HMS Portland 1770 by scrubbyj427 - 1:48 - 4th rate 50-gun ship

[scrubbyj427]

Hi Guys, 

So I’ve been developing HMS Portland for about two years now and I plan to offer it as a kit, it will be sold in parts or sections so you can build at whatever speed you wish or only purchase what you want and scratch build the rest. The project will

be in 1:48 scale and will be offered mainly in Alaskan yellow cedar and other various woods including boxwood for select parts and I’m leaning towards MDF structure but I will have to see how the initial prototype builds.

As a Winnie builder, I was inspired and blown away by Chucks incredible design work and flawless representation of the Winchelsea, so much that I purchased a laser machine and started designing. My aim is to offer a model as detailed and accurate as possible.

The model is designed to represent the dockyard style model of Portland as depicted in the Joseph Marshal paintings of 1774, as seen below. 
There are enough early drawings of Portland available to accurately represent her as initially designed, these drawings also match up well with the paintings of the contemporary model, she does differ from her closest sister, Bristol but the model could be modified to represent Bristol if desired. 

It will have all decks built and exposed down to the main gun deck showing all frames, guns and fittings.

currently the model is in its final stages of design/development, I will begin assembling the hull and proving the design as I go, I don’t plan to offer parts of the kit until I’m very very far into the build. Currently the sculptures are being finalized with the figurehead of Artemis, the Greek goddess of hunting already being produced, I should be able to post updates on the stern carvings in a couple months.

I am going to try and offer both resin and boxwood sculptures for this project, I haven’t been able to determine the cost of the full set yet but it shouldn’t be outrageous.

 

At 1:48 the model comes in just under 43” long and about 10.5” in beam. So it’s not unmanageable,

unless of course you decide to rig it.

The design prototype shows half the model with exposed frames, as the contemporary model was built, I may offer a version like this but it will be very expensive and tricky to build, it will be a hybrid POF/POB if released. I will likely start a test portion of this alongside the prototype build.

 

Currently I have set up my new laser machine and I’m cutting some parts just for testing purposes, I took some photos next to my Winnie to give an idea of scale. I think the two will look great sitting next to eachother.

 

 

[VTHokiEE]

Wow! How cool is this! Good luck with the project!

[Trussben]

Good luck with the project.

[mtaylor]

That will be a very impressive model.  I'm in to follow along.

[Matt D]

This looks like an excellent project, JJ!  I’m very excited for you and looking forward to following your progress.

[allanyed]

It is great to see a kit with a tapered knee of the head and a figurehead that is not bow legged!   Well done.

I hope this project is a total success for you.

Allan

Edited June 4, 2023 by allanyed

[scrubbyj427]

23 hours ago, VTHokiEE said:

Wow! How cool is this! Good luck with the project!

Thank you VTHokiEE! More updates coming soon!

 

21 hours ago, Trussben said:

Good luck with the project.

Thank you Ben! Very excited to start construction.

 

18 hours ago, mtaylor said:

That will be a very impressive model.  I'm in to follow along.

Thank you Mark! Updates will be slow at first, but I will have some 3D progress soon that shows construction on the first part of the model which will cover the hull and framing.

 

14 hours ago, Matt D said:

This looks like an excellent project, JJ!  I’m very excited for you and looking forward to following your progress.

Thank you Matt, stay tuned for more updates.

 

6 hours ago, allanyed said:

It is great to see a kit with a tapered knee of the head and a figurehead that is not bow legged!   Well done.

I hope this project is a total success for you.

Allan

Thank you Allan! Appreciate your input. 

[Chuck]

Excellent work JJ....and I am so happy you are moving forward with this.  I have been following his progress on this and it is shaping up to be a wonderful project.

 

Let me know how I can help as always.

 

Chuck

[jfhealey]

Wow! You Americans really push the boundaries don't you. And how generous of Chuck to chip in with "Let me know how I can help....".

