HMS Winchelsea 1764 by glbarlow - 1:48

[Matt D]

On 2/28/2023 at 9:33 AM, glbarlow said:

Thank you for your comments. Yesterday was spent drilling holes for the many ring bolts, I  have to say it hurt a little bit to do so 😂

I hear what you're saying.  Especially drilling such a nice deck as yours.  But the ring bolts and eyes really add a lot and you'll be amazed at how they look when you get them installed.

[jfhealey]

Inspirational work Glenn

[glbarlow]

I’ve mentioned my other hobby is photography. I recently returned from a two week trip to Patagonia and since my return processing images. I’ve completed a gallery of my favorites. If interested they can be seen on my website by clicking on Patagonia 2023 (it was my second trip). Now back to ship building. 

 

 

Edited March 6, 2023 by glbarlow

[DelF]

Great pictures Glenn. 

[Rustyj]

Beautiful pictures, just like your model work. 

[westwood]

Wow beautiful photos Glenn.
Thank you for showing them to us

[BobG]

Wonderful photos, Glenn! They brought back a lot of memories of our trip. It looks like you may have had some better weather overall than we did. We got a mix of everything from 75 mph winds to torrential rains and snow flurries. We had some days with puffy clouds and blue skies also just fewer of them. A second trip is on my travel wishlist.   

[Freebird]

Glenn,

 

I checked out your photography page, beautiful work! Just like your Winnie!

 

Best Regards …. Rick

[scrubbyj427]

Wow! Great photos of beautiful mountains. I’m moving there now!
Glenn you should check out the alpinist on Netflix, it’s about Marc leclerc, a free solo climber who summits many mountains but one is cerro torre in Patagonia, in the winter and it’s absolutely incredible. 

now back to work!

[ir3]

I watched the documentary "Patagonia" on NETFLIX, and I can understand your love for the area. A most remarkable preserve of a wide variety of animal life and very pristine. Your photos do it justice. Very nice.

[FrankWouts]

Beautiful work on the deck Glenn! The bolts will look magnificent too, I'm sure! And dito photographs, wow!

Frank.

[glbarlow]

12 hours ago, scrubbyj427 said:

check out the alpinist on Netflix,

I’ll do that, I know that it’s a favorite of climbers. Standing there looking at it I can’t imagine how they climb it, let alone free soloing. Crazy talented people. 

[glbarlow]

Thank you all for the kind comments on my Patagonia photos. I realize it’s off topic and appreciate your taking the time to look. I won’t post anymore, well at least not until I return from Kenya in September with what I hope are nice wildlife photos.

[ccoyle]

Glenn, I'm gobsmacked -- your photography is amazing!

[Gus M]

21 hours ago, glbarlow said:

I’ve mentioned my other hobby is photography. I recently returned from a two week trip to Patagonia and since my return processing images. I’ve completed a gallery of my favorites. If interested they can be seen on my website by clicking on Patagonia 2023 (it was my second trip). Now back to ship building. 

 

 

Amazing pic, glad to see this, so beauty

[glbarlow]

Ring & Eyebolts

 

After a three week absence from Winchelsea I opted for an easy path back into action. I recalled a post from @Rustyj showing near 450 eyebolts and split rings he’d made and thought I’d get a start on getting a few of those behind me.

 

When I built Cheerful I had no idea how make my own eyebolts. I couldn’t find much on how to do them, so with experimentation and counsel from others I came up with a way. In a few photos I thought I’d share my method, some of which I lightly covered in my post on cannons early in this log. Of course there are many other ways, this is just what works for me.

I start with The Hillman Group Dark Annealed Steel Wire. I use these red pliers that have flat surface on the inside, really helps to not scratch up the wire.

Starting with a #61 drill bit clamped in my bench vice, I wrap 24 gauge wire to form as tight a loop as possible.

  

The next step is to center the loop with a bit of left right push and pull with the pliers on the stem of the eyebolt with the loop still on the bit. This is the part that takes a little practice and hard to describe. By the 10th or 50th eyebolt I’m pretty good at it.

Then using high quality (I’ve tried multiple brands, worth spending the money for these) flush-cut cutters I snip as shown. Sadly I can't find these particular ones again or I'd get a second pair for backup. Jewelry making supply websites are the best source for these types of tools. 

