HMS Diana by DavidEN - Caldercraft - 1:64

[allanyed]

Very neat work at this scale, kudos!!!    Just as an FYI for the future, if the guns are rigged in the "stored" position, they would not be run out, but rather would be completely inboard with the muzzle secured up against the inside of the bulwark.  The downside is that from a viewing standpoint it would not look nearly as impressive as having the muzzles coming through the gun ports like you (and most of the rest of us) show them.       

Allan

[DavidEN]

The guns on the main gun deck are now installed. Looking from the outside they seem to line up OK. Time to finish up the gun deck by fixing all the remaining fittings. Most of these have been built already so it is a fairly easy task to locate and install however there are a few tricky bits that will require some effort.

 

 

 

I positioned the anchor cable. I could have easily left this off but I quite like the look of a hefty rope sitting on the deck. I wasn't keen on the supplied cable which is labelled as 2.5mm diameter but measures 2.85mm. This is too large and the colour is not the best. I sourced some 2.1mm cable from Ropes of Scale. This is slightly undersized as I believe that a ship of this size would have an anchor cable that would scale to 2.34 mm diameter. The cable itself is much improved from the kit supplied item and it looks very similar to cable I have seen in historic photographs but from certain angles the look was a bit jarring. Perhaps it is a bit too articulated in combination with the sheen and colour I chose but it put me in mind of something my Granny might have knitted. I saw on their website that Ropes of Scale has just introduced a new range of cable-laid polyester rope which seem to have a more muted look. They have also introduced a 2.4mm size which is very close to my requirement. I have speculatively ordered some in a different colour and I am currently awaiting delivery. I hope I will not be too disappointed however I will wait to see how it looks before I decide if I will replace the original as it will be quite an onerous task with all of the upper deck beams now in place. I installed the deck stoppers, six per side. These were fashioned out of 0.5mm rope with ringbolts to attach to the deck. They came out a bit scruffier looking than I intended.

 

 

 

I constructed a number of tiny stanchions so I could fasten the ends of the rope handrails. These were made out of a section of 1.0 mm diameter thin walled brass tube with an eyebolt epoxied into the one end. I used a 2mm outside diameter photoetch eyebolt with the leg cut off to form the bottom flange. I tried a detail where the end of the handrail rope is fastened into a ringbolt on the deck. I had seen this detail in a drawing somewhere but once in place I decided I didn't like it and it clashed with the anchor cable so I reverted to just tying off the handrail at the top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I installed the stove onto the pre-installed base. I later discovered that there was a slight clash between rotisserie attachment and one of the deck beams which required that the beam be relocated forward a couple of millimetres. This beam relocation was necessary anyway as it also impinged on an opening in the forecastle.

 

 

 

 

 

I located all of the columns and then proceeded with the installation of the pumps. This is not such an easy task as the chain pump brakes thread their way through the columns and there are bearings located on each column.

 

 

To form the pump brakes I used 0.8mm diameter brass rod and some brass strip for the joints. I drilled holes and rounded the ends of these. The joints were then soldered to the brass rod. The bearings that are attached to the columns to take the pump brake shafts were carved out of styrene. Getting the correct height and alignment was quite an intricate exercise and one of the sections ended up woefully off line. Funnily enough, by a trick of perspective, it is only apparent when viewing from a certain angle. This detail will not be visible once the quarterdeck has been installed so I decided to just live with it. All of the brasswork was then painted black.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had a slight dilemma installing the last stanchion. The AOTSD drawings are a bit vague but seem to indicate some sort of bent stanchion. I eventually took inspiration from Beef Wellington's solution shown in his excellent  Jason build. I have also seen similar details in contemporary models so there is some precedent.

 

 

 

 

 

Now that I have struggled through the completion of the gun deck I have to start covering it all up.

 

 

 

 

[Captain Vader]

Breathtaking..Masterful work...

[DavidEN]

I decided not to attempt the internal partition work for the gun deck as I had moved some of the gunports to avoid the bulkheads which meant that the partitions would need to be relocated and that would have caused a clash with a deck hatchway. Decision having been made it was now time to get on with covering up the gun deck.