 

 

 

Fred

[scrubbyj427]

On 6/4/2023 at 1:21 PM, Chuck said:

Excellent work JJ....and I am so happy you are moving forward with this.  I have been following his progress on this and it is shaping up to be a wonderful project.

 

Let me know how I can help as always.

 

Chuck

Thank you Chuck! That means a lot.
I’m currently working on the 3D assembly and cut files for Part 1 of the kit and will be posting updates soon.

 

On 6/4/2023 at 2:25 PM, jfhealey said:

Wow! You Americans really push the boundaries don't you. And how generous of Chuck to chip in with "Let me know how I can help....".

 

 

 

Fred

Thank you Fred! You Brits just built so many elegant ships that we can’t help ourselves but model them!😁

[scrubbyj427]

This will be my last physical model update for a bit as I’ve returned to work which means I’m away from my laser. Before I left I just wanted a nice mock up of the basic Skelton so I cut the outer aft transom frames just to give an idea of the overall length and height of the hull.

For the next couple months I will be “assembling” Part1 of the kit on my computer to make sure everything required to make the hull is included and fits correctly.  This will also yield all my cut files for that part of the model.

 

Stay tuned for updates.

[yvesvidal]

Fantastic project and excellent execution.

 

Yves

[scrubbyj427]

10 hours ago, yvesvidal said:

Fantastic project and excellent execution.

 

Yves

Thank you Yves. 

[Rustyj]

This is very exciting to see and I can't wait to see more, though I must! 

[rlwhitt]

This is a great looking start.  May I ask what laser cutter you’re using?  Looks like it does a nice job.

[scrubbyj427]

On 6/8/2023 at 3:25 PM, Rustyj said:

This is very exciting to see and I can't wait to see more, though I must! 

Thank you Rusty!  I should have some updates to the digital model soon.

23 hours ago, rlwhitt said:

This is a great looking start.  May I ask what laser cutter you’re using?  Looks like it does a nice job.

Thank you @rlwhitt. I recently purchased the Boss LS-2440, so far I’m very happy with it but of course I’m still learning the ropes and how to fine tune it. 

[Hubac's Historian]

This looks pretty incredible, and I will gladly follow along.

[Beef Wellington]

Fascinating project, very interested in seeing this come together.

[FrankWouts]

Beautiful and ambitious project JJ!

I'll be following with great interest.

It will be hard to choose what will be my next after I finished Winchelsea....
Frank.

Edited October 11, 2023 by FrankWouts

[AnobiumPunctatum]

I will follow your log with great interest.

[Matt D]

On 6/3/2023 at 1:09 PM, scrubbyj427 said:

Currently the sculptures are being finalized with the figurehead of Artemis, the Greek goddess of hunting already being produced, I should be able to post updates on the stern carvings in a couple months.

 

I am going to try and offer both resin and boxwood sculptures for this project, I haven’t been able to determine the cost of the full set yet but it shouldn’t be outrageous.

 

JJ, how did you make that beautiful figurehead?  I was just looking more closely at it and it looks so amazing.  I'd love to know a little about the process you used.

[scrubbyj427]

3 hours ago, Matt D said:

 

JJ, how did you make that beautiful figurehead?  I was just looking more closely at it and it looks so amazing.  I'd love to know a little about the process you used.

Hi Matt, 

the figurehead was produced exactly as the figurehead for the Winnie. I provided a 3D model of the knee to @Jack H along with the rough dimensions and paintings of the contemporary figurehead and Jack did the sculpting work in Zbrush. From there the file can be produced into a real wood sculpture with a CNC machine. Keep following this log for updates on all the stern carvings as they are in the works currently. I’m finishing up the initial structure design of the model right now. I hope to be building the actual prototype by September. 

Edited July 10, 2023 by scrubbyj427

[glbarlow]

Wow, this is really cool!

[scrubbyj427]

9 minutes ago, glbarlow said:

Wow, this is really cool!

Thanks Glenn. 
 

