HMS Bellona by hamilton - Corel - 1:100 - 1780 refit

[hamilton]

Hello all

 

This is becoming a terrible habit, but I've decided to take another break from Bluenose and venture onto another build - one that has been sitting on the shelf for a very long time and that I've been thinking about since I got this kit (I think back in 2012) - Corel's Bellona. I have to give fellow MSW members Chief Williams and Harlequin acknowledgement as inspirations and for providing impulse to begin this build - and this log! I've always thought it strange that there weren't more builds of this kit on MSW, and I hope that this log can serve some purpose for the community. 

 

The history of Bellona is well known, and I'm not going to rehash it here. But my plan for the build is to represent the model (as per the kit) at her 1780 refit. As reference I'm using Brian Lavery's Anatomy of the Ship HMS Bellona - though his drawings cover both the pre- and post-refit and are sometimes confusing in terms of what is being depicted. This is most obvious with the rigging, which I've used James Lees' Masting and Rigging of English Ships of War to determine. A few years ago I started plotting out the build by making a detailed (some might say insane) parts list and rigging and belaying tables to supplement the information supplied on the Corel plans and to plan out approaches to the various elements. This is my usual way of working through a complex build and allows me to think through the construction of each element and to engage in intensive study of the plans and source material. Hope it pays off!

 

In any case, in terms of build progress at the moment, I've nearly finished putting the framework together. But because I have a young family and a demanding day job (at least one that's very demanding for ten months of the year), I am only able to work on the model for a few hours each week, which makes for slow progress. So I'll be posting weekly updates here to cover stages of the build up to where I am now. In the meantime - here's the box and the centre keel. Build updates will start next week.

 

In the meantime - enjoy your modelling!

hamilton

 

[yvesvidal]

It will be interesting to follow your Build, as I am building the same ship two times as big.

 

Yves

[hamilton]

Yes Yves! I've looked in on your CAF build - it is intense!! I got myself the CAF Granado (part 1) as a Christmas present - inspired by your Bellona. But since that kit seemed well out of my reach (and I already had Corel's kit on the shelf)....I'm sticking with this "little cousin". Thanks for stopping by! 

hamilton

[hamilton]

Hello all:

 

As noted above, I've almost completed the framework to this point, but I'm going to tease the build log out slowly so I can get through a very busy patch at work. I won't be able to return to regular activity on Bellona until later in February. I thought I would begin with a quick overview/review of the kit and some notes on preparation of the centre keel

 

I've built several Corel kits in the past - Toulonnaise, the Flattie and Brittany Sloop, and the Greyhound. I really enjoyed all of them and though Greyhound had serious deficiencies as a kit, it worked up into a pretty decent model. The materials Corel supplies are ok, and this kit - which is at the higher end of their stable - is good quality both in terms of the wood supplied and the other materials and fittings. One needs to set very low expectations for instructions, of course, and the plans sometimes raise more questions than they give answers. But I don't think these are real impediments for people with experience building plank-on-bulkhead kits. The difficulties come when trying to bend a kit into a form designated by the modeller's search for historical accuracy - here it is always a compromise between the structural features of the kit, the information available and the skills (or in my case quirks) of the modeller.

 

The centre keel comes as a single part, including the knee of the head. The part came out with some warping - not severe. A bit of bowing along the length of the keel which was easily corrected by making a building board out of old 3/4" plywood with some 1/4" x 3/4" hemlock strips left over from a cabinetry project (see photo above). The other issue was a bit trickier to resolve - the upper edge of the forecastle section of the centre keel bowed to port by about 1/16". As I'll show later I made a jig out of old 1/4" plywood to correct this during the installation of the bulkheads.

 

I don't have a lot of images of the centre keel preparations, but here is a list:

• I made templates for the bearding and rabbet lines and marked them out - you'll see in the images that these are quite rough - I did clean them up! The bow filler pieces helped with this
• I extended lines for the bulkhead slots down to the bearding line as reference for setting the bulkheads and checking for any corrections that needed to be made on the slots
• I drilled out the gammoning slot and a hole for the main stay collar
• I dry fitted the bulkheads and noted where slots on the keel piece/bulkheads needed adjustment (shimming/filing out

Here are a few shots to show some of the work - not intrinsically interesting, but.....

hamilton

[hamilton]

Thanks for the likes Yves and Chief Williams

 

So I have not done any actual work on Bellona since the last update, but since this log is still "catching up", I guess that'll be ok for now. This post focuses on the installation of the bulkhead frames.

