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

[Keith Black]

At last count about 40,000 of us. 

[TBlack]

Whoa! That's a lot of Christmas cards!

[TBlack]

On the fourth try I've finally gotten this little bugger just right. There isn't a single 90 degree angle in it!

Now I need to fix the location of the waterline and the wale which is guided by the picture:

 

At the same time, I'm looking at where the quarterdeck bulwark meets the transom, carrying that line downward, and it looks like the outboard window is outboard of the hull line. Any thoughts?

Tom

Edited December 15, 2021 by TBlack

[TBlack]

Also, if you notice in the photo, above, the main mast shrouds are attached to the black strake, and the wale is immediately below. Speedy's wale looks like this:

Significant difference. Also notice that the wale in HMS Sophie follows the waterline along the after part of the ship. I need to do some drafting.

Tom

[Keith Black]

 She appears awfully low in the water and heavy seas would see waves sharing the Captain's table? 

 

 

Edited December 15, 2021 by Keith Black

[TBlack]

Keith,

We know from the descriptions in the book that Sophie was, indeed, low in the water. So, the picture is accurate.

Tom

[TBlack]

I'm just thinking out loud here, but it helps to clear my head. The gun port pattern, provided in the kit, sweeps upward toward the rear:

On the Sophie there is less sheer at the aft end (see photo in post #33), so I think I need to cut the pattern just aft of gun port 6 which is also where the quarterdeck starts. I hate making these irreversible decisions; maybe I'll sleep on it.

[Keith Black]

 Tom, don't you have to fit the piece you made in post #33 first and that will then dictate the shear? Trying to be of help but doing a dang poor job of it I'm sure. 

[TBlack]

Keith,

Here's how that piece fits:

Ideally, the bottom of the pattern should be along the bottom of the counter piece. Moving the pattern down, lowers the gun port, #6, at the far right too close to the main deck. So I can't move anything forward of gun 6. I don't care about gun port #7; it gets covered up (gun 7 is on the quarterdeck). Cutting the pattern aft of gun 6 is ok; it just means I have to cut planking stock the same thickness as the pattern, no problem. The tricky part is getting the new sheer line smoothly executed.

[Keith Black]

 Tom, understood and I see/understand how the piece fits now, thank you. I figured #7 was dead. Is the piece you made wide enough? 

[TBlack]

Keith,

I think the piece is wider than in the picture, but I didn't want too much of the transom ends sticking out from the hull:

 

With reference to the picture (post 33) where the quarterdeck bulwark meets the transom, from that point on the transom, drawing a line straight down, that line crosses the window (#2 in from the outboard side) about 1/4 to 1/2 of the width of that window. As you can see from the photo above I've got the bulwarks hitting the corner of the outboard window. So, I'm making the transom wider than in the picture, but, as I mentioned, I don't want too much transom ends out there flapping in the breeze. It looks unsightly.

Edited December 18, 2021 by TBlack

[TBlack]

Keith,

Or are you suggesting I should make the whole thing smaller? Need to think about it overnight.

Tom

[Keith Black]

 Tom, I'm not suggesting anything, I'm merely trying to follow along. The windows you have drawn on the transom, does that represent sash and glass? Does the distance between windows represent counter timber width or finished mullion  width? Can you decrease the distance between the windows allowing the transom to be narrower if that's something you're trying to achieve? 

[TBlack]

Hi Keith,

The windows I've drawn, above, include the sash. Yes, I could make the space between the windows smaller, but then the whole transom would not be as wide. That would fix my issue of not too much transom  sticking out from the hull (think Fair American). But then it would really depart from the picture in post 33. Either way I go, I'm wrong! I think I'll just let it be as you see it and plunge onward.

Tom

[Keith Black]

Plunge onward, Captain Tom. I'm right behind you with a fresh bag of popcorn. 

[TBlack]

With reference to my post #37, dealing with the gun port pattern, I decided to do a little drafting to see the magnitude of the issue:

Fortunately, I don't have to do any cutting; it's more a question of adding a little bit at the top, and more at the bottom.

