Frigate Essex by Rafine - FINISHED - Model Shipways - Kitbashed

[rafine]

Thanks Sjors and Grant and the "likes". I'm afraid Sjors that  with 30 more to do for myself, you're on your own for Aggy.

[patrickmil]

The cannons look great Bob. I may follow in your footsteps and order some aftermarket items when I start on my Connie.

[rafine]

Thanks Patrick. I'm just not a fan of basswood and avoid it when I can.

 

Bob

[rafine]

A busy few days have resulted in my first work at the fore end of the ship. The items made and added are the hawse holes (inner end), the bolsters and bucklers, the manger, a scuttle, the bowsprit bitts and the fore riding bitts.

 

I decided to do the inner part of the hawse holes to allow me to do the other interior work at the bow. I won't do the outer part until I'm ready to do the exterior bow work, such as the knees and head work. The bolsters above and below the hawse holes were cut and shaped from boxwood sheet, using the kit parts as rough templates. The bucklers were cut to fit from boxwood strip.

 

The manger boards and supports were made from boxwood strip and shaped to fit the bulwark contours.

 

I made the scuttle coaming from boxwood  strip and the grating from the laser cut kit part, as I had with the various hatches previously made. The fore riding bitts were made from boxwood with a piece of pear for the face of the crosspiece. Ringbolts were added to the standards. The bowsprit bitts were done with boxwood strip. In order to do the the bowsprit bitts, I cut a piece to represent the forecastle deck beam to which they are fitted and also cut a piece of dowel to represent the bowsprit. The last two photos show these fitted in place temporarily.

 

All of the boxwood parts were finished with Wipe-on Poly. The bitts were pinned and glued to the deck.

 

Bob

[patrickmil]

Bob, that looks amazing. I'm assuming you are going to leave some spar deck planking off to show that wonderful detail?

[augie]

What can I say?  Pristine, as always.  I really like the manger boards.

[rafine]

Thanks so much Patrick and Augie. Patrick, at least half of the quarter and forecastle decks will be left unplanked.

 

Bob

[Mirabell61]

Very, very fine work Bob,

 

I love the Details and the accuracy you put into your woodwork

 

Nils

[NMBROOK]

Fabulous work Bob    I think you must be overdue a post in latest full profile picture as we keep seeing snippets,go on spoil us with a full length shot,she must be looking pretty amazing by now

 

Kind Regards

 

Nigel

[rafine]

Thanks Nils and Nigel and the "likes". Your continuing interest and encouragement is appreciated. I'll try to post a full profile photo soon Nigel.

 

Bob

[mtaylor]

Sweet work, Bob.  Are you putting the poly on before you install the part?  Or after it's installed?  

[Blue Ensign]

I can't add more to the praise given above Bob, suffice to say I love following your build

 

B.E.

[Sjors]

Amazing......

 

That looks so good !

Hard to believe you make it your self !

 

[aliluke]

Hey Bob

Aside from "Like This" I must say that is incredible work. As per my comment on MSW version 1 - it is very Rafined. Love it, keep it up and I look forward to more.

 

Cheers

Alistair

[rafine]

Thanks Mark, B.E., Sjors and Alistair for the very generous praise. I owe so much to the inspiration, teaching and assistance provided by you guys and the MSW community. We all profit greatly from our participation.

 

Mark, the poly is applied after the parts are completed, but before they are installed. I try to keep the mating surface clean or sand it before gluing. I also use pins to increase the strength of the bond whenever any stress will be applied to the part.

 

Bob

[Rustyj]

Very nice Bob. This is one of the parts of the build I enjoy the most.

 

Looking forward to seeing more!  

[rafine]

Thanks Rusty. This stuff is my favorite as well.

 

Bob

[hamilton]

Nice to see some of the deck fixtures coming together - beautiful work!

hamilton

[rafine]

Thanks Hamilton for your continuing interest.

 

I have now built the stove, but will not mount it until sometime later in construction to avoid damage to this very delicate little piece. Since the stove is painted, I chose to use the basic kit pieces to assemble it. I did a number of the details with non-kit items. For example, I used very thin styrene to do the various doors, a couple of very small bulls eyes I had for the pulleys and some tiny (40 links per inch) chain to connect the pulleys. Doing this piece almost convinced me that my aging eyes and hands need to work in larger scales. Still very enjoyable, but getting very difficult.

 

Next, I will start to mount and rig the first few guns.