There’s  an incredible amount of work and investment that goes into this, lots of design and redesign and I haven’t even began physically building it yet aside from what I’ve shown. It really adds another layer of admiration to the Winchelsea project as well as others such as the work Chris produces.

JJ

[scrubbyj427]

I have a few updates to the design of the structural assembly for the first part of the model, it is almost complete, I need to add a few things like the stern chaser port framing, some sheaves and tie in some of the structure in the stern. Otherwise this is pretty close to what I will begin assembling in September, this will lead into Planking and Q gallery assembly, I am well ahead in that aspect of the design and will probably begin test building that separately alongside the prototype build. Comments and questions are welcome.

 

JJ

[scrubbyj427]

I’m working on assembling the first prototype, this one will be used primarily to test fit parts and it will only be built to accommodate the basic structure. Most all parts are MDF  as it’s better place holder than more expensive woods. I’m hoping to get the bulkheads on tomorrow as well as the longitudinal structure, from there I will produce the longitudinal strakes for the gunport framing. More to follow soon.

 

[glbarlow]

Really amazing and impressive with what you’re doing here especially given you’re learning as you go with both design and production. Does ‘back to work’ you’re back on board a ship, if so keeping the design work going is even more impressive?

[scrubbyj427]

On 9/15/2023 at 7:18 AM, glbarlow said:

Really amazing and impressive with what you’re doing here especially given you’re learning as you go with both design and production. Does ‘back to work’ you’re back on board a ship, if so keeping the design work going is even more impressive?

Thanks Glenn.

No more real boats For me, I’ve moved onto the cushier side of being land based, but based far away…from my laser machine. I’m currently stalled as my laser machine is having some issues following cutting instructions, so I’m a little disappointed in my production for this trip home. Hopefully I’ll be back up and running next week and will

be able to cut all the structure and take it all back with me to build the prototype. 🤞

[scrubbyj427]

Small update:

So I’ve had very little progress as I’m experiencing some laser issues which is eating up a lot of material, so until I reach tech support and resolve the issue I’ve decided to postpone anymore attempts at cutting parts, especially AYC. But I’ve got a few bulkheads cut and I’m pleased with how they fit, establishing proper tolerances is challenging, I will find out how well it will go together when I get additional longitudinal structure installed. I hope to be up and running again next week and will make some progress updates.

I have been experimenting with lining off the bulkheads for planking and so far the results look promising on the computer model, marks made on the bullheads are designed to accommodate required fairing. Both sets of wales as well as the deck elevations are also represented.

 

[scrubbyj427]

My laser control board was delivered this morning, I wasted no time installing and began cutting as soon as the machine was happy again. I made some headway in the structure, I do however have some fine tuning to do and tolerances need to be adjusted. 
Most everything is dry fitted with  zero slop to it, I need to increase the cuts by just a bit in the next model

I modified the design of the longitudinal stiffeners and reduced their size, they are now made up of two pieces and lock together In the middle. This helps with installation as you only have to manage half the bulkheads.

 

This created a very rigid structure with all the bulkheads being well behaved and equally spaced on each side

you can also see the two bow filler pieces that meet bulkhead 3 and overlap the longitudinal stiffener and help to tie the forward bulkheads in with the remaining ones, this keeps the forward part of the model square. The bow pieces all have reference lines for fairing as well. 

From the back side of the model you can see the reference lines for the wales as well as each deck, there are two sets of wales and three decks that will be built, each deck and wale is marked, I will explain more when I build the next model.

like the bow fillers, the lower stern frames also tie into the longitudinal stiffeners to help keep the stern square, there will also be a stern frame jig included as the stern frames are very long and delicate, this will assist in getting the frames properly placed and tied into other structure on the model. I will get this assembled and on the model tomorrow .

For tomorrow I plan to also get the longitudinal guides for the gun ports cut, these are going to be extremely tricky and complex, there will also be a continuation of the stern frame jig to help support all the upper frames when fairing, they are just too tall to leave unsupported.

Thanks for stoping by.

JJ