 

 

 

I first had to install all of the beams that carry the quarterdeck and forecastle as well as the skid beams. I started at the quarterdeck and proceeded as per the kit drawings however when I dry fitted the false deck for this area I noticed that the framing ignored anything that was happening above. Beams sailed through openings, clashed with the capstan position and bypassed columns. I then decided to saw off the bulkhead beam stubs and locate the beams where they made most sense. This ended up with quite large distances between the framing so I had to introduce some additional members to ensure that the deck does not have to span too far and run the risk of producing large deflections. With great hindsight I probably should have just located the beams as per the NMM drawings but this would not confer any great advantage other than me being smug in the knowledge that I had an authentic framing layout. Instead I ended up with a slightly odd looking framing layout.

 

 

I introduced carlings to take the coamings around the staircase, gratings and companion having learned my lesson from early on in the build. I constructed the coamings around the ladderway as well as the gratings. I decided to not attempt the slight taper to these gratings as shown in the drawings as I was not confident of achieving a satisfactory result. I built the step that sits under the upper capstan out of walnut to match the rest of the fittings in this area. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I decided to build and install the ladders at this point while I still had reasonable access to the upper deck. I also took this opportunity to install the handrail stanchions and deck eyebolts to take the rope handrails the ends of which were tied off at this stage while access was still possible. When installing the ladders that sit forward of the quarterdeck breast beam I modified the structure from that shown in the AOTSD drawings. I introduced a beam that spans between the quarterdeck breast beam and the skid beam. In the AOTSD drawings this should return at right angles and cantilever from the hull but my solution gave me less of a headache. When installing the ladders to the gangway I noticed that they clashed with the handles of the elm tree pumps so I had to yank these out and shorten the handles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I added belaying pins on the after skid beams and forward skid beams as shown in the AOTSD drawings. I noted that most people do not install these which probably means that they are not required for the standard rigging but I have not yet studied the rigging diagrams. They are fairly unobtrusive so if I end up not using them it is not a disaster.

 

 

 

The installation of the beams under the forecastle were less problematic with just a slight relocation necessitated by a clash with the stove rotisserie and deck openings. With all of the beams in place I will have to start the deck installation. I will attempt the gangways first as they appear to be quite simple.

 

 

 

 

[Dave_E]

Looking at this masterpiece makes me wonder about all the men that it took to man those guns. The movies never depict the actual numbers that a ship like this actually had aboard. You bring it to life. 👍

[DavidEN]

1 hour ago, Dave_E said:

Looking at this masterpiece makes me wonder about all the men that it took to man those guns. The movies never depict the actual numbers that a ship like this actually had aboard. You bring it to life. 👍

It must have been really cramped. 270 crew and only 2 seats of ease. Almost as bad as a budget airline.

[DavidEN]

Time to make a start on the planking for the next set of decks. To make my life easier I chopped the false deck into six pieces. I started off on the gangways to warm myself up for the rest of the job. I added a small upstand which runs along the inboard edge of the gangway. This is shown in the AOTSD drawings and it is useful in that it hides the exposed edge of the false deck. The planking was fairly easy with just 4 straight planks and an edge filler piece. I added trenails but, as this is a very visible part of the model, I took the added precaution of measuring their position rather than installing them freehand as I did on the lower deck. I added a trim piece to the top of the quarterdeck breast beam and forecastle breast beam. This will give the deck planking something to butt up against. The junction between the gangway and forecastle has some complexity but close enough to the drawings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I then located the next piece of deck which is part of the quarterdeck. I checked that the gratings, ladderway and capstan step all matched up with what was happening below. I thought I might change out the companion as the kit version was quite plain. I didn't have much to go on by way of drawings and it seems that there was quite a variation in the design of these structures. The AOTSD drawings indicate that it was glazed on the top and sides so I had a place to start. I formed the coamings out of maple and added the lower windows using 3D printed parts and acetate. I initially started off with five windows on the long side to make them square as possible but I soon reverted to the four shown in the AOTSD Drawings. The cornice was made out of maple as well as the gable ends. The ridge beam was fashioned out of a walnut strip. The rafters and beam fill were 3D printed. Windows were made out of acetate while I used styrene for the rest of the mullion covers and flashing. I added some protective bars which were 0.5mm diameter brass rod. These bars look a tad heavy so I swapped them out for 0.3mm diameter steel wire.  Once finished I was unsure if it was any improvement on the original. The original consisted of 8 pieces while this one has 74 so it was a whole lot of bother for no real gain. I think that I would have to reduce the structure by about 25% to give it the lightness I was looking for.  It looks better from the inside though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ship's wheel that came with the kit was a bit thin. I decided to upgrade to the Caldercraft luxury version. This is a little thick but has a lot more detail than the original. It was quite easy to put together. I used the kit stanchions and lathed the drum out of a beech dowel. I formed the spindle out of 1.5mm brass rod. I added some dark walnut paint and left exposed brass sections to give it a bit of pop.