 

The fit of the bulkheads was pretty good. Some filing of the bulkhead slots on the centre keel was necessary at bulkheads, 3, 4, 5 and 7, while the keel slots on some bulkheads also needed some light filing. I marked a centre line along the outside edge of the centre keel, and used that in combination with templates taken from the drawings and made some adjustments to get a nice square fit.

 

The frames sat pretty fair on the keel, though a bit of bracing to square them properly was necessary in a couple of places. Bulkhead 15 has two filler pieces attached to the aft face - this is the first element of the stern framing, which I'll document in next week's update. The photo below shows them clamped (but not yet glued) to bulkhead 15. 

 

A hole needs to be drilled along the centreline of bulkhead 3 to allow passage of the bowsprit. I marked this off using 8mm dowelling and then used a jig to drill out the hole at the proper rake for the bowsprit - cleaned up with a half-round needle file.

 

The final photo below shows the plywood clamp I made to correct for the bowing at the upper edge of the centre keel at the aft end of the f'csl section. I used some 1/4" ply left over from the renovation of our garage. Layign it along the centre keel in line with (and extending fore and aft beyond) the bowed section, I marked out the position of the bulkhead slots and then cut the slots out of the jig on the scroll saw. A few minor adjustment were needed before it slid nicely over the bulkheads and I could clamp it against the centre keel. I then clamped it in place and glued on the bulkheads, being careful not to glue the jig to the framework! Once the glue had cured, I removed the jig, glued the remaining seams that I couldn't access when the clamp was on, and that was that - it corrected the bowing quite nicely.

 

Thats all for now - enjoy your modelling and bye for now

hamilton

[harlequin]

this takes me back...

[hamilton]

Thanks for dropping in Harlequin - hopefully it will take me forward!!

 

Another update. I'm now heading into a small break from work - still lots to do but more flexible schedule until the beginning of March, so hopefully I'll be able to make further progress on Bellona. For now, this documents more past progress - the preparation and fitting of the false main deck.

 

This was a pretty straightforward operation. One difference here from other kits I've built is that the plywood false decks Corel supplies have little tabs on them that fit into slots in the bulkheads - this is true of the bow platform, the main deck and the stern balcony. The tabs on the main deck slot into little cut outs on bulkhead 6 (fwd), while at the stern end, bulkhead 13 (which is only a partial bulkhead) sits atop the false deck to provide stability there. 

 

Of course the first thing I did when test fitting the main deck was break the fwd tabs off. To make sure the deck sat properly at that end, I glued two strips of wood on the aft face of bulkhead 6 to act as a landing spot for the decking. I also traced the outline (visible in one of the photos below) of a filler piece that defines part of the fwd cabin bulkhead. 

 

The deck itself was prepared by filing out some of the slots for the bulkhead extensions, marking the centre line (and then the full width of the central "king" plank that runs along the centre line - as a reference for later), and tracing out the position of the hatches/capstans/main mast partners. Initially I had planned on nesting the hatches into the decking on the main deck - but since I will be adding ships boats to the build, the effect produced by this would be more or less invisible, and since the deck camber on the model is quite slight, I decided to plank the entire deck and fix the hatches atop the planking after sanding the camber in using a piece of sandpaper laid along the centre line (for a later post). I painted the hatch areas black for depth - though in the end, since I planked over these, this was kind of unnecessary....

 

Anyway, enjoy the photos and happy modelling

hamilton

[harlequin]

looking good...

[hamilton]

Time for another quick Sunday update. I have a "week off" work this coming week (not really off fully, but without as many calls to my attention as usual) so I hope to make some forward progress on Bellona. For now, this post will document the first part of the stern framing.

