HMS Terror by Rking - OcCre - 1:75

[Rking]

Hello everyone!

 

I thought I'd take the plunge and start a build log for my Terror model. 

This is my first model ship project. I've had a bit of experience modelling before, but only ever in plastic kits here and there over the years, and so far it's been great.....if slightly frustrating at times! (no doubt you can all relate)

 

Unfortunately I've had to start this log part way through the build as I only recently discovered this site - in hindsight I wish I'd taken far more photos than I have!

 

Quite early on I found myself scratching my head with a lot of questions and, after a bit of scrambling in the dark, came across this site which has so far been invaluable. Looking through some of the build logs on here its amazing what you can learn, be it from a novice or a more experienced builder. 

 

Although I am quite familiar with the story of the Franklin expedition and the two ships involved, building this model has given a really unique sense of perspective and a totally new angle with which to approach the story from which has been great! 

 

Hopefully you enjoy having a look at my efforts so far. I'd say the model is definitely an 'homage' to the true design of the ship, I've taken a few liberties here and there, some for purely aesthetic preferences (I can hear some of you screaming out in horror haha) and others to cover little sins and mishaps along the way.

 

Even so if there's anything you can see which you think I could do better in future then please say! I'll certainly be having a lot of questions for people along the way! haha

 

.........and apologies for the naff photo's, if its one thing I'm most definitely not it's a photographer!

 

Cheers!

[Rking]

One aspect of the design which I discovered was different from the OcCre kit was the deck houses at the stern of the ship. 

 

I'd seen from a build log on here (apologies I cant remember who's it was) that these deck houses had been added and thought id give them a bash.

 

Subsequently I bought Matthew Betts's book/bible on Terror, and noticed they were of a slightly different design and configuration than my attempts, having sliding doors etc. 

 

I'm a bit reluctant to redo them now purely for the amount of time and effort it took to get them to where they are haha however, I'm keen to know what people think of them in terms of scale, do they look about right or are they totally off?

 

Id tried to gauge it from the drawings and images in the book, and other peoples work but found it quite tricky. 

 

Let me know what you think good or bad! cheers!

Edited November 7, 2022 by Rking

[Rking]

And one last question for now, are these deck gratings meant to have a slightly curved/rounded profile to the tops or just left square? quite tricky to see from the instructions 🤔 cheers!

[clearway]

Welcome to the lil Terror club fellow terrorite- i just left the hatch coamings square. Regards the deckhouses i removed the starboard one and re done it as per plans but left port one with "vented" door because i liked it (though it made me sweat a bit removing it)- maybe should be a bit narrower but it is your baby and if you like it stick with it. regards the timber between the deck and stern-a section will need removed where the rudder hole is.

 

Keith

 

 

 

 

 

[DanielD]

Nice work so far!

[allanyed]

On 11/7/2022 at 1:32 PM, Rking said:

deck gratings meant to have a slightly curved/rounded profile

 Your workmanship looks grand.   I am not sure about this particular ship but based on contemporary information other RN ships' gratings as well as the head ledge and coaming assembly have round up.  It is often a smaller radius than the round up of the deck.    Also note that the grating does not have openings against the head ledges or coamings.   The sketches below may describe this better than words.  The openings were smaller than 3" square, about 0.04 at your scale.

Allan

Edited November 10, 2022 by allanyed

[DanielD]

33 minutes ago, allanyed said:

 Your workmanship looks grand.   I am not sure about this particular ship but based on contemporary information other RN ships' gratings as well as the head ledge and coaming assembly have round up.  It is often a smaller radius than the round up of the deck.    Also note that the grating does not have openings against the head ledges or coamings.   The sketches below may describe this better than words.  The openings were smaller than 3" square, about 0.04 at your scale.

Allan

I knew about the slight curve of these grates; however, not having holes next to the ledge and coamings…that’s new info to me. I’ll consider this detail on my next model. Too far along to change this one!

[Rking]

14 hours ago, DanielD said:

Nice work so far!

Thanks very much! Had a quick look through your build log, that's something to aspire to 👌 I think I'm going to have to start Terror Mk2 straight afterwards to incorporate all these new ideas haha

 

[Rking]

1 hour ago, allanyed said:

 Your workmanship looks grand.   I am not sure about this particular ship but based on contemporary information other RN ships' gratings as well as the head ledge and coaming assembly have round up.  It is often a smaller radius than the round up of the deck.    Also note that the grating does not have openings against the head ledges or coamings.   The sketches below may describe this better than words.  The openings were smaller than 3" square, about 0.04 at your scale.

Allan

Brilliant info thanks! 👍 

[Rking]

On 11/8/2022 at 8:39 AM, clearway said:

Welcome to the lil Terror club fellow terrorite- i just left the hatch coamings square. Regards the deckhouses i removed the starboard one and re done it as per plans but left port one with "vented" door because i liked it (though it made me sweat a bit removing it)- maybe should be a bit narrower but it is your baby and if you like it stick with it. regards the timber between the deck and stern-a section will need removed where the rudder hole is.

 

Keith

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah I think I'll stick with it this time, like you say it might be a bit painful removing them now, but I'll take it forward to Terror Mk2 😅 and good pickup on the rudder hole haha will get that chopped out 👍

[Rking]

This evenings efforts have concentrated on the reinforcement straps on the rudder section. This job has been quite fiddly and frustrating, I initially didn't want to use any glue in the process, as I knew the inevitable overspill would result in having to sand back and re-paint the area to get a good finish again, (not a major dilemma as ill obviously be painting the brass parts anyway.....but still) however in the end I gave up the fight and resorted to supergluing them in place and adding the pins/rivets afterwards.