 

 

 

 

I mocked up the companion, ship's wheel and dummy masts to see how they all went together. I added a step below the ship’s wheel and mast collar. The NMM drawings hint at this being there although it looks like it is flush with the deck while I have made mine sit proud of the deck. The tiller rope is 0.8mm diameter. It looks a bit too chunky to me so I will probably swap it out for some 0.5mm. I am pondering the bitts that sit between the companion and the mast. These are shown in the kit drawings and the contemporary models with a cross piece while the AOTSD and the NMM drawings the cross piece is omitted and there is just a pin. I am leaning towards the cross piece though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DavidEN]

I have now caught up to my current build state so the posts going forward will no doubt become sporadic. This post is just a cautionary tale for those proceeding down the closed bulwark route. The kit bulwark frames above the quarterdeck are slightly too deep, in the wrong place and there are not enough of them to provide adequate framing for the gunports. I introduced some secondary framework to compensate for this but neglected to do any fairing until I had installed all of the gundeck fittings and quarterdeck beams. This was a mistake as I now have very little room to manoeuvre the Dremel and I have already knocked two cannons loose from their moorings while struggling to achieve the desired profile. The lesson to be learnt is that this should have been tackled much earlier in the build.

 

 

 

 

[DavidEN]

A somewhat frustrating week of modelling trying to fix the rudder. It all ended in tears with a spectacularly bungled effort as a result. The profile of my stern post was all wrong and I had waited too far into the build to start the installation so there was no real opportunity for the major remedial work required. The unmatched stern and rudder profiles meant that I had to fashion new pintles and gudgeons out of styrene and brass rod. This resulted in the gap between the rudder and the stern post being too wide. I thought about tearing the whole thing down and starting from scratch but I decided that I would just live with it.

 

I went to install the rudder chains but I could not find the kit supplied chain. I remember seeing it but do not know where it has ended up. Luckily my previous build had a lot of chain rigging so I had a fair selection to choose a replacement from. I still have to darken this. I am working out how to do the darkening while the chain is still on the model as fixing it in place was a big headache that I want to avoid repeating.

 

 

[DavidEN]

Started planking the quarterdeck with Maple. Slow work but quite therapeutic. As you can see I decided to set my scuttles flush with the deck without coamings. For a more vigorous discussion on the scuttle coaming dilemma you can refer to Dunnock's build so it needn't be repeated here.

 

 

 

To give myself a break from the tedium of planking I started to investigate some of the other fixtures that are located on the quarterdeck. The kit supplied barricade that sits behind the main mast does not look that bad as one can see from the photograph shown on the box. The main difference from what is actually included in the kit is that the top and bottom rails are provided in walnut ply which would suggest that these will eventually have to be painted rather than have a natural wood finish.

 

I had a look at the NMM drawings and this barricade is one of the fittings that is drawn in some detail. It is a bit fuzzy but with a modicum of artistic licence you can see that the balusters are not the bulbous vase form but resemble a truncated tuscan column. Of course it may be that the draughtsman had a classical bent but I think the drawing is probably closer to reality than the kit interpretation. The barricade also extends to the quarterdeck breast beam with an elaborate scroll and terminates in an ornate newel post. This detail is also present in the contemporary models. How this scroll joins to the top rail is quite ambiguous as is the detail of the bottom rail extension.

 

To get a visualisation of this I knocked up a rough and ready CAD model based on the NMM drawings but I fear that I may have to resort to the kit supplied pieces as I do not think I can incorporate all of that detail at a scale of 1:64. I may waste an afternoon giving it a bash though.