[TBlack]

To all who have posted "likes" and especially you 9 who are following my modest attempts I wish you a joyous Christmas day and a productive modelling new year! Bless you all.

Tom

[Keith Black]

 Tom, you and the family have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. God bless you and yours. 

[sticker]

Thanks for that tom   i hope you and your family had a great christmas  and you got plenty of modeling related stuff in your stocking ( i did! ) looking forward to seeing your model progress in the new year .   So happy  and prosperous new year to you and yours   and to anyone else reading this      cheers     sticker

[TBlack]

Holidays over, back to the shop. Making some progress, albeit slowly. I'm trying to get the stern section together and flowing smoothly. I've added the gun port patterns and one hull plank:

 

Now I'm working on fabricating two of these:

 

 

 

 

 

Happy new year to all!

Tom

[Srodbro]

Just found your log. Love your approach.
 

I should like it of all things to learn how you dimension the main yard. 

Have fun. 

[TBlack]

First, I am delighted that I've got an audience that is appreciative of my modest efforts. Thank you all for being here. Secondly, I hope Chris Watton doesn't stumble of this log and see how I'm ruining his perfect kit! He'll never sell me another thing!

 

Steve: once I figure out the shape and dimensions of the stern area, I need to go back and reread Master and Commander to see if Aubrey provides any more detail on the rest of Sophie. We know that the "forecastle" is not a raised deck but just an area of the main deck, and that there is an elm tree pump up there as well. Big assumption, but perhaps the main yard is as supplied in the kit?

Tom

[Srodbro]

Perhaps it is as supplied in the kit. There is a description of the yard that to Aubrey was too small, so you may be able to judge from that. 

It is clear that Jack disliked the Main yard on Sophie when he first took command of her, and pushed her hard until the spar sprung. He got another from the shipyard, maybe a spare foretopgallent yard from a ship of the line, but alas the yard master said ‘It will never do, Captain Aubrey,’ called Mr Brown, hailing over the quiet evening air through his trumpet. ‘It is far too large and will certainly carry away. You must saw off the yardarms and half the third quarter.’.

 

But among the dimensions Mowett recites to Maturin, the main yard is not included … in fact, Mowett says he will have to measure it. I think we never do find out the final size. 
 

[TBlack]

OK, Steve, you're a lot further on in the book than I am. Let me catch up.

Tom

[Srodbro]

Just a quick follow up and I’ll recede into the background:

 

The original main yard that Aubrey was not satisfied with was described thus:

Jack went to the rail and looked sharply at the sea running by, the long curve as it rose after the hollow under the lee-bow: he grunted and returned to his staring at the mainyard, a piece of wood rather more than thirty feet long and tapering from some seven inches in the slings, the middle part, to three at the yard-arms, the extremities.

[uss frolick]

I always thought that O'Brien was looking at the Fair American Model - another old-fashioned quarter-decked brig - when he wrote his first Aubrey novel.

[Gregory]

1 hour ago, Srodbro said:

Just a quick follow up and I’ll recede into the background:

 

The original main yard that Aubrey was not satisfied with was described thus:

Jack went to the rail and looked sharply at the sea running by, the long curve as it rose after the hollow under the lee-bow: he grunted and returned to his staring at the mainyard, a piece of wood rather more than thirty feet long and tapering from some seven inches in the slings, the middle part, to three at the yard-arms, the extremities.

What was the reason given for his dissatisfaction?

[Keith Black]

 Having a beam of 30 feet 8 inches, a main yard 30 feet long with a diameter of 7 inches sounds small. Topsail, maybe? 

[TBlack]

This is becoming an interesting discussion, because the kit calls for a main yard 202mm long (7.953") and suggests that Cochrane extended it to 220mm (8.66"). In this scale, 1:64, that translates to, in the first instance, 21' and in the second 23'. Now I don't know how I'm going to resolve this issue, but I know that I'm a looong way from having to deal with it.

 

And Steve, please don't recede into the background!

Tom

[Gregory]

202mm x 64mm = 12,928 = 508.97638 inches = 42.4 feet, which sounds realistic for a beam of 30 feet..

 

 

 

Edited January 6, 2022 by Gregory