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

[Blue Ensign]

The 'Mouse ' proved very useful on this very large hull, I found it lightweight, quite controllable, and unlikely to unintentionally over fair unless you really worked at it.

On smaller hulls, I wouldn't bother, a case of courses for horses.

 

Cheers,

 

B.E.

 

 

[Rustyj]

Looks really nice B.E. that's quite a bend but you've got a nice run. 

 

[glbarlow]

I have that same mouse but no way would I have trusted myself to use it to fair Winchelsea, good for you making it work.  I did mine all by hand, it took a week. Your Indy is well on its way, nice!

Edited March 26, 2023 by glbarlow

[James G]

I’m with Glenn! I’m currently fairing the hull of my Winnie. About 2/3 done…all by hand. I have a Mouse too but have left it in the tool drawer. I’ve used it to sand fiberglass hulls on RC boats but don’t trust myself on this type of build. Way too easy for me to become over zealous. B.E. you are an example of self control. We’ll done.

[Blue Ensign]

I have to say Gentlemen that I too was far more circumspect when building my  single planked Cheerful, with expensive timbers.

I felt comfortable with the mouse for this project, in a way that I have never felt with say the Dremel, which I have never let near any on the model work.

 

Regards,

 

B.E.

 

 

[hollowneck]

My thoughtful and generous wife bought me a Dremel tool many years ago for a holiday gift. It took up valuable space on my bench for awhile until I found a use for it grinding off some rust on an old cast iron outdoor lighting fixture; I keep it around for the odd grinding job (in a heavy tool drawer) but haven’t used it for modeling. 

[Blue Ensign]

Post Thirteen- completing the fairing

Having applied the test planks at all levels along the hull, paying specific attention to the bow and stern areas I have reached the point where enough is enough.

Or perhaps not quite.

The next stage is to apply the patterns (248/251) around the  bow. They are formed around the extension pieces of bulkheads 1 -5, which have a subtle convex shape to them that the pattern should follow.

0596

To this end I did find it necessary to soak the patterns to achieve a good conformity.

0598

0599

I did do a little more fairing in this area to further fay the longitudinal gunport strips into the extension shapes.

0601

0602

These bulkhead extensions are eventually removed, but the subtle shape remains.

0603

The patterns are now re-clamped into position.

0608

A milestone of sorts is now reached with the fixing of the first plank.

The lower plank runs beneath the bow pattern and level with the lower gunport frame.

The lime bends well and with the plank clamped into place, it gets the heat treatment to produce the bow curve.

0607

The aft section of this strake has a slight lateral upward curve  from bulkhead  12 to the stern, which again was induced using heat after pinning to the hull.

0606

These photos also show the second plank fitted which runs level with the upper gunport frame.

0609

The section between the two planks are now filled, but I found that an additional 6mm strip doesn’t quite fill the space leaving a gap of around 2mm.

I suppose the intention is to fill this with off-cut slivers but I think I have some wider stuff lying around so I’ll dig it out and spile it to fit the space.

 

 

B.E.

27/03/23

 

 

 

 

[davyboy]

Looking very nice indeed Maurice 

 

Dave 

[Kevin]

lots of little milesstones

[Gus M]

Wow, looks great 

[glbarlow]

A reference build for all who follow!

[Blue Ensign]

Cheers, Guys.

 

Post Fourteen

Before I fitted the central strake of three I used a micro saw to remove the gunport sections of the upper strake.

0613

I used a length of 8mm x 1.5mm limewood strip to fill in the central gap, a little tapering towards the bow and stern and the fit is good.

0614

0617

I glued the plank to the frames and along the edges of the adjacent planks.

0623

The gunports were the fully opened-up before re-fitting and gluing the pear patterns into place.

0626

The blurb indicates areas where glue should not be applied, relating to the extensions to the bulkheads which will later be removed.

I added double sided tape to these areas to temporarily secure the patterns in the upper areas.

0637

Speed gluing and clamping is the name of the game.

