HMS Cruiser by Peregrinator - Caldercraft - 1:64

[Peregrinator]

I have decided to create a build log as it is the best way to garner advice from the many many experts on this site. 

 

As those who may have read my greetings on the new member introductions thread will already know, I am re-starting the build of Caldercraft/Jotika's HMS Cruiser which has been stalled for approx 14 years! The hull, as seen below, has been boxed up for most of that time and despite 2 international moves (Sydney to Connecticut to Santiago - my Cruiser is very well travelled dont you know)  and 2 domestic moves has faired very well. The unused kit parts are in a decent condition too. 

 

This is my first build and I chose Cruiser accordingly i.e. to use it as a learning build, and I should keep telling myself this, but as I got into the build I found myself wanting to do the best job I could rather than simply completing the build as a learning exercise. 

 

As the photos show, the hiatus occurred at the deck furniture stage. Al these parts are pretty much completed. Non of the deck furniture is attached to the deck as yet. 

 

I have the following items under consideration at the moment and would be happy to receive comments and advice:

 

1) Decking. To varnish or stain? If so what varnish or stain? I like the colour and look of the deck planking so I'm leaning towards a varnish however I dont want it to have a glossy shine. I was thinking shellac but to be honest I have no idea if I am going to find that here in Chile. There is one decent modeling store in Santiago that sells this type of consumable, but I am not confident. 

 

2) Copper plates. I bought the Caldercraft copper plates. You will see that in the intervening 14 years since they were installed they have "weathered" - I even have some green cuprite/patina! However, you will also see that as my less than skillful application of the individual plates shows, there are many areas where the CA has seeped and consequently the copper has not "weathered". I am not sure what to do. Ideas? 

 

3) Ship's boat/launch. I bought a launch for the Cruiser from Caldercraft and have yet decided how to stow it - I have been looking at other build logs for some ideas but I think I will make some sort of frame over the capstan and position it there. I am open to suggestions. 

 

4) Ship's wheel. Definitely need to buy something more realistic 

 

5) Stand. I am at the stage where I should be thinking about the stand. I think I will buy some wood and make one up. I cannot find anything remotely like a brass column here, I may have to order them online, or I may knock something up from wood. Undecided. 

 

6) Cannon tackle. All the cannons are completed. Should I (can I be bothered to) tackle them up more realistically? I have stuck with the 20 long guns supplied with the kit (I could have bought the more accurate carronades) so it's not like I am trying to achieve full realism and historical accuracy. At least, that's my excuse for not including more realistic tackle 😕. Again, I'm undecided on this and I will have to buy some more blocks if I am going to upgrade them. 

 

One last point, receiving stuff by post in Chile has been a nightmare in the past, the pandemic and subsequent move to a more online based economy has vastly improved the postal/delivery services here, but I know that if I am to make an order with e.g. https://shipwrightshop.com I will have to wait probably weeks (more likely over a month) for delivery as customs here are terribly inefficient. Anything from overseas gets held up. The Admiral is going to New York to visit the Ship's boy next month so I could get any ordered items delivered to his address. I include this info simply to state that buying additional parts etc is not so easy and does affect my thinking/planning.  

 

So, finally, here are some photos of the build to date:

 

Edited April 25, 2022 by Peregrinator

[druxey]

Well, Peregrinator, you really are back now! Why would you need to stain or varnish the deck? The way it appears now looks fine. That might solve that question!

[Oldsalt1950]

She looks good. I'll try to answer some of your questions.

Deck - I'd put a clear coat finish on it not stain. Polyurethane is an option comes in satin and dead flat will not yellow.

Copper Plates - I'd leave them as is, the plating looks like that of a ship with some age. 

Ship's Boat - Do some research and see if you can find drawings of ships in this class that show the ship's boat stored. Over the capstan is do-able, but it will be sitting pretty high.

Stand - the cradle the ship sits in right now is not that bad. A little stain and it would look real sharp with a nameplate on it.

Cannons - here you can either go with the kit supplied or purchase after market it depends on your preference

 

If the Admiral is going to New York, and you have some parts you really want to finish the build, I'd have them sent to your son's address there and she can bring them back when she returns.

 

Jim

[Peregrinator]

On 4/25/2022 at 11:38 AM, druxey said:

Well, Peregrinator, you really are back now! Why would you need to stain or varnish the deck? The way it appears now looks fine. That might solve that question!

It does look ok, it's true, but I thought a light varnish would make it easier to clean (dust removal). It seems that most people are treating the decks in some way. 

[Peregrinator]

On 4/25/2022 at 11:43 AM, Oldsalt1950 said:

She looks good. I'll try to answer some of your questions.

Deck - I'd put a clear coat finish on it not stain. Polyurethane is an option comes in satin and dead flat will not yellow.

Copper Plates - I'd leave them as is, the plating looks like that of a ship with some age. 

Ship's Boat - Do some research and see if you can find drawings of ships in this class that show the ship's boat stored. Over the capstan is do-able, but it will be sitting pretty high.

Stand - the cradle the ship sits in right now is not that bad. A little stain and it would look real sharp with a nameplate on it.

Cannons - here you can either go with the kit supplied or purchase after market it depends on your preference

 

If the Admiral is going to New York, and you have some parts you really want to finish the build, I'd have them sent to your son's address there and she can bring them back when she returns.

 

Jim

 

Thanks for the comments Jim. 

