HMS Sophie by TBlack - kit-bashing Jack Aubrey's first command from the Vanguard Models HMS Speedy

[Keith Black]

Sounds like a wise decision, Tom. No need to make the process any more difficult than necessary. 

[TBlack]

Keith,

Thanks for the support. I think you can see from the photo that, color-wise, the mast matches the rest of the wood on the ship. Whereas, the bowsprit, which is in the kit supplied wood, is a little off. Glad I went the way I did.

 

[Keith Black]

 Dare you try to match the bowsprit color to the mast color with stain? Looks like Golden Oak might work. Mast and bow work really looking nice. 

[Ian_Grant]

Beautiful work. Err, is the foremast not facing backwards?  .....  probably just dropped in to show the colours?.....

[TBlack]

Yes, Ian, just dropped in for the color comparison. I'll make the bowsprit out of the cherry as well so all will match, hopefully.

Tom

[TBlack]

Got the trees assembled. A little black paint next, but my focus is on the tops. I'm going to depart from the kit here. I followed Longridge, page 171, in building tops for my 1:96 scale version of Sphynx which turned out great. They are built up from individual planks, and not too difficult especially now at 1:64. I'll document it.

[TBlack]

As to the tops, we are blessed that there are templates to start from:

We punch out the center squares and use those to make identical squares, except 1/8" thick and glue them to a backboard:

Next comes the planking, but for later, because it's my bedtime now!

Tom

 

[TBlack]

As to the planking, I'm using 1/32" thick planks. I can't find anything in Lees that suggests width. Longridge uses 1/32" as his thickness and 3/16" as his width at 1:96 scale. Druxey's tops are a 3 layered sandwich of 1/32" stuff, while mine are 2 layers of 1/32". Anyway, the first steps are like this:

Those planks are just laying there. They are not glued. I'm not worried about the precise length at this point.

The next phase is this:

That cross piece is glued and locks everything in place, and I will now proceed to put the rest of the athwart planks in place maybe after dinner or maybe tomorrow, but not now. Keith will hate me for this, but it's cocktail time!

Tom

[TBlack]

Finish the long planks, which are 1/4" wide, BTW.:

The next thing is to fill in between the longitudinal planks.

[TBlack]

Here I've filled in the athwartship planks. What I've done is simulate the scarfed joints that make up the top. 

Next is flip the top over and do the same on the underside.

[TBlack]

Once I've flipped the top it looks like this on the bottom:

I fill in the spaces like before:

Then I can take it off the former to work on the outboard shape. Blessedly, I have a template for that exercise:

And then it's on to the rim.

Tom

 

[TBlack]

According to Lees, the rim plank is 1.5" thick. The kit supplied rim is 1 mm, which is approximately 2", close enough. So I'm faced with this:

My top in the center, the kit supplied rim/batten assembly on the left, and a template for the crows feet holes on the right. The battens aren't strictly correct, and they need to be tapered, but it all gets painted black where detail will be lost. In other words, I'm going with the kit piece. As to crows feet, it's not clear to me whether Sophie qualifies; she's right on the cusp of not having them, but it's extra detail and not too hard to do at this scale (I did a euphroe block at 1:96 for my Sphynx class). So, I'll overlay that template to position the holes.

Tom

[TBlack]

I've overlaid and cemented the rim piece and pierced the top for the crows feet. As I mentioned, I'm not doing the battens justice. To see how it should be done, please visit Theodosius' log of Speedy, his post #99 and subsequent back in September

Now I'll taper the battens according to Lees.

[Keith Black]

I like it, Tom. Very nice. 

[TBlack]

Did you see that? I got a like from Chris Watton! I feel like I've arrived! You have to understand that I'm taking his wonderfully made kit; pieces that fit with zero tolerance, impeccable instructions. And I'm butchering up his transom; not following his paint scheme; not always using his wood supplies; yet I still get a like! YES!

Tom

[TBlack]

I'm working on the fore top. I won't take up your time with that; it's the same as the main top. Also, I've been working on making top masts. The first two were duds. I started with 3/8" (9mm) cherry dowel and made the square parts first on the mill. Then trying to reduce the round parts down to 5 mm on the lathe, too much stress on the thinner square parts...disaster (firewood?). OK, do the round parts first. Second try.... screwed up the square parts. 3rd try will involve a purchase of 1/4" dowel (from where else but Amazon!). Be here next week. 

[TBlack]

I got the 1/4" cherry dowel and proceeded to make the main topmast:

Huge color difference. That's not going to work, damn! If I were Chuck Passaro, no problem getting the right stain to get a match; for me, it's a challenge. Clearly, I'm going to have this issue with the rest of the spars. Deal with it later. On to making the fore topmast. Apparently not so easy. I'm on my 4th try which is only 95% correct. Think I'll make a bowsprit instead.

