I should have chosen the Beagle as my second build mainly because there is a lot of rigging, being a three masted ship and this was something which could have been too overwhelming.  Luckily my attitude of "As I had paid for it then I was going to build it" saw me through.  I'm sure this amount of rigging wouldn't be a problem for others.

 

Generally, I was happy with the kit and how the build progressed. Yes, the kit quality could have been better but it's very good value for money.  I've used the build as a learning process to try and improve my skills and in some way, not having perfect parts has made me think about how things could be improved.  The supplied thread/rope and my adventure into making my own rope is a good case in point.

 

My final comment is about this build log.  At first I was very apprehensive about writing a build log, thinking that my skills weren't good enough to showcase and it would be embarrassing to demonstrate my lack of skill.  Clearly I had no need to worry as nobody is judgmental here and everyone is immensely supportive and encouraging, which is a great motivator.  It's also good to get other peoples opinions which broadens your outlook and future approach to issues and can often trigger further research into subjects.  I would fully encourage anyone starting out in this hobby to start a build log, you will find it so rewarding.  I will definitely be writing a build log for my next build.

 

And finally, to anyone who has bothered to read this far, many thanks for your help and support during the build and I hope to see you on the next one .

 

Best regards

Chimp
 

[Cathead]

Great, thoughtful review. So glad you decided to share the journey. Let folks know here when you start a new log for your next project.

[Ronald-V]

That is an impressive result! Congratulations with finishing this build , also great thorough review!

[JFMJr]

Just started my Beagle. Looking through your build log is very helpful! Looks great

[JFMJr]

Could you post pics of the finished model? Thanks in advance

[Techtonic]

3 hours ago, JFMJr said:

Could you post pics of the finished model? Thanks in advance

See The Gimps Chimp's post on October 28th.

[JFMJr]

Can I ask what you use to drive these tiny nails?  Thanks in advance for any help!

[JFMJr]

On 10/28/2023 at 12:20 PM, The Gimps Chimp said:

SHE'S FINISHED!!!

 

Finally, after many, many months of work (on and off) she's finished. 

 

Here are some photos of the finished article (apologies for the number of photos).

 

 

And finally one of her alongside my first ship HMS Ballahoo.

 

Now I need to clear my workspace before embarking on my next ship, HMS Granado.  A kit which I've owned for some time now but haven't wanted to start until the Beagle was finished.  Well, that time is now!  

 

Many thanks to all that have followed this log, left comments, given advice, pointed out errors etc, etc...  Hope it's been of use.

Hope to see you on the next one   (hopefully coming soon).

 

Chimp

Beautiful. Your images of your build have helped a LOT more than the directions that came with it!

[JFMJr]

24 minutes ago, JFMJr said:

Beautiful. Your images of your build have helped a LOT more than the directions that came with it!

I had asked you a question somewhere on here. Still learning how this site works. It was, the wire used for the rudder hinges seems very small. Would it work to make a better fittings one out of wood? Thanks in advance!

[JFMJr]

On 11/16/2023 at 6:50 AM, The Gimps Chimp said:

Here are some notes and thoughts about my build and the OcCre Beagle kit.

 

After I had finished my previous kit HMS Ballahoo (Caldercraft), which was my first ship build, I started looking around at what to build next.  To some extent I was overwhelmed by the choice available on the market. It therefore needed to be narrowed down to something which was within my capabilities.  Despite feeling very confident after completing Ballahoo I was conscious that I didn't want to make too big a leap forward and over-stretch myself.  Therefore, I restricted myself to looking within a certain price range, which was still toward the lower end (max £150/$185).

 

I considered many kits but eventually settled on the Beagle for a number of reasons.  First of all HMS Beagle was a very historically significant ship and this would be a good way of finding out more about her.  OcCre appeared to offer good value for money as a supplier and there were also good resources to help the build, OcCre's 130 videos of the entire build plus the AOTS book.

 

After ordering and receiving the kit I checked the parts and discovered the flags were missing.  I contacted OcCre about this and they immediately dispatched the missing parts without any issue. This would indicate that their after-sales service is very good. Unfortunately, after I received the missing parts I found the original parts within the kit placed under other parts.

 

The build has taken me nearly 3 years to complete so I'm not a fast builder, but as someone rightly commented "It's not a race".  Generally, the quality of the kit is good/reasonable.  Along the way I have had some issues with the kit, luckily nothing major. The main issue was the instructions on how to mount the fore channels, which supports the dead eyes for the fore mast. The instructions show the channels mounted the wrong way around (3 dead eyes followed by 2 as opposed to 2 followed by 3).  Luckily this has been picked up in other build logs so I was alerted to it before I also made the mistake.  It would be good if OcCre would amend their instructions or maybe just add an addendum note in the kit.

 

The kit material quality and quantity were generally fine.  Timber for first and second planking, I had enough to build two models.  Other timber and some brass wire I would have run short of if I hadn't been very careful.  My biggest gripe was the supplied thread for the rigging.  In my opinion I would say it was hopeless and I refused to use it.  The thread was 'hairy' and in my opinion would ruin the model.  In a way this was a blessing for me as I then acquired a ropewalk and made my own rope using Gutermann thread, which was far superior.  This will now carry forward onto future models.  I've not been aware of others complaining about the supplied thread so it might be that I had a particularly bad batch or maybe OcCre have improved their supply.  (or maybe I'm just too fussy).

 

The instructions for the kit were frustrating at times as there are multiple A3 sheets covering different areas, part identification, hull assembly, mast assembly, and rigging.  I don't have much space where I build my models and I always had problems finding the right page on the right set of instructions and ended up have to flick between different sheets time and time again. Then I would jump over to the video instructions on YouTube and check with the AOTS for the Beagle.  There did seem to be much cross referencing between different parts of the instructions.  By the time I had finished the build I knew where the different information was and it became a lot easier.  I know it sounds like a minor point and a failing on my part but when you're struggling with a particular part of the build the last thing you want is to be sent on a wild goose chase to find a piece of information.

 

I would say the scaling of some parts and accuracy of others (e.g. belaying pins, mast metalwork) may not be as accurately modelled as they could be but I guess this is a compromise for many reasons.

 

In hindsight I don't think I should have chosen the Beagle as my second build mainly because there is a lot of rigging, being a three masted ship and this was something which could have been too overwhelming.  Luckily my attitude of "As I had paid for it then I was going to build it" saw me through.  I'm sure this amount of rigging wouldn't be a problem for others.

 

Generally, I was happy with the kit and how the build progressed. Yes, the kit quality could have been better but it's very good value for money.  I've used the build as a learning process to try and improve my skills and in some way, not having perfect parts has made me think about how things could be improved.  The supplied thread/rope and my adventure into making my own rope is a good case in point.

 

My final comment is about this build log.  At first I was very apprehensive about writing a build log, thinking that my skills weren't good enough to showcase and it would be embarrassing to demonstrate my lack of skill.  Clearly I had no need to worry as nobody is judgmental here and everyone is immensely supportive and encouraging, which is a great motivator.  It's also good to get other peoples opinions which broadens your outlook and future approach to issues and can often trigger further research into subjects.  I would fully encourage anyone starting out in this hobby to start a build log, you will find it so rewarding.  I will definitely be writing a build log for my next build.

 

And finally, to anyone who has bothered to read this far, many thanks for your help and support during the build and I hope to see you on the next one .

 

Best regards

Chimp
 

My opinion is looks awesome...and intimidating...lol Just starting the bowsprit on my Beagle. As you stated the instructions are very little help. Those on here and videos I found are why I have made it this far. Again...looks amazing...great job sir.