Ref the copper, it's the shiny unweathered bits where the CA has seeped that annoy me. It's not drastically bad, but I do notice it - and you know how those sort of things can nag on one's conscious.

Ship's boat: Yes agree, it would be sitting quite high. Another alternative is to switch out one of the gratings and place the capstan there, leaving ample space for the boat amidships. 

The stand: You know, your suggestion has its merits - we are firmly in earthquake territory here and the cradle may be the safer option. (We had a magnitude 5 only the other day - the epicenter was 150km to the south so it was just a bit of a lurch and a shake here)

[BenD]

I'm at the same stage on my HMS Snake, It's pretty much the same kit with a few changes. 

 

For the deck you will want a light coat of Matt polyurethane. You don't want to darken it anymore than it is. Decks were regularly holystoned and would be a quite bright color. 

 

The copper plates will need some CA remover for the seepage spots. After that you may want to polish it all so they can all age evenly. Probably best to leave it honestly as it looks ok.

 

What do the cannons look like? If they are cast white metal you might want to get some resin ones or turned brass.

 

 

[Gregory]

I found this drawing at NMM I don't know if it is the same Cruis(z)er  as modeled by Caldercraft.

 

I see what might be the capstan and some gallows for the ships boat. 

 

Here is a profile that verifies the location of the capstan.  I think the gallows speculation holds up also.

 

Profile

 

Following those plans would require significant changes to the arrangement but might be the only reasonable approach to including the boat on deck.

 

 

Edited April 26, 2022 by Gregory

[Peregrinator]

Lovely! Thank you Gregory! 

[Gregory]

Regards your ships wheel, have you seen the one at Syren?

 

Wheel for 1:64

 

Quote

...my excuse for not including more realistic tackle

Your guns would look fine with no tackle.. At this scale, it often looks oversized and draws attention away from finer points of the model.

Breaching ropes can be a nice touch if done neatly, but just as well left off in my humble opinion..

Edited April 26, 2022 by Gregory

[druxey]

Um, if you case your finished model (which you should) dust will not be a problem! Besides, dusting models can damage them all too easily.

[BenD]

https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-66309 Some photos of a Cruiser class ship. You can see the gallows' with the capstan between them.

[Gregory]

From the NMM article:

 

Quote

The design and layout would suggest that this model represents one of the numerous ‘Cruiser’-class brigs built between 1797-1815.

The captions on those NMM items sometimes are not accurate.

The plans I posted would be in contradiction to that model.

Perhaps the description in the plans I posted are not accurate..

The model would not need gallows for a ship's boat, since it has davits.

Are those belaying pins in the " gallows" ?  

Interesting to consider how they would be worked, or are they something else?

 

Another rabbit hole..

[Peregrinator]

On 4/26/2022 at 2:17 PM, Gregory said:

Regards your ships wheel, have you seen the one at Syren?

 

Wheel for 1:64

 

Your guns would look fine with no tackle.. At this scale, it often looks oversized and draws attention away from finer points of the model.

Breaching ropes can be a nice touch if done neatly, but just as well left off in my humble opinion..

 

Thanks for the helm tip - I have ordered Chuck's nice bit of work. 

And I have ordered 2 brass pedestals from model-expo for the stand. 

[Peregrinator]

Quick update.

The admiral returned from the States with 2 ship's wheels and 2 brass stands. I have been putting together the wheels. The first one seemed to take hours, but the second not surprisingly is much quicker and easier. 

[BenD]

That ships wheel looks good. much better than the photo etch kit wheel.

[Peregrinator]

7 minutes ago, BenD said:

That ships wheel looks good. much better than the photo etch kit wheel.

 

Incomparable . These wheels from Syren are excellent. 

[Peregrinator]

Been a while since my last update. Unfortunately I haven't had much spare time other than to potter around on small items. However, all the deck furniture is about done and I have decided on the deck arrangement to accommodate the launch. 

I have decided not to fully rig the cannons but just stick to the breaching rope . I did a test on one cannon and tried out a method I have been thinking about to do the seizing. The good lady wife makes bead jewelry and uses a thread called fireline (gel-spun polyethylene) which is like fishing line but more "flexible" for want of a better word - you can fold it and it holds the shape (see photo). It behaves like a fine wire but with more flexibility. It worked quite well and relatively easy to work with so I think I will continue using it (I need to practice order to perfect the end result - I can do better than my trial attempt shown in the photo).

As an aside, the various rigging threads that came with the kit had me confused. I should have, according to the plans 4 types of black thread and 3 natural. According to the instructions, 3 black, 5 natural. I actually have 3 black and 5 natural. One of those natural is the anchor line, so I assume not listed as a rigging thread on the rigging plans. So I have 3 black and 4 natural for rigging. I think the 1.25mm natural thread is listed as black on the plans and that is the error. The other confusion is that a couple of the threads are marked up with incorrect sizes (gauge). The 0.25mm natural thread is marked as 0.10mm and the 0.75mm natural thread marked up as 1mm. Anyway, I *think* I have figured out what is what and for what it should be used. Took my a while though! 

 

I have also made a stand which is awaiting a final coat of varnish. Once it's finished I will take a couple more photos to show the progress. 

[Peregrinator]

Finished the first cannon. And a shot of the deck layout. Still to make the gallows/stands for the launch. 

 

[Peregrinator]

There is a bit of space between the helm and the companionway... maybe I will scratch up a binnacle.