 

Several transom frames are installed on the aft side of the stern bulkhead assembly and another bulkhead piece is slotted down onto these to lock them in place. There were a few minor adjustments needed to get everything to fit nicely and snugly, but this was not too tricky an operation. One photo you see below makes it seem as if there is some real asymmetry here - but I promise you this is an illusion produced by my iPhone based sub-amateur photography. You'll see in the photos how I drilled and filed out square sections on bulkhead 16 to mark the position of the stern chasers.

 

The other work documented here is the marking out and installation of the filler piece for the f'csl cabin bulkhead and for the aft quarterdeck support. In one photo you can see where I've marked out the position of the king plank on the main deck for later installation.

 

The balcony is fit atop the transom frame pieces, which (as you'll see) need to be adjusted for a slight camber prior to installing the balcony. The last part of the stern framing (which is the next stage of the build to be completed this week I hope) will be to add framing and filler pieces for the quartergalleries and to install the stern balcony. Then it's onto the other decks, which are a bit of a puzzle - particularly the two-part quarterdeck, which the plans seem to indicate is installed after the poop deck, but which I think will be easier to install beforehand. I have to consider the sequence of the coming stages carefully as I feel like it might be easy at this point to build myself into a corner....This is, after all, the first multi-deck model I've built (apart from Blandford, which was smaller and much simpler than this).....

 

Enjoy the photos and happy modelling

hamilton

[harlequin]

I installed the two part deck after the poop deck and cant remember it being difficult or awkward, but it may be easier the other way round....remember the belay rack which is underneath the quarter deck.  

[harlequin]

great to see you and chief williams doing this model.....like i said before Hamilton.....it has every emotion contained in my Bellona....so very nearly got binned but so glad I continued with it....

[hamilton]

Thanks for stopping by Harlequin - and for the words of encouragement.

 

I'm starting to feel a bit of confusion setting in - not around specific processes, but around the sequencing of the build overall. I was thinking it would be easier to install the q-deck prior to the poop, but this would require me to install main deck features first (aft capstan, main jeer and sheet bits, canons), since these would be beneath the q--deck. But installing these prior to planking seems foolish as I imagine that with the manipulation of the model through the planking process, these other features will easily become dislodged/damaged....so I may stick with what appears to be Corel's suggests regarding the sequencing and move onto planking once I've finished the stern framing......

 

Anyway, I have to study the plans a give some more thought to this.....

hamilton

[harlequin]

cant help you on this one Hamilton as I never build in sequence.....I jump from process to process to eliminate boredom and to see how the model looks later down the line....and yes it has sometimes resulted in disaster but that is just how i build....

 

[Chief Williams]

I'm usually of the 'If all else fails, read the instructions' school myself.  Most times, the build sequence shows itself as you go along, with the inevitable missed item that bites you on the backside.  I'd looked at this and decided to put the quarterdeck in first, but reading the drawings as you said Hamilton, showed an awful lot of detail that had to be done prior to the quarterdeck being fitted.  I'm glad I didn't.

[hamilton]

Hello there

 

I have not managed to carve out as much time for Bellona this past week as I had hoped, but this log is still catching up on past progress, so....this post documents the main deck planking.

 

I originally thought of nesting the hatch coamings into the deck planking, but two things changed my mind on this. First, most of the main deck will be covered by the quarterdeck and gangways, plus the ships boats in the waist, so the subtle effect provided by nesting the coamings would be entirely lost. Second, I did not plan ahead and build the hatches to the actual width of the planking strips that run in line with the coamings, so it would have involved a lot of tricky cutting out of plank sections to accommodate the hatches.

 

In addition, the deck camber is so slight that I figured I could achieve the effect (for what visibility there will ultimately be down to that level) just by laying a strip of sand paper down the centre of the deck that was slightly wider than the hatches and lightly sand the camber into the hatches so it didn't look like they're popping up from the deck to port and starboard. But this is for later.

