HMS Beagle by Techtonic - FINISHED - OcCre - 1:60

[Techtonic]

Thought I'd throw my hat in to the growing number of logs for this ship - I guess the more the merrier!

 

I'm a little late to start a log - I started building in late February doing 2-3hrs work most days. I would guess I've put in the best part of 100hrs so far.

 

This is my very first wood model ship. I've done a lot of Metal Earth type models over the past year or so, including a few ships such as PieceCool's very decorative Wind Breaker 

and Black Pearl

 

 

This has given me a lot of experience at working at a small scale so I hoped this skill-set would help with building a wooden ship. So decided to opt for an ambitious first build of the Beagle. The scientific significance of ship was also very appealing to me. This choice was also heavily swayed by the availability of OcCre's YouTube step by step build videos. And these have indeed turned out to be an invaluable resource.

 

Here's another excellent online resource I found for visualizing the ship: https://www.cloudtour.tv/beagle/. There are some differences in the OcCre ship compared to the virtual model in the details - but the general layout out of both versions are very similar.

 

I only have a few pics from early in the build, just after the first planking. As you can see in these pics I was concerned about being able to remove the pins after the glue had dried. So I made myself a whole bunch of small rectangular washers from cereal box cardboard. These worked really well - you could push the pins in all the way with a pin-pusher so it holds the wood down securely. Then when dry, the pins could be easily removed by sliding a flush cutter under the cardboard washer and pulling out.

 

 

You'll also see in these pics I opted to go for the more traditional way of tapering the planks along the whole length rather than the way OcCre suggest  of using full width planks then inserting triangular sections to fill the gaps. I'm not sure there is any advantage to my way over OcCre's way other than it may have given me more useful experience for future builds.

 

For bending the planks I used one of these: https://www.agesofsail.com/ecommerce/amati-form-a-strip-am7381.html. In my research I've seen many people say not to use these - but I found them really useful and made bending the planks easy and quick. The only thing is you can't use them if the inside of the bend is going to end up visible as you end up with a bunch of indentations on the inside.

 

For the deck planking and second hull planking I highly recommend the way they do it in the OcCre videos using contact cement. I was a bit nervous about using that method as I was afraid that as soon as I attached the plank it would adhere and would not be moveable to adjust and close gaps. But this is not the case - it does not adhere properly until you apply firm pressure, so it is easy to adjust just right, then when a section is complete just apply firm pressure with a rounded wooden object and everything will stick firmly. I used DAP Weldwood Contact Cement which worked great for this application.

 

I did manage to put quite a major slice in my thumb with an Xacto knife due to a plank splitting when I was trimming the  top edge flush with the deck - certainly learned my lesson to be more careful when making cuts like that. Fortunately didn't cut through any tendons so it's all good now other than a numb section due to cutting through a nerve.

 

So skip forward a month and I'm now just before building the dinghies and long boats. I'm very pleased with how it has progressed. There were a few mistakes along the way which required some effort to rectify - but that's how you learn right?

 

I did have an issue with my set in that it is short probably two lengths of the 1mm brass wire. I had to start substituting the 0.5mm and 1.5mm wire for some things, and some 1mm steel wire I had laying around for some parts that get painted.

 

Talking of paint - I used Historic Ships brand Black and  White paint for the hull. This gives a semi gloss finish which looks really nice. It does take about 3 or 4 coats to get a consistent finish, but it dries pretty fast. I also used Historic Ships Clear Satin varnish for everything that needs varnishing. This dries fast and is very quick to clean off brushes with water.

 

For stain I used Minwax Dark Walnut and Red Mahogony, and more recently got some Red Chestnut which I prefer and used for later parts of the build (e.g. the deck house roofs). In hindsight I wish I had treated all the interior sapelli wood with the Red Chestnut as that would have given a nicer contrast.

 

For all the black fittings I used matte acrylic paint, firstly because it only needs one coat to get a good finish, and second my understanding is that on small objects gloss does not look very realistic.

 

For the cannons and figurehead I used a mix of matte black acrylic and Liquid Leaf Classic Gold. I actually mixed the paints together in various proportions to get the desired patina rather than using the black then gold method shown in OcCre's video. Then I used a very small amount of the semi gloss black dry brushed on top to get relief around the nooks.

