HMS Indefatigable 1794 by Blue Ensign - FINISHED - Vanguard Models - 1:64 scale

[Glenn-UK]

Looking good  I see you've opted to cover the slots for the cannon tabs. I assume you are planning to trim the cannon front axle to remove the locating tab.

[shipman]

Don't know if its been mentioned:- the reason gratings were cambered was to help shed water when battened down with sail-cloth tarps. The 1 foot high coamings were to take the battens and their fittings (absent here).

 

A splendid rendition BE.

[Blue Ensign]

Thankyou Glenn and Shipman.

@ Glenn -  Not even thought about gun fixing yet, but  there are ways and means, other than deck slots.

@ Shipman - It's the aesthetics that appeal to me but tricky to provide in a kit with laser parts, even for someone with such  ingenuity as Mr Watton.

 

Post Fifty-seven

Completion of gundeck planking.

 

Four more days and the last strakes are put into place.

1593

The final strakes meet the top & butt planking and require individual spiling for a good fit.

1602

The deck now requires scraping (not sanding) and my tool of choice is an old plane blade. It has the right weight and feel for drawing along the deck.

1610

1611

1613

Quite amazing the improvement a good scraping makes to a deck, and with 1mm depth of board there is little fear of over doing it.

1607

1606

1609

Not quite done yet, I now need to enlarge the mortises and trial fit the deck impediments before the deck is given a final scrape and a matt varnish finish.

 

 

B.E.

02/08/2023

 

 

 

[CaptnBirdseye]

Hi B.E.

Must say she is looking a real beauty! 

Do you mind me asking why you prefer scraping rather than sanding? Apologies if you've answered this elsewhere

Edited August 2, 2023 by CaptnBirdseye

[allanyed]

29 minutes ago, Blue Ensign said:

Quite amazing the improvement a good scraping makes to a deck, and with 1mm depth of board there is little fear of over doing it.

I agree with you that scraping is a great way to even things out compared to just sanding. Birdseye, there is a great little article on scraping and sanding at 

 

https://thewoodwhisperer.com/articles/sanding-vs-scraping/

 

Allan

 

Edited August 2, 2023 by allanyed

[Glenn-UK]

Excellent workmanship Maurice.

[Blue Ensign]

18 hours ago, CaptnBirdseye said:

Hi B.E.

Must say she is looking a real beauty! 

Do you mind me asking why you prefer scraping rather than sanding? Apologies if you've answered this elsewhere

 

Each to their own I suppose Capt. but I find scraping gives me a better finish and more control. It is also easier to work between the centre line hatches etc;

I also find it very satisfying, sort of like planning.☺️

 

B.E.

[Blue Ensign]

Post Fifty-eight

Ensure everything fits.

A few hours spent fettlin’ the mortises.

1616

I used my deck template to ensure the locations particularly of the deck pillars.

1619

The Swann-Morton micro chisels proved very useful for clearing the pillar mortises on the modified head ledges.

1631

I’m thinking that the wooden pillars fore and aft of the Capstan step might be better represented by hinged iron stanchions.

1622

1623

1628

1626

The masts and Bowsprit are cut to full kit size and tested for fit.

 

Fully rigged she is going to take up a lot of room, but will no doubt look magnificent.

I hasten to add I will not be going down that road.

 

B.E.

03/08/2023

 

 

[Blue Ensign]

Post Fifty-nine

Inner bulwarks

Time to give these some attention.

1633

Firstly, the Proxxon Pen sander with angled arbors proved very useful to clean up around the inner gunports prior to painting.

1635

The Spirketting and upper ledges which border the gunports are fitted before painting.

Don’t know how much will eventually show but Chris has taken the trouble to engrave the spirketting with a Hook and butt planking pattern, a nice touch.

1634

My final action is to fit the waterway representation using lengths of angled 2mm Pear strip.

I settled on six scuppers along waterway, with a diameter of 1.5mm.

1636

1638

A first coat of diluted paint is applied using Vallejo Flat Red.

I will be faffing around with this over the weekend to get a finish I am happy with.

 

B.E.

04/08/2023

 

[Blue Ensign]

Post Sixty

Dressing the Gun-deck

The inner bulwark painting has been completed and the coamings re-coated to cover blemishes resulting during the planking process.

The deck was then given a final scrape before varnished using Vallejo matt varnish.

1643

The bright red brick stove base as shown in the manual didn’t appeal to my eye, I used darker tones and weathering powders to create a more muted look.

 

It was then onto a ladder fest, tricky little beggars to assemble and one of my least favourite tasks I always seem to be fingers and thumbs trying to keep them square.

 

1639

1641

These are quite flimsy to assemble as the scale dictates, ‘soft hands’ a definite requirement.

1651

1652

Finally, I added the shot garlands which I had previously removed from the coamings.

1646

1647

 

The crunch point has now arrived where I must decide whether to copper, as any further fittings will impede the inversion of the hull.

I remain torn on the subject, so to maintain impetus I will clean up and paint the numerous deck fittings to defer the decision a while longer.

 

B.E.

06/08/2023

 

[Mirabell61]

Lovely gratings and stairs B.E

 

Nils

[aliluke]

My vote is don't copper. The planking is just too good to be covered. But, you are masterful enough for either to look fantastic.

[Morgan]

Hi BE,

 

Your planking is too good to be covered up. At this stage can you say the coppering would be better and that you will be as satisfied with it as the planking?