 

In any case, the black painted sections marking the hatches were initially done to provide depth through the hatch gratings. But once I decided to lay the hatches over the planking, they served the purpose of allowing me to locate the hatches with small tick marks on the planking. I also decided to lay the strips the entire length of the deck rather than cut out individual planks (as I will for the planking on the exposed decking). To get the centre-line "king" planking, I had already marked out its width on the subdeck, so I clamped a straight edge to the deck to act as a jig for positioning the plank and glued the plank in place. Like many, I use CA for gluing deck planking, though I've learned my lesson about using pen or ink to simulate caulking, since the capillary action of the CA tends to carry the ink to places you don't want it to go! I ran a 4H pencil along the outboard edges of the king plank and then continued this on the outboard edges of the planks port and starboard.

 

After the king plank was laid the rest was pretty straightforward, with some small section laid at the extreme edges of the deck to work around the bulkhead extensions. The last photo shows the deck completed, sanded and with a few coats of wipe-on poly.

 

The next post will document hatch construction, which will pretty much bring this log up to date with the actual progress on the model. I'll have to move onto finishing the stern framing, installing the forward cabin bulkhead and then the poop deck and f'csl - then on to hull planking!!

 

Enjoy and happy modelling

hamilton

[hamilton]

Hello all

 

Time for what will probably be the second to last update before this log catches up to my build progress. We had some flooding in our house last spring and after quite a lot of dithering and delaying (on our part, the insurance company's part and the contractors' parts) are now about to begin the restoration work - new floors and some repairs to baseboards, electrical door frames, etc.). We will have to move out for a couple of months - looks like in April and May. This means we have to start packing up all of our belongings through the rest of this month - this, in combination with my job will leave no time for modelling, unfortunately, and likely not until June, so once this log catches up to the actual progress, I'll have to go on hiatus here for a bit....which is annoying because I'm really starting to enjoy this build.....

 

In any case, this post documents the hatches on the main deck. As mentioned above, I originally thought I'd nest the hatches into the decking. Some of the photos below were taken at a time when I still thought that way, which is why you sometimes see the hatches on the bare false deck and other times atop the planking. 

 

The hatch was assembled from 2mm x 4mm beechwood strips, lap jointed together. The first photo below shows a rather hairy looking joint, as I was working it in. I made templates from the plans out of card paper and used these to both measure out the individual pieces and assemble the hatches. The process was relatively straightforward though it required a bit of trial and error with the joints.

 

I decided to finish the coamings black. I don't know if this is historically accurate, but I've seen it other builds here and I like the look....The hatch gratings were more or less easy to assemble, but I feel like there must be a better process than mine for making them look neat and tidy....I assumed that because I had assembled the hatch coamings to the same dimensions given on the plans that the hatch gratings could be assembled as depicted there and then they would just slide in perfectly!! Ha! 

 

The material provided for the hatch gratings is not great - the strips are both unrefined and very soft and fragile. It doesn't take much to assemble them, but I feel like they just don't look very good once I sand down their edges to get them to fit into the coamings - I imagine it would be better (or at least look nicer) to assemble the coamings around the hatches - is this what most people do?

 

Anyways, the other components here are some 1mm x 3mm strips that act as supports for the mast partners and capstan platforms, and the the partners and platforms themselves, which are made from 2mm x 10mm beech. I chamfered off the inside edges of these for appearance, but am realising that this would make no sense as a structural feature of the vessel....unfortunately, these are installed permanently now, and re-doing them does not appeal to me - once again, this part of the model is going to be largely buried, so I'm happy to try to concentrate my mistakes or mis-steps here.

 

In the last photo, you can also see the pantry off to the left, which at this point is assembled and finished, but not installed.

 

That's pretty much it. Enjoy the photos and happy modelling!

hamilton

 

Edited March 5, 2022 by hamilton

[hamilton]

Alright - well I think this post will catch the log up to the current build progress - this one will document some miscellaneous additions to the framework and the completion of the stern framing.

 

First, there is a filler piece (1/16" thick) that fits on the forward face of bulkhead 13 - it acts as support for the aft edge of the quarterdeck and the two slots are for tabs that extend from the pantry sides to centre that feature (this will be added later). I finished this filler piece black, though I doubt that any of it will be visible once the quarterdeck is installed.