 

 

[DavidEN]

Parallel to the deck planking I have been fiddling around with the ship's boats. I made up the structure of the jolly boat using the kit parts. The supplied ply is fairly thick and results in the floor of the boat sitting quite high. Any sailor using the boat would be rowing with their knees up around their ears and I imagine they would be less than jolly. I purchased one of the Caldercraft upgraded mini kits which is an improvement but would still need a lot of work. I would like to have the planking visible on both the interior and exterior faces which would require both faces to be clad which would result in a very thick wall. My previous build was a whaling ship that had more than a handful of small boats brimming with detail. Perhaps that gave me some false confidence in the belief that I could build these boats from scratch.

I started with a CAD drawing of the 24 ft cutter based on the AOTSD drawings. I initially formed the ribs using lofted shapes that would accommodate the fairing. It became clear that this would not be possible given the 1:64 scale of these boats. I simplified these ribs and increased their size as they would not have maintained their structural integrity at such a small scale. I initially tried to 3D print the entire structure in one go but that proved to be problematic. I ended up printing each of the ribs individually and then fitting them into slots in the printed keel. This produced a better result but the printed keel lacked the required stiffness and was prone to bending so I replaced that with one from walnut with milled slots. This was a much better solution. I added 3D printed details such as the gratings as these would have been very hard to make out of wood. The plan was that I would then add walnut cladding to the outside of the boat with maple forming the keelson and footwaling. You can notice a definite improvement through the series of prototypes from a tangle of plastic to something resembling a boat. I ended up throwing all of these in the bin as I had thought up some potential improvements to the structure that I needed to try out.

 

 

 

I formed a much thicker base to the ribs to fit into a corresponding wider slot in the keel. This allows me to set the ribs more accurately in both the vertical and horizontal directions. I also introduced recesses in the ribs which would allow me to locate the position of the gunwale and rising. I carried on with this build through to planking although it was clear that I had somehow misinterpreted the drawings with relation to the rib locations so it was another one for the discarded pile.

 

 

I reworked the CAD model and decided to build a 1:24 scale prototype to see how things were going to fit together. This was a lot easier to work with but ultimately it was not a very useful exercise as the tendency would be to add a level of detail that would not be feasible at the smaller scale.

 

Using the updated CAD model I embarked on another prototype at the 1:64 scale. I was not entirely happy with how that was turning out so I added it to the ever growing pile of rejects and decided to go back to deck planking for a while. I will restart the small boat project at a later date by having a crack at the pinnace. I am not giving up yet despite the many setbacks and I still believe that it will be possible to produce something that is more accurate than the kit supplied item. It will just take a bit longer and more effort than I first thought.

 

 

[allanyed]

Hi David,

I have about 50 high resolution contemporary and redrawn plans of long boats, cutters, launches, pinnaces, yawls, and barges.  If you are interested in some or all of these, feel free to PM me.   The file is over a gig in size.  Also there are tables of scantlings for everything from the keel to the frames, to the thwarts, to the ears at the bow in W.E. May's book, The Boats of Men of War.   

 

Just as an FYI, according to Mays, by 1781, 5th rates carried at least 5 boats.  For a 36 (and presumably for a 38 gun like Diana) this would include a 24 foot launch, a 30 foot pinnace, two 24 foot cutters and an 18 foot cutter so there is a lot of boat work if you want to include more than one or two.  😀    

 

Allan

 

   

 

 

Edited May 1, 2022 by allanyed

[DavidEN]

12 hours ago, allanyed said:

Hi David,

I have about 50 high resolution contemporary and redrawn plans of long boats, cutters, launches, pinnaces, yawls, and barges.  If you are interested in some or all of these, feel free to PM me.   The file is over a gig in size.  Also there are tables of scantlings for everything from the keel to the frames, to the thwarts, to the ears at the bow in W.E. May's book, The Boats of Men of War.   

 

Just as an FYI, according to Mays, by 1781, 5th rates carried at least 5 boats.  For a 36 (and presumably for a 38 gun like Diana) this would include a 24 foot launch, a 30 foot pinnace, two 24 foot cutters and an 18 foot cutter so there is a lot of boat work if you want to include more than one or two.  😀    

 

Allan

 

   

 

 

Thanks for the kind offer Allan but I am probably suffering from too much information for these boats. The limiting factor is the 1:64 scale which somewhat dictates the level of detail that can potentially be included.