 

I'm just curious as to whether anyone else has a neater/easier approach to this process?

 

Cheers!

 

[Rking]

Also, the ships boats which come with this kit almost don't seem to be of the same scale? I get that they are two different sizes of boats, however the spacing between the seats in the larger one seems totally off when compared to the smaller two? as the missus quite rightly pointed out, there's no way the same size people that would fit in the bigger boat would be able to sit in the smaller one! haha.

 

Have I missed something? I placed planks/seats across every point where there seemed to be a support for them moulded into the metal component, but should i have?

 

Any insight on this would be great cheers! if it wasn't for the sake of trying to save a bob or two at the minute, I would have defiantly invested in a different specific kit for these boats as I've seen others doing.

[clearway]

Ahh brings back memories! I held the gudgeons in place and drilled a 0.68 hole into the stern which i then inserted a shortened ready blackened Peco track pin with a dab of superglue gel on the end- after i had done a couple of these to tack them in place i drilled and pinned the rest of the holes. I also added extra holes in the pintles on the rudder.

 

As regards the boats i replaced the boat in the waist with one from Mantua and added others from Quaycraft model boats.

 

Keith

Edited November 12, 2022 by clearway
missed info

[Rking]

On 11/12/2022 at 6:43 PM, clearway said:

Ahh brings back memories! I held the gudgeons in place and drilled a 0.68 hole into the stern which i then inserted a shortened ready blackened Peco track pin with a dab of superglue gel on the end- after i had done a couple of these to tack them in place i drilled and pinned the rest of the holes. I also added extra holes in the pintles on the rudder.

 

As regards the boats i replaced the boat in the waist with one from Mantua and added others from Quaycraft model boats.

 

Keith

haha frustrating memories? I'm definatly going to try pre-drilling the holes next time, trying to press them in without pre-drilling was causing the hull to bend in places which was a little disconcerting! As far as the boats go i decided to make some canvas covers for them as I really wasn't happy with the way they looked inside.

[Rking]

I've got no idea how accurate a design this is for a boat cover, I struggled to find any good reference shots online, however I think it's a plausible attempt. Manufactured by soaking 3 layers of folded toilet paper in PVA glue and water, thread super glued to the underside for re-enforcement and structure, and gromets made from small paper squares. Just needs painting now. Does anyone know how these boats were stored when at sea? I can imagine them having some sort of cover for bad weather as they must have been pretty heavy hanging off those davits if they became full of water in heavy rain. 🤔

[Rking]

Also made a start painting up the dead eyes, fiddly little buggers but hugely satisfying spraying them up in batches like this!

[clearway]

interesting question regards covers on ships boats. not too sure when covers as we know them became regular - they probably either bailed them dry or made an adhoc cover using old sails?

 

keith

[Rking]

On 11/23/2022 at 8:06 PM, clearway said:

interesting question regards covers on ships boats. not too sure when covers as we know them became regular - they probably either bailed them dry or made an adhoc cover using old sails?

 

keith

Yeah that was my thinking, trying to put myself in the position of those sailors I reckon there'd only be so much bailing you'd be willing to do before you'd bodge some sort of cover together for them haha 

[iMustBeCrazy]

On 12/10/2022 at 3:20 AM, Rking said:

I reckon there'd only be so much bailing you'd be willing to do before you'd bodge some sort of cover together for them

I was just reading Bligh's log and came across this:

 

Saturday, Jan. 12, 1788

8:00 am Employed about a Variety of necessary duties for the ship & fitted Boats Coverings.

 

So, they used covers of some sort in 1788.

[clearway]

craig comes to the rescue again 😉

 

Keith

[iMustBeCrazy]

38 minutes ago, clearway said:

craig comes to the rescue again

I would hardly say that.

 

There is also a later note: "Sailmakers mending the Awnings and Boats coverings."

[Rking]

Hello all,

 

Apologies that its been a while since I've uploaded anything on here, but work/life commitments have been pretty hectic this year! that's not to say that the boat yard has been quiet however, some decent progress has been made on Terror. I'll do my best to upload them in chronological order haha 

I've found the whole process more addictive as time has gone on, what was originally a project to get me through a quiet winter has rapidly turned into something I'm getting hooked on.........all credit to my incredibly patient and cooperative missus at this point! I've found that almost as soon as every part is completed I wish id done it a different/better/more efficient way, especially when it comes to the rigging (there's something about the neatness of some peoples projects on here that I find mind blowing and really inspiring) but hey, its all part of the learning process I guess!

 

As you can see from the final images there's still a lot of work to do to get her finished, but hopefully wont be long now!

 

But please enjoy having a look at my efforts, and as always any tips/advice on where/how to improve things are greatly appreciated! cheers!

 

(I decided to rebuild the ships bell in wood as I had nothing that could drill into the cast metal component that came in the kit)

[Rking]

Test fitting the masts, and some progress with the deck fittings

[Rking]

About a month ago we had to make a move from the south coast to the southern highlands of Scotland. I was scratching my head for a while debating how I was going to get her up there in one piece, until my fabulous long haired admiral came up with this plan of using an old TV box! worked like a dream! luckily I hadn't fitted any of the spars yet!

 

Edited September 15, 2023 by Rking

[Rking]

And here she is as she currently stands!