 

 

 

In the next pic you can see I had to substitute 1.5mm instead of 1mm brass wire for the axle on the central pin rail due to there not being enough 1mm in the set. Looks OK though I think.

In the next pic you can see an issue with the foremast belaying pins. I spaced each set of three pins exactly as shown in the scale drawings in the instructions. But this makes them too close and each set of three pins will not insert all the way due to interference. I almost remade the whole piece but in the end just decided to put up with it. If you are building this ship I would suggest spacing these pins out slightly more than shown on the drawings.

 

There a small gap between the keel and the hull that can be seen in the next pic. I should have spent more time test fitting and shaping the keel here.

 

I was happy with how the wire bending went for the transom decorations, I think my Metal Earth experience helped here as you have to do a lot of careful forming and shaping of metal sheets. You can see here I did not sand down the internal support blocks at the stern on the starboard side enough. It wasn't clear in the instructions that they basically need to be sanded down to the width of the keel at the very back.

 

Here you can see another mistake I made. The anchor wale on the port side shown here is correct. But compare it to the first pic, you'll see on the starboard side I accidently made it slope the other way, towards the back as you go down. It's one of those errors that no one viewing the model would ever spot as you never see both at the same time - but I know it's there, grrr!

Another mistake I used the wrong thickness of wire for some of the wires that make up the bow (this is not why I am short on the 1mm wire though).

 

 

Well that's it for now. I'll post further updates as progress is made.

Edited June 4, 2021 by Techtonic
Added text for foremast belaying pins issue.

[Robp1025]

That looks great so far my friend I'll follow you for sure and see how the build goes. 

[LucienL]

Wow, this is an incredible build! Your metal work is very neat.

[Techtonic]

Hmm... looking ahead in the instructions it looks like there's more of the 1mm brass wire required than I anticipated. I didn't realize there is a fair bit used in the masts. I must be missing a good 4 or 5 rods of this material. I wish I had known earlier in the build as I would have made the transom decorations out of the 1mm steel wire I have as that all gets painted so the wire color doesn't matter.

 

I don't want to have to wait for shipping from OcCre in Italy, so I just went ahead and ordered a spool of 18 gauge brass jewelry wire off Amazon. Hope it works as required.

[Techtonic]

Another thing I noticed in the pictures in the instructions - You can tell by the plank widths and grain it definitely looks like they have double planked the boats that hang over the side with the sapelli veneer, though they don't mention doing this anywhere. I might consider doing this depending on how good my first planking looks.

[Cathead]

Looks nice so far, glad you decided to start a log. Things like the keel gap can be frustrating for the builder but are rarely noticed by viewers.

[Techtonic]

One final thought for the day. I think the guy that created the model for the instructions messed up when installing part H20. I believe it is installed upside down which is why you end up with the odd splaying of the chains around the gun port. So I believe the group of three deadeyes should be fore of the gun port and the group of two should be aft, with the gap being inline with the gun port. It's too late for me to fix on mine but if I were to build again I would definitely correct this.

Edited April 12, 2021 by Techtonic

[Pete D]

57 minutes ago, Techtonic said:

Hmm... looking ahead in the instructions it looks like there's more of the 1mm brass wire required than I anticipated. I didn't realize there is a fair bit used in the masts. I must be missing a good 4 or 5 rods of this material. I wish I had known earlier in the build as I would have made the transom decorations out of the 1mm steel wire I have as that all gets painted so the wire color doesn't matter.

 

I don't want to have to wait for shipping from OcCre in Italy, so I just went ahead and ordered a spool of 18 gauge brass jewelry wire off Amazon. Hope it works as required.

I had the same issue during my build , thought I had mislaid them. But I guess its an issue with OcCre. I also just bought some from a craft store and it works fine . Just needs to be straightened out 

[Pete D]

40 minutes ago, Techtonic said:

Another thing I noticed in the pictures in the instructions - You can tell by the plank widths and grain it definitely looks like they have double planked the boats that hang over the side with the sapelli veneer, though they don't mention doing this anywhere. I might consider doing this depending on how good my first planking looks.

I find that sometimes the diagram and instructions and the video all give different views and methods. I feel that one should use own judgement. After all it is our model....