I had already ordered the W.E. May book a while back but it has yet to be delivered. I still have to decide on the number of boats I will include. Five may be historically correct but fitting them all onto the model would be a challenge and I guess I would have to introduce those illegal stern davits and possibly quarter davits but I would want to avoid covering up the stern detail. Philosophically I like the idea of four which would be one of each type but there is a tradition of not including all of the boats on contemporary models which would have the advantage of allowing views into the waist. Another option would be to include three and have the largest hoisted as though it were being launched. This would open up the view into the waist and add some interest to the rigging. I have quite a bit of time before I need to make up my mind though.

Regards,

David

[Blue Ensign]

I've just picked up on your log David, you have some great innovative ideas, and I like what you're doing with Diana. 👍

 

B.E.

[DavidEN]

2 hours ago, Blue Ensign said:

I've just picked up on your log David, you have some great innovative ideas, and I like what you're doing with Diana. 👍

 

B.E.

Thanks B.E. I am a fan of your Sphinx build log. That is a fine looking model you have on the go.

Regards,
David

[allanyed]

David, FWIW, on future builds at small scales such as 1:64, or even 1:48, you may want to consider a totally different method of boat building.  Wayne and I included a chapter on making boats with relative ease using the plug system in Volume II of Euryalus  on pages 104-114, including the final photo below.  

[DavidEN]

A small update. My 2.4mm diameter polyester cable laid rope arrived from Ropes of Scale. Looking at the photo it was not dramatically different to the one that I had already installed so I was in two minds as to whether or not I was going to replace it. I eventually did but caused a lot of collateral damage when ripping out the old one. I dislodged shot lockers, lost cannonballs and tore out deck ringbolts. I was thinking that I had made a huge mistake but I persevered and think that the larger diameter does look better.

 

 

 

I finished planking the quarterdeck. Not entirely happy with how this turned out and it revealed some dramatic asymmetry in my underlying structure. My carronade ports look like they have been built by the three bears. One is too low, one is too high and one is just right. I guess that it can all be disguised once it gets covered with equipment and rigging and when it becomes dustier and grimier. I now have to decide if I should press on and plank the forecastle or take a break from planking and do something else for a change.

 

 

 

[BenD]

Looking good!

 

The 2.4mm cable does look better for this large frigate. 

[Vane]

Great build!

 

[DavidEN]

15 hours ago, Vane said:

Great build!

 

Thanks Vane. I hope you will be back working on your own Diana soon as I was really enjoying your build log.

[DavidEN]

I guess I should post an update rather than just engage in idle chit-chat. I don't have that much to report though. I had the table saw set up for a 4mm plank width and it seemed to make sense to complete the whole deck with a consistent plank width so I continued on and finished the forecastle. I guess I was just idling along as it took longer than I imagined. I certainly was not paying much attention to my plank selection as I ended up with some dramatic colour variations. I am hoping this will not be too evident once the guns are in place. I pinched the step detail to resolve the junction at the bowsprit from Beef Wellington's build.

 

 

 

 

 

I had a stab at constructing the barricades at the forecastle breast beam. There were subtle differences between the kit version, the AOTSD drawings and the NMM plans so I have built something that is closer to the NMM drawings. I replaced the 1.4mm thick walnut ply horizontals with some 1.0mm thick maple and used 2x2mm walnut for the verticals. This resolves the ugly appearance of the ply edge and looks less clunky. They are just balancing there for the moment as I think they would be vulnerable to damage if I installed them at this point of the build. I may drill in some pins when I do the final fix to give them a fighting chance. The chimney is not fixed in place as it needs some additional detail.

 

 

[Bill Morrison]

Wow! Your decking is beautiful!

Bill

 

[DavidEN]

13 hours ago, Bill Morrison said:

Wow! Your decking is beautiful!