 

There are also two small filler blocks that fit to port and starboard along the top part of bulkhead 13. They fit atop the quarterdeck, and technically should have been installed later after the quarterdeck, but I thought that since the poop would already be installed, this might be tricky - so I dry fit the quarterdeck, positioned these blocks, installed them and then removed the quarterdeck halves once they had set.

 

The last part of this stage involved installing the stern balcony and the quartergallery filler pieces port and starboard. These all required a little bit of adjustment for fit, but were relatively straightforward to install. The balcony is planked with a 4mm wide king along the centre line and 3mm wide planks to complete. Again - pretty straightforward. There is a slight camber to the balcony which I have not yet achieved - I have temporarily pinned the balcony down onto the p/s stern frames underneath but need to add some thin shims on the outboard frames to get the camber right and then will fix the balcony fully in place.

 

That's it for now - and for a while! We're vacating our home for 2 months to have the floors redone and though I may find some time to come back to work on Bellona (since the workshop is now in our garage), it may be a while before real progress happens on this one. In the meantime, enjoy!

hamilton

 

 

[hamilton]

Hello again.

 

It has been a long while since I've updated here or worked on Bellona. We had to move out of our house on April 1 to accommodate some restoration work and were out for 2 months, which also coincided with a very busy time at work. We moved back home on May 31 and then work calmed down a couple of days after that as a colleague and I finished off a major year-long project.

 

The last month we've been trying to catch up on the garden, which we're getting a very late start on this year, and settle back in. But now, at long last, as I settle into a bit of a break from work, I can finally return to the bench! Today was my first day back and I have to say that almost three months is a long time to take off - it took a bit of studying just to remember what threads there were to pick up on the Bellona!

 

Today I did some repairs on and installed the pantry, which also acts as a support for one of the quarterdeck beams later on. Once this was in, I foolishly installed the poop deck - foolishly, because I have now to install a brass bulkhead part under the poopdeck, which I anticipate will be a bit tricky....same thing with the stern balcony bulkhead, which now must be gently wedged into the cove created by the balcony below, the quartergallery frames on the sides and the poop deck above...hopefully this won't be too frustrating when the time comes!

 

I also did a bit of fairing on the starboard side - the first in what undoubtedly will be a number of sessions of sanding and sneezing....The final step today was to finish and install the forward bulkhead on the aft fact of bulkhead 6. I bathed the part quickly in acetone, rinsed it in water, then brushed it lightly with some very fine steel wool. I then very gently brushed on 4 coats of yellow ochre, undiluted - I use Golden acrylic artist paints and a very fine brush for the purpose. The first shot shows only the first coat applied - the final finish looks much better - I use the side of a small round brush to lightly feather the surface - this reduces the more obvious brushstrokes, though it cannot produce the same even finish as an air brush. Regardless, I'm not displeased with the results. I used a toothpick dipped lightly in carbon black acrylic to render the door knobs. 

 

It feels nice to be back at it! Enjoy the photos and happy modelling

hamilton

Edited June 29, 2022 by hamilton

[harlequin]

looking superb....this takes me back a few years...

[Nearshore]

14 hours ago, hamilton said:

Hello again.

 

It has been a long while since I've updated here or worked on Bellona. We had to move out of our house on April 1 to accommodate some restoration work and were out for 2 months, which also coincided with a very busy time at work. We moved back home on May 31 and then work calmed down a couple of days after that as a colleague and I finished off a major year-long project.

 

The last month we've been trying to catch up on the garden, which we're getting a very late start on this year, and settle back in. But now, at long last, as I settle into a bit of a break from work, I can finally return to the bench! Today was my first day back and I have to say that almost three months is a long time to take off - it took a bit of studying just to remember what threads there were to pick up on the Bellona!

 

Today I did some repairs on and installed the pantry, which also acts as a support for one of the quarterdeck beams later on. Once this was in, I foolishly installed the poop deck - foolishly, because I have now to install a brass bulkhead part under the poopdeck, which I anticipate will be a bit tricky....same thing with the stern balcony bulkhead, which now must be gently wedged into the cove created by the balcony below, the quartergallery frames on the sides and the poop deck above...hopefully this won't be too frustrating when the time comes!

