HMS Terror by jparenti - OcCre - 1:75

[jparenti]

 

On 8/10/2023 at 2:28 PM, clearway said:

welcome to the ice bridge conundrum 😁

 

Keith

That’s no kidding. I still haven’t quite determined how to do it properly. The diagrams seem to show a support mounted outside the bulwarks at one point… I might just have to wing it and hope it looks decent honestly. 
 

 

This is the first curved davit assembly. I still need to get some brass stock to make the brackets for the rest of the davits but so far the design seems sound. The stanchion is removable and you can remove the curved arm itself by pulling the pin out of the bracket mounted outboard.

[jparenti]

A question to anyone who might know: How do you guys usually make the sheaves in a piece of wood like the stanchions and the davit arm? I assumed I could just drill two holes but I wondered if there was a better way. 

[clearway]

8 hours ago, jparenti said:

How do you guys usually make the sheaves in a piece of wood like the stanchions and the davit arm?

i drill two holes and remove a sliver of wood from between them to make a groove- i think daniel d actually added pulley blocks into slots but it depends on how thick the posts are.

 

Keith

[allanyed]

On 7/14/2023 at 7:43 AM, jparenti said:

I replaced the somewhat chunky looking kit grates with ones from Syren Ship Model Company

Hi J,

Just tuned in to your build.  This is REALLY good work for an experienced builder let alone a wood model first timer like yourself. 

 

 It is great that you went with realistic gratings as they are so noticeable on the upper decks.   For the future, keep in mind that the grating battens run fore and aft and the ledges athwartships.  

 

Again, your build is impressive!

Allan

[jparenti]

7 hours ago, allanyed said:For the future, keep in mind that the grating battens run fore and aft and the ledges athwartships.  

I learn a new trick with this model every time I pick it up it seems. 😄 I honestly had no idea there was a preferred orientation of the grating! I also didn’t know the Syren grating is closer to the real thing in construction than the typical kit part and not just better looking. 

 

I’m glad I’m doing Erebus next. I can refine my technique and correct some of the stuff I learned about while assembling this one. 

[clearway]

5 hours ago, jparenti said:

I’m glad I’m doing Erebus next. I can refine my technique and correct some of the stuff I learned about while assembling this one. 

I hear ya my man😉

 

Keith

[jparenti]

So I decided that, despite Captain Crozier’s dislike of the iron davits, I’m going to include them in my model. I’m doing it as fitted for the Northwest Passage expedition, and they were there at some point. Plus, I kinda like how they look. 
 

I assumed I’d need to make them out of metal stock but then I saw that some places actually sell them. I couldn’t find anyone who ships to the United States that had the ones I thought looked most accurate. By chance I read the passage in Matthew Betts’ book regarding davits and he states that you can see similar davits on modern reconstructions of the HMS Beagle. Which got me to thinking. 
 

I went to OcCre’s website because I knew they make a Beagle kit. I pulled up the instructions and lo and behold:

 

 

 

Seems almost a perfect match for the diagrams in the book. 
 

The company doesn’t sell the davits in their online catalog unfortunately. I’ve sent them a very polite message asking if they’d sell me four of them (maybe I need to buy eight if I’m doing Erebus later!).
 

I also mentioned that they’d allow me to build a more accurate Terror — maybe they’ll eventually decide to start providing a set of them in future releases of the kits. 😁

[Swordfish073]

Thank you very much for posting this record of your build.  Like you, I’m a first timer on wooden kits and have also chosen Terror as my first project.  Your work is inspiring.  

[allanyed]

53 minutes ago, Swordfish073 said:

Thank you very much for posting this record of your build.  Like you, I’m a first timer on wooden kits and have also chosen Terror as my first project.  Your work is inspiring.  

Welcome to MSW.  It would be very kind if you would post a little introduction and maybe a name we can call you besides SW073 (if you wish😀) in the new member forum here at MSW.   Again fὰilte gu MSW

Allan

[jparenti]

I received a very nice communication back from OcCre and they will be providing the iron davits from the Beagle kit for me to use on Terror. The scales are slightly different so I’m hoping they work well — they seem to be close enough to work fine. I believe they’re on vacation until the end of August though so it will be a short wait. Meanwhile I’m moving on to other things. 

Any insight on this?

 

 

I didn’t think I’d seen anyone else drill the scupper holes in the side (the elongated holes marked as 15 here). I probably ought to do that at some point — the holes in the deck need to be carefully added, too. Has anyone else added these to the model? I know Matthew Betts did. 
 