[Cathead]

It sure looks like you're right about the chains, they should naturally  have a gap for the gunport without having to be angled around it.

[DonSangria]

I came to the same conclusion and posted about it here: 

[Robp1025]

20 hours ago, Techtonic said:

One final thought for the day. I think the guy that created the model for the instructions messed up when installing part H20. I believe it is installed upside down which is why you end up with the odd splaying of the chains around the gun port. So I believe the group of three deadeyes should be fore of the gun port and the group of two should be aft, with the gap being inline with the gun port. It's too late for me to fix on mine but if I were to build again I would definitely correct this.

As per the front picture of the model done correct you are right that the 2 slot is suppose to be first then the 5 slot. I'll look out for it as I'm getting close to that point. 

[Techtonic]

9 hours ago, DonSangria said:

I came to the same conclusion and posted about it here: 

I wish I had seen your post before I got to that point in the build. I thought it was odd at the time but didn't think to question the instructions. 

[Techtonic]

So had a few marathon sessions over the past few days and managed to complete the four boats. I'd say each of these was 4 to 6 hours work. I thought the planking looked good as it is so didn't go for the sapelli second planking option that I was considering earlier.

The tiller on this one was my very last bit of 1mm brass wire.

 

I later added some of the sycamore veneer to the benches on this boat which you can see in the next pic. It makes the benches a bit wider with a better finish.

The next boat is missing the brass pins (which I assume are supposed to be oar pivots). I noticed the omission after I took the pic and added them, you can see them in a later pic. Also the tiller on this one is the replacement 1mm jewelry wire I got from Amazon. It is more of a bronze color than the yellow of the supplied brass, and is also very shiny, but I think it will work fine.

 

The tiller on this one has to be carved out of a piece of 1x3.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 15, 2021 by Techtonic

[LucienL]

Nice boats, they are very cute

[Pete D]

12 hours ago, Techtonic said:

So had a few marathon sessions over the past few days and managed to complete the four boats. I'd say each of these was 4 to 6 hours work. I thought the planking looked good as it is so didn't go for the sapelli second planking option that I was considering earlier.

The tiller on this one was my very last bit of 1mm brass wire.

 

I later added some of the sycamore veneer to the benches on this boat which you can see in the next pic. It makes the benches a bit wider with a better finish.

The next boat is missing the brass pins (which I assume are supposed to be oar pivots). I noticed the omission after I took the pic and added them, you can see them in a later pic. Also the tiller on this one is the replacement 1mm jewelry wire I got from Amazon. It is more of a bronze color than the yellow of the supplied brass, and is also very shiny, but I think it will work fine.

 

The tiller on this one has to be carved out of a piece of 1x3.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These look great , progressing smoothly , soon you will be complete

[Dean77]

Looks fantastic! 

Funnily I was short of 1mm brass rod too, I ordered some extra for a few pounds so no great problems really.

Wish I had seen that about the channels before I fitted mine thats me rushing ahead and not thinking!

 

[Techtonic]

Just looked through the videos for installing the anchors and compared it to the amount of chain I have left. I'm at least a foot short on chain. So now I've had to make another Amazon order for some chain.

[Techtonic]

Skipped the anchors for now until I get the missing chain. So today I moved on to building and fitting the bowsprit.

 

Decided to go with the red mahogany stain for the masts. I did a test on the dowel wood with the red chestnut and it came out a bit pink for my liking.

 

It was definitely a bit nerve racking drilling a giant hole in the front of my ship.

Now starting to get a real sense of just how big the finished ship will be.

Edited April 19, 2021 by Techtonic

[Cathead]

Bowsprits add a LOT of length. Looks great!

[Techtonic]

I found mistake in the manual for the manual for the bowsprit. In the photographs it clearly shows 8 dead blocks (the large teardrop shaped blocks) attached:

 

But in the plans it shows the lower two should be deadeyes:

The plans are correct. Unfortunately I was looking at the photo when doing this step so I'm going to have to cut off two of the dead blocks and replace them.

 

Another shortage I'm having is the jackstay eyebolts. I noticed I was getting a bit low so counted how many were left in the build. I'm about 30 short. I haven't wasted any. I even reused the heads of the ones where you cut the head off (e.g. on some of the boats). So another Amazon order...