Bill

 

Thanks Bill. I find that deck planking is a lot less stressful than hull planking.
David

[DavidEN]

Lots of fiddly bitts to be made. The NMM drawings hint at the location of sheaves in the base of some of these so I ditched the laser cut kit parts and fashioned my own out of some walnut I had lying around. There are quite a lot of steps for such a modest piece. The brace bitts were made out of 3x4mm walnut. The sheaves were milled out using a 0.8mm bit. I probably should have dropped down a size to a 0.6mm diameter bit but I had recently snapped that one and have not yet managed to get a replacement. The sheave bolt was formed out of a 0.8mm diameter brass rod filed down almost flush. The cross member is 2x3mm walnut. Once complete and painted in the admiralty red ochre I thought this assembly looked somewhat delicate. I had dutifully followed the dimensions indicated in the NMM drawings and after checking some contemporary models it would seem that this is more or less correct.

The fore jeer bitts and topsail sheet bitts are a bit chunkier with a simpler top detail. I built these before studying the AOTSD belaying drawings and think that these probably should have had triple sheaves at the base. For my purpose I think that I can get away with a double sheave. I painted these black rather than the red ochre of all the other bitts. The black colour is how they are presented in the contemporary models. I do not know why this is so but it must have some significance as it is consistent across all the models I looked at.

I fashioned the mast collar for the fore and main masts out of 16mm diameter beech dowel. The kit supplied part was probably fine but they only provided five of these while there are six locations where one might install such an item. I guess their thinking behind this is that the upper deck mizzen base is not visible so this has not been supplied but in a fit of madness I used one of the kit parts in this location which meant that I had to fashion a new one for the quarterdeck. This new one did not match the remaining kit parts so I had to remake those as well. In retrospect I should have just used my homemade one on the upper deck and saved myself the bother of replacing the others. Not the end of the world though as I find using the lathe quite soothing so long as I am not messing around with very small brittle pieces.

 

For the bits next to the companionway I ignored the kit drawings and followed the AOTSD and NMM interpretation where there is no cross piece and just a 0.8mm brass rod to facilitate belaying. Looking at the AOTSD rigging plans I suspect that I may struggle to find enough belaying points in this area.

 

I swapped out the 0.8mm diameter rope with some at 0.5mm diameter for the ship’s wheel rigging which I think looks better.

 

Before installing all of this deck furniture I really need to complete the spirketting and berthing for the inner bulwarks. This will allow me clear access to get the pin vise in to drill holes so I can install the gun rigging ringbolts. Just when I thought I was finished with planking....

 

 

 

[hollowneck]

Just came across your Diana build. You've achieved some very tasty upgrading and impressive work. The coppering is especially nice.

Diana was my second model and her beautiful lines elicit strong, positive responses from onlookers. Can't wait to see how you rig her!

[DavidEN]

10 hours ago, hollowneck said:

Just came across your Diana build. You've achieved some very tasty upgrading and impressive work. The coppering is especially nice.

Diana was my second model and her beautiful lines elicit strong, positive responses from onlookers. Can't wait to see how you rig her!

Thanks. I really like your Sphinx build. You have managed to achieve just the right amount of patina. I am quite nervous about the rigging stage as I have yet to master basic knot tying.

[DavidEN]

Work on the Diana has ground to a halt these past four months as I have been moving apartments. The move has happened so I will now have no excuse for lack of progress other than laziness. I did fret about moving the Diana and began to dream up designs for temporary cradles that would form a sturdy travelling case to avoid damage during the journey. In the end I just bunged the model onto the back seat of the car, tried to avoid the worst of the potholes and slowed down for the speed humps. It arrived with nary a scratch. My new workspace is an improvement on the previous layout. It is larger and has a lot more natural light to aid my feeble eyes.

To get going again I had a go at planking the inner bulwarks which turned out to be a bit of a disaster to be sure. I knew from calculating the size of the frames and thickness of the planking that it would end up too thick but I carried on regardless thinking that if I used enough glue and clamped the planking very hard it would somehow miraculously resolve itself but funnily enough it didn't. Once I had completed half the starboard side I paused to measure the result and the width at the top was 7.5mm compared to the target 4.5mm. With overhangs this would result in the width of the rough tree rail of 9mm rather than the 6mm as indicated in the AOTSD drawings. It would have been too much of an anomaly to live with so all of the work had to be stripped off and I then went at the existing framework with the dremel and a sanding drum. Not always the best course of action to be using handheld power tools next to finished areas. It ended up a bit rough and ready but I was able to reduce the thickness at the top of the bulwark to around 5mm which would give me a 6.5mm rough tree rail which is close enough for my purposes. Now that I have more or less completed these bulwarks I realise that I should have gone about it in a different way. Studying the AOTSD and NMM drawings it is quite evident that it was built with open rails which were closed in at a later date. This is the way I should have built the model but instead I carried the framework up to the rough tree rail and then glued a false plansheer on either side. Lessons learnt I guess. At one point I did consider swapping out the sanding drum for a cut off disc in order to shear the upper bulwarks off to just below the level of the plansheer but I stepped away from the model at that point and went out for a coffee to wait until the madness passed.