Maybe another twist or so to center it up, snip off the stem a little longer than needed, then do it all again for the next one. I work from a long strand of wire to keep production moving and minimize wasted wire.

The split rings are easy, I just tightly wrap 24 gauge wire around a #41 drill bit, remove the coil and snip a straight line down the coil with those same flush-cut cutters. The flush-cut version is essential, regular wire cutters crush the wire at the cut, not good for this purpose. The photo shows the larger 22 gauge split rings that are also part of the deck plan. This tool (whatever its called) comes in handy for this purpose, the section I’m using is near the equivalent of the #31 drill bit size called for in the instructions for the heavier split rings. The eyebolts for these are also made from 22 gauge wire, but with the same #61 drill bit as before.

 

I realize this isn’t useful or new info for many, but honestly I wish I’d found a post like this when I was trying to sort out how to do these for Cheerful. So maybe it will help someone come up with their way.

Winchelsea's main deck has 32 eyebolts and split rings plus eight eyebolts on the main mast partners. How to align them per the plans and have them mirrored on the other side of the deck was interesting. The eight on the partners were easy, I’d drilled the holes for them with the mill back when I assembled it and before installing it on the deck.

 

I printed two copies of the plans at the outset of the project. It’s paid benefits over and over using one set to cut up as templates, here was another chance to do so. Being as precise as I could on cutting the inside line (the outside edge of the cargo holds as alignment guides), using my favorite double sided tape to fix them tightly to the deck,  checking, measuring and lining them up per the uncut set of plans, then measuring and checking that the other side mirrored the first (this took some time, only one chance to get it right). Once that was done I just drilled the holes right through the corresponding location on the paper and through the deck below.

Making your own eyebolts and split rings initially sounds a little daunting. For Cheerful I was temped to use the easily available commercial ones but so glad I didn’t, it made such a difference. On Winchelsea there are SOOO many to make but it was never a question I’d make them. The scale is much more realistic, even if everyone isn’t perfect it just looks so much better. I especially like the look of the eight heavier ones in contrast to the smaller ones.

The ship slowly is coming to life, each little detail like these makes it more so. An now I have less to make, just 96 eyebolts and 48 split rings for the bulwark ports, another 112 eyebolts and 32 split rings for the remaining cannons, and some other number for other parts of the deck and hull I don’t want to think about right now. So instead I’ll go make a rudder.

 

Thanks again for the kind comments on my off-topic photos of Patagonia and as always thanks for dropping by for a look. Your likes and comments are appreciated.

Edited March 10, 2023 by glbarlow

[Edwardkenway]

Thank you very much for this very timely post! I'm just starting to make some the many eyebolts and split rings.

[Rustyj]

Great job Glenn. That's how I make them too. And don't worry you'll get more opportunities to make even more later on! 

[glbarlow]

28 minutes ago, Rustyj said:

don't worry you'll get more opportunities

That’s good news, I was concerned I was done and I still have all this wire. 🤣

[glbarlow]

2 hours ago, Edwardkenway said:

very timely post!

I hope it helps. 

[dodgeyhack]

The results speak for themselves! Definitely a useful post, thanks for sharing.. I've filed away for the future.

[Thukydides]

That was a really useful post. They all look great. I assume the benefit of making the rings/eye bolts from scratch this way as opposed to just using off the shelf ones (eg amati ones) is you can carry the size in line with what was historically used?
 

 

[glbarlow]

13 hours ago, dodgeyhack said:

Definitely a useful post

I’m Glad you find it useful

 

11 hours ago, Thukydides said:

the benefit of making the rings/eye bolts from scratch

Yes, it’s about scale. The commercial ones are too small and thin, especially at 1:48, but I think also for 1:64.   And not all on a ship were the same. Plus, it’s a little bit fun and addy satisfying. 

Edited March 10, 2023 by glbarlow

[glbarlow]

The Rudder

 

By my count I’ve made and installed 12 rudders up to this point, unsurprisingly Winchelesea’s rudder is next level. Couple this fact with my inevitable way of making what might seem easy into something much more challenging given the annoying fact I can’t let go if I don't like what I've done no matter how many times I have to do it over. Anyway…

The rudder starts off nice right from the start, not simply a piece of wood but three laser cut pieces, the caulk being an opportunity not to remove char where they connect - of course there's plenty of char to remove on the outside edges. Then the addition of two thin strips on the aft on keel edges. I kind of enjoy the next step of shaping the rudder with the the aft side thinner growing more so towards the keel then rounding the fore edge. Who doesn't like to sand stuff.