Edited April 18, 2021 by Techtonic

[Pete D]

1 hour ago, Techtonic said:

I found mistake in the manual for the manual for the bowsprit. In the photographs it clearly shows 8 dead blocks (the large teardrop shaped blocks) attached:

 

But in the plans it shows the lower two should be deadeyes:

The plans are correct. Unfortunately I was looking at the photo when doing this step so I'm going to have to cut off two of the dead blocks and replace them.

 

Another shortage I'm having is the jackstay eyebolts. I noticed I was getting a bit low so counted how many were left in the build. I'm about 30 short. I haven't wasted any. I even reused the heads of the ones where you cut the head off (e.g. on some of the boats). So another Amazon order...

I found the same . I always seem to keep all the offcuts of the timber , pins etc . so I fashioned the eyebolts out of whatever I could . For reference I have shown an original eyebolt and pin , and then eyebolts that were made from the pin as well as a bit of offcut of a short eyebolt . Will require a pair of round nosed pliers . Hope this helps

[Techtonic]

3 hours ago, Pete D said:

I found the same . I always seem to keep all the offcuts of the timber , pins etc . so I fashioned the eyebolts out of whatever I could . For reference I have shown an original eyebolt and pin , and then eyebolts that were made from the pin as well as a bit of offcut of a short eyebolt . Will require a pair of round nosed pliers . Hope this helps

I did the same when I thought I was only short on 10. Then I remembered there were also a bunch that have to be added in the side of the ship, plus the ones I need to fit the anchors. I like things to be perfect so in the end decided to get some manufactured ones.

 

I also seem to be short of the 1mm x 3mm limewood planks which need to be used for the central sheath around each yardarm. But I do have quite a lot extra 1mm x 5mm limewood which only seems to be used for the mast cheeks, so about 10" total. But I have 3 x 24 inch lengths of the stuff. So I'm going to split it down the middle and use them.

 

On the plus side, I do have enough of the 2x5 first planking wood left over to pretty much build a second boat, 32 x 24" lengths! 

[Techtonic]

 

Completed the foremast. The woolding (ropes wrapped around the lower mast) proved tricky at first. I tried using the method shown in the OcCre video where they just glued the first end to the mast, wrapped it a couple of times, then glued the other end down. But I couldn't get a decent neat look this way and it was fiddly and took a long time for each. Then I looked up in Mastini's Ship Modeling Simplified and used the method he suggests. This worked perfectly and was quick to do once you got the hang of it. Also allows each one to be perfectly adjusted before applying glue. It's the same technique suggested in the first few replies for this thread: https://modelshipworld.com/topic/1488-how-to-rope-masts/

 

Dry fitted it to the ship. I had to ream out the mast hole by hand turning a 1/4" wood drill to get the mast to insert. You can also see here I replaced the two dead blocks with deadeyes on the bowsprit as mentioned in my last post.

 

[Techtonic]

Completed the main and mizzen masts.

One thing I learned later when fitting the yard arms  is that the thread should be kept really short for the blocks  that suspend the center of the lower two yards on the main and fore masts. I made them too long so ended up folding and CA gluing them to make them shorter.

For the mizzen mast I spent about 10 minutes looking for part mt113. I couldn't figure out what it was. Then I finally realized it is one of the rings like the ones that go around the mast holes in the deck. You just have to cut one in half 

[Techtonic]

Next started on the yards. I've now completed all the foremast yards.

 

The first pic below is the mainyard. There is some confusion in the instructions for the outermost blocks. In the two cross section images below on one it is marked as using 0.15mm raw thread (C) and in the other it is marked as 0.5mm brown thread (MT48). Then in the photos in the manual it shows two blocks attached to each end, one with each type of thread. I'm pretty sure there should only be one block and it should be with the thicker brown thread. I can't see any figures in the rigging diagrams that shows more than one line attached to the yard ends.

 

I made couple of minor mistakes. The footropes I installed taught, but now looking at various ship images I see there should be some slack in them so that they hang down a bit. Then when I installed the yard on the mast I assumed the MT46 parts should be on the side facing the mast to kind of key the yard in place. I assumed it was an error in the instructions where they showed them facing away from the mast. But, after googling some images I see they should face away.

 

So now I have to decide if I should repeat the errors for the mainmast yards so that it looks uniform, or do it correct for the mainmast and have two slightly different looking masts.