 

I also did a bit of fairing on the starboard side - the first in what undoubtedly will be a number of sessions of sanding and sneezing....The final step today was to finish and install the forward bulkhead on the aft fact of bulkhead 6. I bathed the part quickly in acetone, rinsed it in water, then brushed it lightly with some very fine steel wool. I then very gently brushed on 4 coats of yellow ochre, undiluted - I use Golden acrylic artist paints and a very fine brush for the purpose. The first shot shows only the first coat applied - the final finish looks much better - I use the side of a small round brush to lightly feather the surface - this reduces the more obvious brushstrokes, though it cannot produce the same even finish as an air brush. Regardless, I'm not displeased with the results. I used a toothpick dipped lightly in carbon black acrylic to render the door knobs. 

 

It feels nice to be back at it! Enjoy the photos and happy modelling

hamilton

Hi Hamilton, Your build looks very nice so far. I will be following this thread with interest. I purchased the Bellona 1:100 scale Coral just last week. I have not received it yet but expect it in the next couple weeks. I doubt that I will start this build until my current build is completed, and hurricane season ends. (1850 1:16 scale whaling launch by Panart.) Keep the post coming!

[hamilton]

Thanks for dropping in Harlequin and Nearshore! 

 

Nearshore - so far this has been a very enjoyable build - I hope you start a build log when the time comes!

hamilton

[Nearshore]

16 hours ago, hamilton said:

Thanks for dropping in Harlequin and Nearshore! 

 

Nearshore - so far this has been a very enjoyable build - I hope you start a build log when the time comes!

hamilton

Hi Hamilton,

I will definitely be doing a build log on this one. 

 

Nearshore

[hamilton]

Hello:

 

This log is starting to remind me of the 90s internet - insane scrolling required!! Not sure when this is going to roll onto Page 2 finally, but hopefully soon to save us all from some serious RSI.

 

In any case a couple of small updates. I've fixed the f'csl now and also fashioned what the plans call the "false cove", though I'm not sure that term applies - or what the meaning of "cove" and "false" are in this context - any enlightenment would be appreciated. The piece was formed by gluing three 3mm x 3mm strips together along their long edges. I then dry fit the piece on the aft edge of the poop deck and traced the aft profile on from there. It was then a question. of rounding the piece over to thin it along its forward edge and give it a convex surface. With the aid of the Dremel and disc sander this was a pretty straightforward procedure.

 

I also planked the bow platform - something I will have to redo because I used medium thickness CA and it ended up being a poor choice for this purpose - it's Canada Day up here so my local hobby store is closed and can't get the thin stuff I normally use for this.....waaahhh...the photo below shows it mostly planked - right before I realised it was not going to work!

 

I spent a bit of time over the last couple of days fairing the frames and noting places where adjustments were needed for planking. I have to say that even though I get the principles involved in doing this it always confuses me. I run a batten along the frame edges and note where dips or protrusions happen - but if there are dips and protrusions how do I tell if the protrusion or the dip is the problem - is one bulkhead too wide or is the adjacent bulkhead too narrow? I've been trying to gauge from the level of the main deck, where everything should cinch up nicely. This approach seems to work ok, since it provides a stable reference point along all of the bulkheads from which to determine whether shaving or shimming of the bulkhead edges is required.

 

I also pre-emptively attached (and then removed) two strakes of first planking (1.5,, x 5mm) on the port side just to test the approach I've planned to the hull planking and gunports. This also revealed that there is A LOT more fairing to do before planking can begin in earnest....so for the final pictures below please note that these planks were subsequently removed and the bulkhead edges marked out for fairing.

 

Finally, the f'csl and bow platform both needed re-fastening in a couple of places for a tight fit - the glue bond was not strong enough to hold them so some reinforcement was necessary - in both cases I added scrap strip wood below to which the subdecks were then secured.