[Keith Black]

 Tom, I have a collection of 6 or 7 cans of different stains as a result of trying to find the "perfect" match. Buy what stain you think will work best and test it on a scrap piece. When you see it's not going to work then go back and buy a can of lighter or darker stain depending on how the test piece came out. The second can of stain probably won't work out either so go back and get a third can, etc etc. This way you too can build up a nice collection of different stains.

 

 Then there's the alchemist method of matching and that's by mixing two different stains to match the target wood color. Just be sure to write down the volume of each stain used where you can replicate the color later because there's always a later. Writing down the amounts of each stain used in the mix is easier said than done. I always get in a rush and don't write done the proportions so consequently I not only have cans of base stains I also have a number of small canning jars of various shades. 

 

 All kidding aside, get a couple of small cans of different shades and play around, it's kinda of fun. I have on occasions been dissatisfied with all the different stains tested and finally used acrylic hobby paint of different shades mixed to match the target color but that's lead to a whole different collection of small canning jars. 

 

 

 

   

[TBlack]

Keith,

Thanks, I think.

TB

[TBlack]

After several attempts and re-do's (I'm a slow learner), I've got the masts and bowsprit/jib boom assemblies made. Nothing is glued together until after all the hardware is attached. My next project.

Incidentally, in the book Aubrey mentions that Sophie carried royals. I'm going to write that off to O'Brian's lack of nautical knowledge and not include them on the model.

[Keith Black]

 Tom, are you going to add the spars off model? What I can see looks great, I wish you could figure out how to enlarge your photos. What camera are you using? 

[TBlack]

Keith,

Yes, spars off the model. My camera is a canon "powershot" (pretty rudimentary). I'm not sure what you want to see but, here are a few "close-ups":

The smaller 1/4" dowels made work much easier. I decided not to obsess over the color of the masts. I've gotten it pretty close. I did learn that when Chris says 3mm, he means it. Even a coat of paint can be too much!

You can see that I've replaces the PE bees with my own. I'll do the same with the various chocks.

[Theodosius]

What stains did you use in the end? Now the spars fit well together, IMO!

[TBlack]

T, I used a light oak stain with a drop of walnut. Applied it liberally and then wiped it down. It’s not a perfect match, but I imagine that in real life the masts weren’t a match either. BTW, in the book Aubrey mentions that Sophie carried royals. This doesn’t sound right, and I’m going to write that off to O’Brian’s lack of knowledge.

[TBlack]

I've been working on the hardware to the bowsprit: chocks and blocks. I'm not using the PE chocks supplied by the kit; making my own wooden ones. At the same time I'm borrowing a technique from Delph (Derek) on the problem of placing 3 blocks on the bowsprit: one on the bottom, one on either side, and how to get the spacing just right. Derek has a smooth solution that I've copied:

make 3 blocks like this:

Then thread them like this:

Then it's a simple matter of wrapping the larger line around the bowsprit and sliding the blocks into position. Incidentally, I, apparently have an older version of the Speedy kit because, as you can see, the blocks are of the rudimentary type. I thought I can live with that, but I can't. I'll leave the ones on the bowsprit, but I've just placed an enormous order with Chuck P. for something that looks better for the rest of this craft. 

The other interesting thing is that Chris Watton has no record of selling me a kit; which makes me wonder how I bought it in the first place.

Tom

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TBlack]

I've gotten the hardware on the bowsprit/jib booms. At one point there is a need for 4 deadeyes in one loop around the bowsprit. Again, I'm resorting to Derek's method of getting them in the right positions: 12 o'clock, 4, 6, & 8. I managed it, although maybe the one is at 3:30. Always good to be a little early!

Now I'm on to the fore masts.

[TBlack]

I've gotten all the hardware on the various fore masts:

The topmast is posing, it's not affixed yet until after the lower shrouds and stays are looped around the foremast. I'll turn to the hardware on the main masts now.

Tom

[TBlack]

I see I’ve still got Chris Watton’s attention, which reminds me to salute him for the wonderful interview in the recent issue of the NRG magazine. Also, nice to put a face to all of his communication on this site.

Tom

[TBlack]

I meant to mention that Ron Neilson (Hollowneck) seems to be our resident interviewer, and he deserves a lot of credit for the aforementioned interview. I wonder if he went to England to conduct it?

On other fronts, I've finished the hardware on the main masts. None of the masts are glued together yet.

 

Edited April 20 by TBlack

[TBlack]

I couldn't get the text in the right place around those pictures, so this is a continuation of my previous post:

I'm on to yardarms. I've made the two lower ones with the help of my mill for the octagonal section and my lathe for the tapered round sections. The top mast yards are too delicate for the mill, so hand filing for the center sections. Pictures later.

Tom