I’m trying to determine what those five round holes in the bulwark are. They’re on Betts’ model too. 
 

Any clues?

 

I also have to figure out how to drill the holes you see in the left upper corner for the…sheaves? Is that what those are? Wish I’d realized that before I built so much more of the model! I’m not handy enough to drill out good sheaves yet so I practiced on the wooden davits and stanchions with somewhat mixed results. (They’re not difficult to manufacture so I can always build more if I need to.)

[clearway]

I think Keith S drilled out the scupper holes on his Terror and Daniel D- i suspect the 5 extra holes might be to facilitate water egress from the massey pumps- i didn't add them on my Terror but will most likely add them to Erebus.

 

Keith

[jparenti]

 

Scupper holes and drain holes drilled into starboard side. I need to find a microscopic file to clean these up and repaint the holes. 

[jparenti]

I’m using the method detailed by clearway on the Model Ship World forums to build the deadeye strops. I wasn’t sure how to flatten the copper wire effectively but it turns out I can get a good result by clamping it with a vise. I’ll need to get some 22 gauge wire to do this for real — this is 18 gauge that I had in the toolbox and I don’t have anything thinner. Still debating on whether or not to buy deadeyes from Syren since I’d need a tumbler to shape them too. 
 

Rigging is where I start to panic. I don’t know the first thing about it and I’m not well versed in the terminology. I’m still learning what everything is and I’m starting to be confident enough to attempt some of it. I purchased some scale rope from Syren to use and I can already see it far exceeds the stuff included in the kit. 

Edited August 25, 2023 by jparenti
Spelling error

[clearway]

9 hours ago, jparenti said:

I wasn’t sure how to flatten the copper wire effectively but it turns out I can get a good result by clamping it with a vise.

I used a pair of small smooth pliers to flatten the strops on the end- On Terror i went with the kit supplied deadeyes, but with Erebus i will be using 4mm and 3.5mm as opposed to the kits 5mm and 4mm- oh i am sooooooooo looking forward to making the strops/ chainplates again🤪.

 

Keith

[jparenti]

I’m painting the lower main mast and staining the upper masts. I really need to figure out if the tops need to be painted black or not.
 

The iron bands are in place (made of black card) and the rest of the mast is mocked up to check the fit. I’m pretty lost at this stage so I’m going for something that looks the part rather than being absolutely historically accurate. I’m hoping to bend toward accuracy in the end though. I really need a copy of Lee’s rigging book. 
 

Nothing is actually glued into place yet. All the masts and bowsprit are just dry fitted into each other and into the deck. 

Edited September 8, 2023 by jparenti

[clearway]

8 hours ago, jparenti said:

I really need to figure out if the tops need to be painted black or not

If painting i would paint the top white except for the upper surface of the floorboards - also the mast doubling will be white on the lower masthead and the topmast head along with the crosstrees on the topmast. I scratched new tops and cross/ trestle trees because occre had the fore and aft ends tight against the mast- you will find out when rigging the shrouds why they left a gap on the real ships- hope this makes sense.

 

Keith

[jparenti]

19 hours ago, clearway said:

If painting i would paint the top white except for the upper surface of the floorboards - also the mast doubling will be white on the lower masthead and the topmast head along with the crosstrees on the topmast. I scratched new tops and cross/ trestle trees because occre had the fore and aft ends tight against the mast- you will find out when rigging the shrouds why they left a gap on the real ships- hope this makes sense.

I wondered if I needed to scratchbuild new tops and crosstrees. I’d been debating it which is why nothing is actually glued into place. I need to examine some diagrams of period ships and see what the actual layout should be. 

[jparenti]

I decided to remake the davit stanchions. I managed to find some 4 mm square stock at the local model train supply store. I drilled two 1 mm holes in the stanchion and carved out the wood in between and filed it smooth with the Flex-i-File.
 

I found some tiny brass sheaves on Cast Your Anchor and bought a bunch of them. They slip right into the holes I made and are secured with a brass nail snipped to size from the kit parts.
 

I added a short length of brass rod at the bottom of the stanchion from the stock supplied in the kit. The end of the brass rod slips into a brass standoff I bought from Ages of Sail. It might not be prototypical but it will save me from drilling holes in the deck to position the stanchions properly — I can just glue the standoffs in place where they’re needed with white glue and pull them loose if required.