 

My tip for the day - I highly recommend the Glue Looper V2 http://www.creativedynamicllc.com/the-glue-looper.html with BSI super thin CA glue for sealing each knot in the thread. I put a few drops of the glue in a plastic water bottle top that's tipped up at about 30 degrees so the glue pools to one side. It will sit like that for many hours without drying out. The Glue Looper than makes it very quick, accurate, and mess free to transfer just the right amount of glue to the knot where it soaks in and dries instantly.

 

 

 

 

[Pete D]

6 minutes ago, Techtonic said:

Next started on the yards. I've now completed all the foremast yards.

 

The first pic below is the mainyard. There is some confusion in the instructions for the outermost blocks. In the two cross section images below on one it is marked as using 0.15mm raw thread (C) and in the other it is marked as 0.5mm brown thread (MT48). Then in the photos in the manual it shows two blocks attached to each end, one with each type of thread. I'm pretty sure there should only be one block and it should be with the thicker brown thread. I can't see any figures in the rigging diagrams that shows more than one line attached to the yard ends.

 

I made couple of minor mistakes. The footropes I installed taught, but now looking at various ship images I see there should be some slack in them so that they hang down a bit. Then when I installed the yard on the mast I assumed the MT46 parts should be on the side facing the mast to kind of key the yard in place. I assumed it was an error in the instructions where they showed them facing away from the mast. But, after googling some images I see they should face away.

 

So now I have to decide if I should repeat the errors for the mainmast yards so that it looks uniform, or do it correct for the mainmast and have two slightly different looking masts.

 

My tip for the day - I highly recommend the Glue Looper V2 http://www.creativedynamicllc.com/the-glue-looper.html with BSI super thin CA glue for sealing each knot in the thread. I put a few drops of the glue in a plastic water bottle top that's tipped up at about 30 degrees so the glue pools to one side. It will sit like that for many hours without drying out. The Glue Looper than makes it very quick, accurate, and mess free to transfer just the right amount of glue to the knot where it soaks in and dries instantly.

 

 

 

 

There are in fact 2 sets of blocks . One that hang down on the 0.5mm thread about an inch long , and then 2 at the top mage from siezing a single block and attaching it so that it point up , and will be used when you attach running rigging on all the yards. If you look at my build there is a picture that shows that set of rigging

[Pete D]

13 minutes ago, Techtonic said:

Next started on the yards. I've now completed all the foremast yards.

 

The first pic below is the mainyard. There is some confusion in the instructions for the outermost blocks. In the two cross section images below on one it is marked as using 0.15mm raw thread (C) and in the other it is marked as 0.5mm brown thread (MT48). Then in the photos in the manual it shows two blocks attached to each end, one with each type of thread. I'm pretty sure there should only be one block and it should be with the thicker brown thread. I can't see any figures in the rigging diagrams that shows more than one line attached to the yard ends.

 

I made couple of minor mistakes. The footropes I installed taught, but now looking at various ship images I see there should be some slack in them so that they hang down a bit. Then when I installed the yard on the mast I assumed the MT46 parts should be on the side facing the mast to kind of key the yard in place. I assumed it was an error in the instructions where they showed them facing away from the mast. But, after googling some images I see they should face away.

 

So now I have to decide if I should repeat the errors for the mainmast yards so that it looks uniform, or do it correct for the mainmast and have two slightly different looking masts.

 

My tip for the day - I highly recommend the Glue Looper V2 http://www.creativedynamicllc.com/the-glue-looper.html with BSI super thin CA glue for sealing each knot in the thread. I put a few drops of the glue in a plastic water bottle top that's tipped up at about 30 degrees so the glue pools to one side. It will sit like that for many hours without drying out. The Glue Looper than makes it very quick, accurate, and mess free to transfer just the right amount of glue to the knot where it soaks in and dries instantly.

 

 

 

 

Just an observation. If you could change MT47 and MT52 through 180 degrees , should that not correct the issue .

[Pete D]

Sorry , forgot to mention you have a great looking ship Excellent build

[Robp1025]

That's some good advice I didn't know if CA dried in the air if its puddle since I never tried it. What do you do just dip the tool in then apply it to spot or is there a chamber that's filled?