0638

In this shot she looks more 64 than 44, what a lovely chunky beast.

0639

0644

0643

Fitting the patterns concludes this section of the build.

 

B.E.

30/03/23

[Gus M]

This is fantastic, I learning to much with this post!! Thanks for sharing your work

Edited March 30, 2023 by Gus M

[glbarlow]

It is a chunky thing. I guess that’s what a razee looks like. Seems it would be heavy at the stern, but it worked. Good looking infrastructure. 

[aliluke]

Hi B.E.

Wonderful work as always. Except for size and cost...(gulp)...I'd take this on with your build as a reference just as your Pegasus still is. I look forward to your Indefatigable updates.

 

Cheers

A

[Blue Ensign]

Thank you Gus, Glenn, and  Alistair, your interest is much appreciated, as is those who have 'liked' the posts.

 

Post Fifteen

Fresh supplies from the timberyard.

My supply of Boxwood has arrived from Hobbymill, Estonia.

 

0627

0628

The strips relate to decking and hull planking down to the wale.

0629

0630

The quality looks very good with the strip wood accurately cut to size – thank you Vahur.

 

I do note that Chris is now offering an ‘Indy’ Boxwood deck planking version for an extra £150 over the basic, which makes it a competitive option, altho’ some wider sheet stuff would be necessary to cut margin planks, unless that is also included.

0634

I did ask Vahur to send me a few samples of his coloured Hornbeam. I was curious to see if it could be used to represent the ochre stripe in the area of the gunports.

0635

The colour doesn’t suit my eye, too yellow, and the wrong shade, so I won’t pursue that option.

0636

The lower strip of black Hornbeam has more potential for use as wale timbers, altho' I have not tested it for cut in top and butt planking.

 

B.E.

31/03/2023

 

 

[Kevin]

its all going to look very nice

[Hubac's Historian]

The quality of this kit is very impressive.  Lovely progress, B.E.

[Blue Ensign]

Post Sixteen

 

A workshop enhancement

I have been feeling cramped of late as I try to manoeuvre the ‘Indy’ beast around, with only 600mm of depth available.

My latest acquisition is this work stand.

Bott work stand.

 

It is in the same range as my work bench and equal in terms of depth and (adj) height but being portable I can re-position it to give me either more length or depth to suit.

0647

In a straight line I now have seven foot+ length to play with.

0649

This ‘L’ shaped configuration is likely to prove even more useful. It allows me to walk around the model and provides more space for turning.

0651

I am hoping it will remove the frustration of working in a space a tad too small to freely manoeuvre the hull without risking bashing it on the wall.

 

A small price to pay for the added convenience.

 

 

B.E

01/04/2023

 

[Blue Ensign]

Post Seventeen

 

Hull planking.

On my builds I have always tried to follow the procedure I will use for the show finish. Perhaps with a little less adherence to a full tick strip method, but still utilising tapering, edge bending, and spiling as a method to achieve a reasonable planking job.

This gives me an insight into how the timbers will flow when I get down to the ‘proper’ job using show timbers.

The planking will be done with the hull inverted, this gives me better control.

 

0658

I opted to plank a first section down to the lower deck level which involves five strakes.

I used tape to indicate the line at the bow.

 

Starting at the Bow and using a tick strip I have calculated that very little taper is required – less than 1mm starting at Bulkhead four.

 

Joining all planks at the central bulkhead is a practical approach, but the look of it offends my eye even tho’ this is only the first layer. We all have our foibles, I guess.

 

I work side and side about, strake by strake.

I opted to fit a long forward plank, and a shorter aft plank cut from a longer strip to facilitate the bending.

0655

The aft plank is soaked, and the bend at the aft end is formed by heat.

 

0657

The bends up to the lower transom are fairly easy to form if sufficient soaking time is allowed.

0667

Once formed I temporarily pin them in place and heat blast them.

0660

At the bow end the lower two strakes required a little edge bending around bulkheads two and four to achieve the fit.

