HMS Wolf 1754 by catopower - FINISHED - Shipyard - 1/72 Admiralty Style - CARD

[catopower]

Thanks Druxey!

 

Actually those stays are just temporary to hold the masts steady while I work on the shrouds. They'll come off and be replaced with real stays, which is why these are white. 

 

In earlier photos, you can see the hearts that you're talking about that the forestay will later get rigged to.

 

As for the mainstay, I don't know how accurate it is, but I'll be following the provided plans, which have it running to a heart that you can see located on the foremast.

 

I'm glad you're keeping an eye on my work!

[druxey]

Temporary? Now I get it. Clare!

[catopower]

Hey everyone. My apologies for the extended break. I ended up with plans to finish up a model that was started by a ship modeler who passed away a couple years. It's the Yacht Mary, and with the completion of my Charles Royal Yacht, I figured I could wrap this one up pretty quickly. It's come along pretty well, and I'm hoping to finish it in the next month or two.

 

It's my intention to begin resuming my HMS Wolf build immediately after that, or even a bit before the Mary is done. It won't be that long, as I'm just starting work on the Mary's sails now: 

 

 

Back soon!

 

 

[catopower]

Still working on finishing up my "inherited" Yacht Mary build. It's actually been nice working on wooden ship models for a bit. I'm now waiting for an order I place with Syren Ship Model Company, so I thought I'd pick up a little side task that's related to this HMS Wolf build.

 

Specifically, I've been playing around with my AnyCubic Photon Ultra. This is a dip resin printer, for those that know about these things. I got mine a couple years ago. I don't use it a lot, particularly since I don't really know much in the way of 3D CAD work, but I've acquired some 3D print files for some figures that should go well with HMS Wolf.

 

I printed them out prior to the weekend, and I've been trying to modify them a little and paint some of them. HMS Wolf, being a brig should be commanded by a Lieutenant with a midshipman as an assistant. So, below, I painted what I believe is the correct uniform for a lieutenant, shown on the right side of the photo below. To his left is his midshipman, then petty officer and sailor.

Not too happy showing photos of the figures, as they look much better to me by my unaided eyes. It's been a long time since I've done much miniature figure painting, and I did a LOT back in the 80's. So, these are 1/72 scale. Hopefully, these uniforms are right. I'll be painting a handful of sailors as well. Haven't decided how many figures I would put on the model, but I think it will be nice to have a few for scale reference.

 

 

 

Edited April 30 by catopower

[catopower]

Well, my yacht Mary model is now done. I'm free to get back to HMS Wolf and other projects, but after the local IPMS show this weekend, I'm again rethinking the work on HMS Wolf.

 

I took the Mary, my incompleted HMS Wolf model, and a couple small Japanese boat models to the IPMS show. I didn't expect to win anything, particularly the Japanese boats, which don't really fit any IPMS judging criteria. The yacht Mary was completed. I removed the masts from HMS Wolf and added a figure of a British naval officer onto the deck. Looking like an admiralty style model, it ended up winning in its category, as is. The yacht Mary got nothing. 

 

It's okay about the Mary, because even when I got it, it was kind of a roughly built model, though very pretty. But, the fact that the Wolf won kind of threw me a bit. I guess it has the painted hull and all that fits in better with the plastic models?

 

Anyway, now, I'm kind of curious about how other paper models would do and also maybe a small one in a mini-diorama. So, I'm thinking of re-retiring the Wolf... again. It's back in it's acrylic case without masts, but now has the lower deadeyes. I'm going to put a flag on the stern, the stern lantern, and probably add the paper chainplates. The latter will act more like facades, as I already have wire chainplates on the model.

 

 

 

 

[catopower]

Also, I like the way this model looks so much that I'm afraid of ruining it when I get into the rigging. 

 

I quickly made a flagstaff and mounted the kit's flag. Also, started looking at building up the stern lantern.

 

In the meantime, the Wolf makes a fine display...

 

I've since given the flag a shot of matte clear lacquer to take some of the sheen off of it. If it bothers me enough, I'll just print my own flag, as that seemed to work pretty well on the yacht Mary model

 

Note that I haven't placed the deck pumps. They're done and ready to be mounted, but to prevent damage to them, I chose to leave them off. I may just tack them into place like I did the officer figure, so they can be removed should I eventually decide to rig.

 

Regarding rigging, though this is more lightly rigged than a three-masted square rigger, like a frigate, those larger ships have larger masts and yards, and I think they may actually be easier to rig, at least for fat fingers. 

 

Thoughts?

 

I'm tempted to take one of my 1/72 scale Shipyard frigate hulls this far, and see about rigging that. And, even if it doesn't go beyond this stage, it makes a pretty nice display model. And, without the masts, yards, and all, it requires a MUCH smaller case and takes up that much less room in the house to display... 🤔

[ccoyle]

14 minutes ago, catopower said:

Thoughts?

 

Looks great as-is, but I'm sure you'd make it look great with rigging, too.

[JacquesCousteau]

It looks great as it is. If you're not in the mood to rig it but think you might change your mind in the future, I think you could leave it as-is and add the masts later. Another interesting option might be to add stub masts or just the lower masts, which wouldn't add too much to the space requirements but might give it more of a "finished" look.

[catopower]

Thanks Chris, JacquesCouteau!

[dvm27]

It's looking great Clare. I found her sister, Speedwell, very easy to rig.  As I recall the Wolf rigging plan provided was very good. As well, you can find excellent rigging instructions in our Speedwell, Vol. 2. She does have a rather nice lofty rig so your display space will need to double perhaps.

[hollowneck]

What a nice looking model, Clare.

Suggestion: make your own silkspan "draped" ensign. It's a lot more work but worth it, especially for a non-rigged model like yours. I just did one for my latest, a gun brig (attached quickie shop pic).

BTW: really nice baseboard, did you make and finish it? I like it. Please tell me it's not made of paper!🤨

[catopower]

Hi Greg, at 1/72 scale, I've found the spars to be very thin and light and the rigging lines to be very fine and a bit complicated for my fat fingers. With the card stock being softer than wood, I'm a little worried about ruining what has otherwise turned out to be a very nice model.

 

However, your reference to Speedwell has put bug in my head! I'd notice how similar the HMS Wolf model is to Speedwell, but I never followed up to see if the two were related until you just brought it up. Now, I understand they were sister ships.

 

This has me wondering about taking up the challenge of converting an HMS Wolf kit into an HMS Speedwell. 🤔

 

It would require a redesign of the deck layout, which means that the laser-engraved decks can't be used, and some parts would have to be fabricated. But, the main issue is that for an HMS Wolf to an HMS Speedwell conversion to have real value, I think it would have to be fully rigged.

 

If I did that, I'd probably also want to complete the rigging of this HMS Wolf for comparison. 

 

Hmmm...

Edited 5 hours ago by catopower

[druxey]

So, Greg has been whispering into your ear, Clare. "Ssssspeedwell"! 

 

Your Wolf has turned out really nicely. I'm always surprised when paper models do not look like paper. Well done!