 

Bob

[patrickmil]

That's amazing Bob. The penny really gives some perspective on the size of that little marvel.

[Chenequa]

absolutely superb work....still haven't resumed my build of the ESSEX.  Bob, any thoughts on that subject?

 

Terry

[rafine]

Thanks so much Patrick, Dirk, Terry and the "likes". 

 

I have a question that I hope someone can help with. Would the stove have been mounted on a brick base or on a metal base or some combination of them?

 

Terry, it's hard for me to answer your question. I have no idea what will happen with the kit at the ME end. If the necessary corrections actually get made, you would probably be better off waiting. On the other hand, if that's not going to happen, or if you're willing to endure the frustrations and problems caused by incorrect parts and plans, go ahead and give it a go. There were times that it wasn't much fun. Although I'm glad now that I worked through it, there were  a lot of times when I thought of trashing the whole thing.

 

Bob

[trippwj]

Beautiful work, Bob.  Concerning the base for the caboose (Galley stove), according to TFEP - page 224, the following is extracted from the description of the Caboose (Galley stove):

 

"...4 large Screw'd Bolts & nutts for fixing the Hearth to the deck - A Cast Iron additional bottom for the Hearth to Stand upon, instead of Stone Paving, with Bearers under do which gives Water Passage under the Whole by which means the Deck can be always kept Cool & free from danger..."

[Chenequa]

thanks for the comments.  haven't heard a word from ME whether they are going to make corrections.  I wonder if Sam knows?

 

Stopped after completing the bulkheads; and I think they're correct as near as I can tell.  Are others proceeding?  Sort of disappointing.

 

My limited knowledge leads me to believe the stoves were mounted on a brick base.

 

Nice today in Stuart.  Too nice to work anymore on the ECB.

 

Cheers,

Terry

[mtaylor]

Lovely work on the stove, Bob.   Looks like it's ready to take a load of salted beef and dried peas.

[rafine]

Thanks guys for the nice words and "likes".

 

Thanks for the info Wayne. That description helps to make sense of drawings I've seen. I assume that the "Bearers" are wooden beams.

 

Mark, It would be ready if I could do the pots and pans like Remco, but at this size I'm not sure that I could see them, no less make them.

 

Bob

[mtaylor]

Bob,

 

No need for pots and pans.  Those two lids on top are for the kettles.....

[NMBROOK]

Fantastic work on the stove Bob !!Definitely missing out on my Caroline build  ,roll on Mordaunt when I get to make some catering equipment and furniture!!  

 

Kind Regards

 

Nigel

[uss frolick]

If you look at the Hackett draught, you will notice a second capstan, called a 'fore-jeer capstan" just aft the fore mast. I must admit that I'm not sure exactly why it was needed when there was a perfectly good double captan just a few steps aft. But it was always placed on an open deck on English ships, and I once read that it was used to haul heavy bits aloft. Its' presence is evidence that the Essex wore only a traditional, narrow removable gangways when launched, not the wide spar deck gang ways shown in the PDF above. We do know that she received a built-up modern gangways in 1809, i.e. a flush spar deck,  when Josiah Fox relaunched her. And she did not have a spar deck as late as 1807 when measurements taken off that year referred to a separate forecastle and quarterdeck. When she finally did receive her wide gangways, they were flush with the quarterdeck and forecastle, not stepped down as Portia Takakjian drew them. In 1799, her narrow gangways were stepped down - just as the Frigate Hancock's or Raleigh's would have been. When she finally gained her flush modern spar deck, as Naval Architect William Baker noted to have been "some time after 1807", she also lost her sweet decorative scroll at the break of the quarterdeck. She would have lost her fore jeer capstan as well. Her top timbers amidships would have had to have been raised, in order to support a spar deck clamp. So that must rule out any modifications earlier than 1809. Common sense would dictate that a step down permanently-fixed wide gangways would serve no purpose, other than to inhibit rolling the chase guns fore and aft.

 

The fore jeer capstan was a very old fashioned piece of equipment, like a lateen rigged mizen mast was, but the Essex was considered a old school ship belonging to a previous generation. And PCF Smith theorized in his TFEP that she had been built to the model of the old 1778 Continental Frigate Alliance of the Revolution, as William Hackett had built them both. We'll never know because no plans survive of the Alliance. But I digress ...

[scott larkins]

Wow, that is some very good tiny work.  It is obvious that you put a lot of time into that.