 

Hope everyone is doing well out there and bye for now

hamilton

 

 

[allanyed]

Hi Hamilton

Does the kit explain about tapering the knee of the head?  Looking at the build logs it seems most kits ignore this basic design feature.  From Steel's Elements and Practice of Naval Architecture, a 74 would taper from the stem to the foremost point from about 16" at the stem to about 5 inches, so at 1:100, from 0.16" to 0.05"  The Shipbuilder's Repository (1788) does not have the taper for a 74, but the ratio for other rates is the same as given in Steel.  The AOS book by Lavery on Bellona shows the taper as well but not quite as severe.  Measuring the drawing in that book it appears to taper from 16" to about 8"   Without the taper, the figure head will most assuredly be bowlegged😀  The sketch below shows the taper per Steel and from the AOS book.

Allan

[hamilton]

Arghhh!! I totally forgot about this, Allan......It's something I've done on other models, but slipped my mind for this one.... I'm not sure how tough it will be to achieve this with the model at its current stage, but I'll see what can be done.....

hamilton

[Bill Morrison]

I have just found your HMS Bellona here.  You are doing a marvelous job! I also suffered flooding in my basement several years ago and had to undergo a hiatus from building. It looks like you have recovered nicely. Your Bellona looks great so far!

 

Bill

[hamilton]

OK - one more attempt to push this log onto page 2!

 

I spent the weekend with a variety of sanding blocks and leftover .5mm wood strips sanding and shimming my way to a decently fair hull. As noted above this process is a bit mysterious to me, but I think I achieved a good result - the first planking strakes run nicely in any case, so I'll hope for the best....

 

The first plank laid is along the line of the main deck. The sheer of the hull brings the forward end of this plank about 2-3mm below the level of the bow platform. This first plank marks the lintels of the gunports on the gun deck. I made a tick strip to the height of the gunports and used this on the bulkhead edges to mark the height of the gunport sills on the gundeck. The second plank is laid with the top edge along this line. A third plank was then laid above the first to mark the sills of the main deck gunports. The tick strip method will then be used to mark off the position of the main deck gunport lintels and a fourth plank laid upon that line.

 

The kit includes metal gunport lids, and half-barrels for the gun deck cannons, but I will definitely not be using these as I do not like the way they look. The gun deck gunports will be closed on this model, and the port lids scratch built following drawings in Lavery's AOS. To accommodate these, I'll add limewood backing at the positions of the gunports - this will just be 1/16" lime dimensioned a little larger than the gunports (14mm x 14mm) so they can also serve as a landing place for the short planking strakes between the gunports. Once the framing planks for the gunports are installed this will be the next stage before completing the upper and then the lower hull planking.

 

Enjoy the photos and bye for now

hamilton

[allanyed]

So far so good!  😀   Before you add any more strakes are you going to use tick strips to mark the width of all the other runs of planking so they end at the rabbet for and aft and do not end up coming to a point well short of the rabbet?  Spiling and/or heat bending via Chuck Passaro's videos works wonders in getting the planking to lay properly.

Allan

[hamilton]

Yes Alan - I will only be doing the upper hull for now and then lining off the hull in preparation for the lower planking. Not my first rodeo! Though admittedly I'm no rodeo champ.....

 

Happy 4th of July to you and all south of 48 (and up north and way out west too)

hamilton

[hamilton]

The last few days have seen a start on the first layer of hull planking - specifically the topsides.

 

I'm not sure if I noted this previously, but my plan is not to include any of the half-barrels that Corel includes with the kit and to represent closed gunports on any area of the model where fully rigged guns can't be included - that is, all the gunports on the gun deck, 4 aft and 4 forward on the main deck and 4 aft on the quarterdeck. For these, I took measurements of the ports and made backing strips from a sheet of 1/16" lime. Using the table saw, I ripped a couple of 15mm strips from which I cut the port backings. I did this individually, labelling each according to its location. The backings were cut 3mm long at top and bottom to provide a surface to fix them to the planking strips already installed and that mark the sills and lintels of the gunports.

 

Once the backings were installed, I added short planking strips around them, and longer lengths in those areas where the open gunports will be cut out later. A bit of shaving and sanding cleaned the roughest of the rough edges - though you'll see plenty of rough spots remaining below! I'll clean this up further with filler and more sanding once the first layer is done.

 

Next steps involve lining off and planking the lower hull (one of my least favourite tasks....), and then cutting out the open gunports on the main and upper decks. It's nice to see the ship emerging from its skeleton!

hamilton