Next up the pintles, fragile laser cut “U’s with the addition of straps from 1/32 wood. These are thinned further, bolt holes drilled, and the bolts, 20lb black mono-filament fishing line, inserted, glued  and trimmed. My simple jig allowed me to evenly space the bolts based on the plans. I used blackened little brass nails for the pins, the point of which allowed me to more easily steer the rudder home to the gudgeons later. I remove most of the point and place them to just be visible below the gudgeon.

Add a few more straps and a small slice of 1/8 wood to stimulate the tiller, all detailed by the monograph and the plans. This was all fun and straightforward. The description of which having bored all the Winchelsea builders that have gone before and wondering how Glenn can turn the rudder into a ten photo post.

The next part, not so fun. As I slide the first U gudgeon on the stern post, they having slide on the rudder so easily, it immediately broke. I sorted out that my sternpost was, this is true, 17/64th. Not sure how or why, but the ¼ gudgeon wasn’t going on even that small difference. After experimenting with options, none of which I liked, I was faced with reducing the very nicely finished stern post by 1/64th for the gudgeon to fit.

 

I really didn’t want to do that. The thing I said about sanding, not so much here, there are no photos recording this ugly process. Suffice it to say it takes a lot more than you might think to evenly reduce a piece of wood on both sides by total of 1/64th especially when that piece of wood connects to a bunch of planks I didn't want to reduce or damage their finish.

With the gudgeons finally fitted (so easy now to say that in five words) I added the straps using CA along with clamped on guides. My thin putty blade tool again came in handy to apply the CA as it did with the planking so long ago.

Then followed more drilling for more bolts, more gluing, more trimming. After painting I applied more coats of WOP with more sanding between, a slow careful process to not damage anything and to get it all back even in color as I could. The word 'more' in this case meaning tedious amounts of time taken on repetitive tasks.

In the end, after taking about as long as all 12 of those previous rudders put together, it all turned out ok.  I don’t know why I do these things but I counted it all. The rudder, including all the small parts to make up the various straps is 26 pieces, plus 17 more on the stern. I hand-drilled 156 holes for the black filament bolts, each of those glued, inserted, and trimmed.

 

All together, it is a well designed rudder consistent with the detail of Winchelsea and certainly worth the time spent. No matter how I might sound above, it's all good...now.

The final touch is the rudder trunk and benches in the Captain’s cabin. All straight forward laser cut pieces. A little work to get the angles to fit and match my particular counter but not overly so. Mini-me stopped by to check it all out. 

Finally, before I installed the trunk and benches I took a long look at my Winchelsea upside down for the last time. The deck gets more crowded from here on in, upside down it will be no more.

 

Thank you for stopping by and for your likes and comments. After a pause for non-modeling work I’ll move on the the remainder of Chapter 5. Then after that I get to make lots of cannon, lots of eyelets, lots of split rings, So much fun awaits.

Edited March 22, 2023 by glbarlow

[VTHokiEE]

Wish I had something constructive to add but wow you’re doing an amazing job! Well worth all the attempts.

[Chuck]

Really nice work on the rudder.  It all

looks as it should.  Nice and neat.

[glbarlow]

55 minutes ago, VTHokiEE said:

Well worth all the attempts.

Thank you, I never regret the attempts after I'm done, I know I'd regret it if I didn't.

[glbarlow]

48 minutes ago, Chuck said:

It all

looks as it should.

Thank you Chuck. I appreciate the replacement parts, they were put to good use.

[James G]

Very nice Glenn! I’ll use this when I get to this point on my build. Thank you for sharing the finer details. Quite helpful!

[Rustyj]

On 3/22/2023 at 3:56 PM, glbarlow said:

I don’t know why I do these things but I counted it all. The rudder, including all the small parts to make up the various straps is 26 pieces, plus 17 more on the stern. I hand-drilled 156 holes for the black filament bolts, each of those glued, inserted, and trimmed.

 

Beautiful looking rudder Glenn. It also highlights the great planking job. I thought I was the only one who counted up all of the pieces, holes drilled etc. Also, a word of caution as you move the hull around while working it's really easy to bang the rudder and knock it off. Not that I know from experience. Nope not me. 😉