0664

0668

0671

Still in very much a rough state which the sanding should take care of.

0677

0680

0681

0684

I like to check the planking run with the hull the right way up, looking ok so far I think.

 

B.E.

05/04/2023

 

 

 

[Oldsalt1950]

Looking good B.E. 

[Beef Wellington]

25 minutes ago, Blue Ensign said:

Joining all planks at the central bulkhead is a practical approach, but the look of it offends my eye even tho’ this is only the first layer. We all have our foibles, I guess.

Not just you BE!  Looking good.

[Kevin]

that looks fantastic

[allanyed]

Your work looks super B.E.👍

You might consider temporarily adding the garboard strake and then recheck the marks for the ends/widths of the planks.  The main thing about the garboard is to be sure it does not run past the boxing joint of the keel and stem which looks to be between the second and third forward most bulkheads.

Allan

 

Edited April 5, 2023 by allanyed

[JeffT]

Looks very good.

[glbarlow]

22 hours ago, Blue Ensign said:

Joining all planks at the central bulkhead is a practical approach, but the look of it offends my eye

Not only does it offend the eye I’m not sure how practical it is. Much more practical to me is like you’re doing, shifting the joints of the planks. Not only is it a practice run for the second planking it makes for a sound hull, as well as showing the true run of the planks.
 

Nice work!

Edited April 6, 2023 by glbarlow

[Blue Ensign]

Thank you, Guys,

 

@ Jason and Glenn – I’m glad I’m not alone, I can’t see any reason not to apply even a rudimentary stagger to the butt joints; as you say Glenn it’s all part of a useful practice run for the second planking.

 

@ Allan – I’ve already had the Garboard in place to mark the gap at the central point.

0663

I am using a 10mm wide board, but I need to temporarily fit the keel and stem pieces to properly work out the shape and termination.

This will be my next job.

 

Regards,

 

B.E.

 

[Blue Ensign]

Post Eighteen

 

Planking continues – Garboard strake

This is the point where I need to fit the Garboard plank to determine the planking requirements for the remaining area.

Garboards can be tricky planks to fit in terms of shape and where to end, and they always cause me some head scratching.

 

Some may think why bother, this is only the first planking that is to be covered, and perhaps even covered again by coppering.

For me it’s about keeping options open.

 

If the second planking is good enough not to be covered, then fitting a garboard on the first planking run will give a valuable insight for shape and position on the second show planking.

It does mean that extra planking widths will be required.

 

I am using a 10mm wide board, but I need to temporarily fit the keel and stem pieces to properly work out the shape and termination point at the bow.

0685

A real pleasure to get the keel elements in place even if only for a while. Beautifully cut, a perfect fit, and great to have a quality wood finish for the parts rather than mdf.

 

Perversely my next move is to cut an mdf stem piece against which to form the Garboard. I can’t risk the proper stem during the working process.

0689

Time to fire up the scroll saw.

0692

I don’t see any reason not to leave the keel pieces in situ at this stage, as the Garboard is the only plank that abuts, and it will assist the fitting.

0693

 A lot of time is spent tweaking the plank to gauge the right position. I’m never fully confident that I’ve got it right, but whatever the outcome doing it on the first layer will show the way for the second planking.

0695

I take the pre-caution of taping the keel, in part to avoid the planks getting glued to the keel at this point.

0698

0699

0700

0701

0702

 

I can now begin the next phase of planking.

 

B.E.

07/04/2023

 

[Kevin]

great progress, and looks fantastic

 

[Nipper]

Thank you B.E. for giving us all the opportunity to have this insight into your thinking as you plan your way forward in this build.  As a relative newcomer - I'm only on my second build - I find your explanations and reasoning behind your decisions as helpful as the building techniques themselves.  It must be very time-consuming to write a build log lke yours, but thank you for doing so because you are helping many of us to become better, and more satisfied, ship modellers as a result.

 

Nipper