 

DON’T DO IT! Having said that knowing when to leave it alone is a hard call, but it is yours to make.

 

I also happen to think if you are presenting it in the Georgian model style without masts, minimal painting, etc. then again without copper works better.

 

Gary

[chris watton]

I think bare hull with black main wale.

[glbarlow]

Why cover nice planking with ugly copper. In my admittedly limited knowledge admiralty models were never coppered, so to stay consistent with your admiralty approach….

[mtaylor]

Whilst to copper or not to copper is ultimately your choice, I go along with the others.  No pressure, just saying.....

[JeffT]

I'm in the no copper club

[Blue Ensign]

Well, thank you Gentlemen, with such advice from my fellow modellers, including Chris who designed and supplied the makings, I feel I must accept.

Mrs W has also added her vote for an unadorned hull.

So, the hull will be left au naturel.

Thanks again for helping me to resolve this issue, the decision to copper is a lot easier to make when the eye is less than satisfied with the planking.

I still quite like the coppered look and there are  good examples of  'Indy' builds using  both tape and plate  to inform any decision, but as has been said, a plain hull perhaps better suits a Navy Board style.

As it happens the colour of the Pearwood is very close to that of a tarnished copper penny.

I will invert the hull to apply a final coat of w-o-p, and then get on with it.

Cheers,

 

B.E.

[Glenn-UK]

A great decision. My Indy planking is no where near up to your standard but I'm very tempted to just varnish the boxwood hull but paint black and yellow above the waterline.

[aliluke]

In antipodean parlance we'd call this: 'Done like a dog's dinner.' Or perhaps the UK shares that phrase?

[Blue Ensign]

Ha, Ha, Alistair, in British parlance reference to a  dogs dinner refers to a confused, badly done, mess, or in terms of clothing - overdressed for a particular occasion. Not taken as a compliment in either respect. 😁

 

B.E.

[Kevin]

great decision, and not a dogs dinner like my coppering

[Blue Ensign]

That certainly didn’t come to mind looking at your coppering Kevin, I think it looks  good against the black above the waterline. 👍

 

B.E.

[Blue Ensign]

Post Sixty-one

Looking at the guns - Part One

 

The carriages are laser cut from 2mm pear and are nicely detailed, incorporating the bracket lines.

 Part of the design includes a tab at the front end to slot into a mortise in the deck to hold the carriage in place. (The guns are added later)

The system should go a long way towards preventing the rattle of loose guns rolling around the lower decks in places they can’t be retrieved.

The drawback of this system is that cap squares are of necessity omitted as the guns are fed thro’ the ports to be glued into place.

Not much of a loss where the decks are to be closed in, and better than loose cannon.

1687

My first job is to make a simple jig to hold the parts that make up the carriages which consist of four separate pieces for the main structure.

1688

1689

A jig speeds up assembly, and there are a lot to assemble.

There is the usual issue of square axles fitting round holes on the trucks. The merest pass with a sanding stick is required to knock the corners off the axles to allow fitment of the trucks. It is a fine line between fit and the square peg in a round hole image.

1691

It is impossible to get a proper fit to the truck with undersized square axles, as the above photo shows.

Ideally the axles should be slightly over size to allow for accurate rounding. I suppose they could be shimmed, but that’s a lot of extra work.

On a practical note, this deficiency will not stand out once the guns are fitted.

 

The trucks are a miniature delight complete with engraved bolt holes and section joints. There is enough room on the axles for the addition of truck keys for über detailers.

 

As with previous kits I am not generally keen on the supplied eyebolts that represent the hoops on the carriages sides that take the tackle hooks, but with this chunky 24 pdr carriage, they don’t look too bad.

 

I did feel it necessary to modify the one fitting to a ring bolt to take the breeching rope.

1697

In this shot the yet to be blackened ringbolt has replaced one of the supplied eyebolts.

 

The sharp eyed may also notice the handle added to the Quoin.

This is simply a short length of wire with a blob of pva on the end.

 

I won’t be using the peg and slot system for gun securing as access to all decks will be available on my build.

The tab did prove useful to hold the carriages during painting, and scored each side it snaps cleanly away when finished.

 

In part two I will be looking at the Resin gun barrels.

 

B.E.

10/08/2023

[glbarlow]

I recently completed the first 24 guns for Winchelsea. So fun to make one. By the 24th, in batches of 8, maybe less fun. Enjoy your gun factory works😊

[Blue Ensign]

Not sure enjoyment is the right word Glenn, but there is a satisfaction to be had  from a nicely completed set of guns.

A bit of overkill with Indy where there are 40 of the beggars to assemble, of which 28 are long guns. There is a lot of work in doing the guns properly - char cleaning, assembly, painting, blackening and adding ironwork,  weathering the barrels, rectifying flaws, ........

 

How would it look without guns I wonder😉

 

I'm starting with the long guns, and hope to basic assemble four or five per day.

 

Five already done, Twenty-one to go.🙄

 

onwards...

 

B.E.

 

 

[chris watton]

46 guns in total, 26 x 24 pounders, 2 x 12 pounder longs guns and 18 x 42 pounder carronades.

 

Classed as a 38 gun frigate at the time!

[Blue Ensign]

Cheers Chris - worse than I thought. 😄

 

B.E.

[glbarlow]

3 hours ago, Blue Ensign said:

char cleaning,

I know the feeling well. So much char…

Edited August 11, 2023 by glbarlow

[Theodosius]

love your selfmade deck!