 

Once that I completed that exercise I realised that I would have to bite the bullet and increase the height if the bulwarks. This all harks back to the whole debacle relating to the height of the quarter galleries discussed earlier on in this log. I am now paying for my lack of action. I just went up another 2.5mm so that they would stick up above the taffarel. I achieved this by gluing a lump of maple onto the top and sanding it flush with the dremel. I lost most of the planking definition but it was the easiest solution if not the most elegant. In hindsight I should have gone down the open rail route as it would have been easier to fudge the geometry.

 

 

After the bulwark trauma I decided to assemble the carronades as it looked like quite a gentle task. My initial thought was that the kit supplied carronades were well made and would be a piece of cake to throw together but when I mocked one up and then compared it to the drawings in the AOTSD book I realised that they were quite off dimensionally and also lacking in detail. I noticed that some of the other modellers replaced these with the Vanguard versions which look a lot better but I have had no luck with the UK postal service these days so I decided to have a go scratch building them. The supplied barrels, elevating screw and iron plate bracket for the fighting bolt are all accurate and of good quality which meant that I would only have to build the carriage which should hold no terrors. I modelled all of the parts in CAD with a thought to 3D printing them but my current set up does not produce the required resolution for such small elements so I had to resort to more traditional methods. I was however able to salvage the channel for the truck as well as the wheels. I then used some styrene for the iron plate brackets with 0.5mm brass rod for the axle. They look a bit rough in the macro shots and to be fair they are a quite rough to the naked eye as well. Luckily their location on the underside of the carriage along with their small size means that I am able to get away with it.

 

The carriage was constructed out of some nominal 2.2mm thick maple with the gammoning slot milled out. The trusty sanding drum took care of the final shaping. HiS Models PE eyelets were used for the ringbolts as they were to scale. They look a bit tentative however they are dimensionally accurate. One of the perils of working at 1:64 I guess. The gammoning bolt is made out of 2mm diameter styrene rod painted black with 0.8mm diameter rod forming the bolt heads and some styrene strips used to simulate the cover plates for the sockets. I should have probably used card stock for these as the styrene is a bit thick. The support structure for the barrel was tricky and I went back and forth between the 3d printed parts and supplied PE before deciding on the 3d printed versions just because they sat a bit lower. A spot of paint and the carriages were nearly done. The barrels still have to be painted black which is a problem given that the new apartment has no balcony. I will have to construct some sort of mini paint booth which is another thing to add onto my ever growing task list.

 

 

Comparing the homemade version to the kit supplied item it would appear that it is a marginal gain for a lot of effort.

 

I decided to go with the mounting for the carronades based on the outside principal. It will seem controversial to some but after a bit of research I am happy with the decision. I constructed the support to take the fighting bolts from a 3mm thick maple sheet. This detail is not shown in the kit drawings and only alluded to in the AOTSD drawings but I based it on diagrams shown in Lavery's books and photographs of historical examples. It necessitated some hacking out of mouldings that I had spent some time installing so I wish I had had the foresight to look ahead to this detail which may have resulted in a neater finish.

 

 

Next up I think that I will have a go at the 9lbers.

[CiscoH]

Night and day difference between the kit supplied and your scratched carronade carriages.  in my opinion absolutely worth it

great job

[DavidEN]

20 hours ago, CiscoH said:

Night and day difference between the kit supplied and your scratched carronade carriages.  in my opinion absolutely worth it

great job

Thanks for the kind words Cisco. My uncharitable view probably comes from spending too much time in their company.

[Beef Wellington]

Very much enjoyed catching up on your progress David.  If only progress could be as speedy as reading a build log.  Great to see some of the techniques you're using, and I totally agree the carronades need some serious TLC, yours came out very nice. 

Edited October 12, 2022 by Beef Wellington