HMS Beagle by brunnels - OcCre - 1:60 - first build

[JacquesCousteau]

Sorry to hear that you're going through a tough time, hope your dog is back in good health soon. The rigging looks great. Does the Syren rope need to be glued before it's cut? I know some ropes will unwind otherwise.

[brunnels]

8 minutes ago, JacquesCousteau said:

Does the Syren rope need to be glued before it's cut? I know some ropes will unwind otherwise

In my experience the Syren rope has not unwound at all on its own, the only time it has unwound on me is in situations where it snags up on something while being fed through a hole or tight spaces.  

[RossR]

1 hour ago, JacquesCousteau said:

Does the Syren rope need to be glued before it's cut? I know some ropes will unwind otherwise.

I have had a similar experience as Brunnels. No issue with it unwinding.  I always cut it with a newer sharp blade.  I keep a separate exacto knife for cutting the rope and only use it for that so it stays sharp.  

[brunnels]

Last couple nights I have been working on the rat lines, probably another couple nights before I complete them.  The rat lines definitely take a while to complete, but they are easier to complete than I what I had imagined. 

[brunnels]

Finished up the ratlines, there's plenty of mistakes but I feel like by the end I got the hang of the process and I am happy with my results for my first go around. 

 

 

Before I continued any further I wanted to complete a few tasks on the ships boats before it gets closed up by the rigging and got too hard to work with.  Inside the top boat I added some oars, boat hooks, anchors and some coiled ropes.  I got the oars from Vanguard models, and boy are they small and fragile, VERY hard to work with and I broke probably half of the larger ones while trying to shape them to be less square.  

 

I am now working on the backstays, these are the last task of the standard rigging.  After the backstays I will start on the yards and then start on the running rigging. 

 

[LucienL]

Wow, this is an awesome build! I think the shiny copper and the red go really well together. Also, the kit on the cutter looks really nice.

[brunnels]

4 hours ago, LucienL said:

Wow, this is an awesome build! I think the shiny copper and the red go really well together. Also, the kit on the cutter looks really nice.

Appreciate the compliment, your build log actually inspired me on several parts, such as doing the hammocks although yours definitely turned out much better than mine, I wish I would have made mine a bit smaller for scale. 

[brunnels]

After finishing up the backstays I have started on the gaffs, boom, and yards.  I have completed the yards for the foremast, hopefully this weekend I can get some good progress on the yards for the main mast.

[allanyed]

Truly a lovely build for a first go!   One thing for the future or maybe you could change now --in your photos the blocks appear to be upside down.  The line would go over the sheave and under the crown, not under the sheave and over the tail.

The below is from another build, but shows what I mean.

Allan

Edited May 10 by allanyed

[brunnels]

1 hour ago, allanyed said:

Truly a lovely build for a first go!   One thing for the future or maybe you could change now --in your photos the blocks appear to be upside down.  The line would go over the sheave and under the crown, not under the sheave and over the tail.

The below is from another build, but shows what I mean.

Allan

Thanks for the help allan and the compliment, I'm still a fish out of water when it comes to the blocks and rigging so any help is greatly appreciated. 

[brunnels]

Yards have all been completed and are now hanging off the masts.  Now to finish the running rigging.  I'm definitely glad I bought some rigging tools to help with the hard to reach places, sometimes I feel like a contortionist while trying to get into the right position to tie a rope off to a belaying pin.

 

Here are the completed yards

 

I've decided to leave some of these ropes loose until the end as I keep accidently bumping the spanker boom. 

 

The start of some of the running rigging. 

 

Here is how the Beagle currently sits

 

 

Question on non tensioned ropes like the horses hanging from the yards.  I see many builders use alligator clips or small clamps to hang from ropes to simulate the weight on the ropes hanging, is the technique to just brush these ropes with diluted PVA glue and then hang some weight on them while they dry?

[ccoyle]

39 minutes ago, brunnels said:

is the technique to just brush these ropes with diluted PVA glue and then hang some weight on them while they dry?

 

That'll work.

[Thukydides]

Great job, you are doing very well not just for a first time builder.

 

3 hours ago, brunnels said:

is the technique to just brush these ropes with diluted PVA glue and then hang some weight on them while they dry?

Are you using polyester or natural rope? For natural fibres pva works really well, but it is less good on polyester. It depends on the rope, but you may want to try a few test versions to see how it holds before attempting it on the model if you have polyester rope. I find matt varnish or diluted fabric glue work better for polyester.

Edited May 15 by Thukydides

[brunnels]

2 hours ago, Thukydides said:

Great job, you are doing very well not just for a first time builder.

 

Are you using polyester or natural rope? For natural fibres pva works really well, but it is less good on polyester. It depends on the rope, but you may want to try a few test versions to see how it holds before attempting it on the model if you have polyester rope. I find matt varnish or diluted fabric glue work better for polyester.

I'm using Syren rope which he describes as a cotton polyester blend.

[Thukydides]

16 minutes ago, brunnels said:

I'm using Syren rope which he describes as a cotton polyester blend.

PVA should work just fine then.

[brunnels]

I ran out of Syren rope last week right towards the end of the running rigging, so while I was waiting for more rope to come in I tried my hand at the ensign flag.   My goal was to make a flag that looked like it was naturally hanging in a light wind as I felt that would look a little more in place on a ship without sails than a flag fully sideways.  My method was to coat the flag in diluted PVA glue and pin it up at a similar angle to which it would sit.  I then added several small clamps and alligator clips to add weight and pull the flag down. I move the clamps around the flag until I got what I felt looked like a naturally hanging flag. I then pulled out my heat gun and added heat for a couple minutes and the flag started to fall down very nicely and retained a nice memory of the shape I wanted.  I then added another coat of diluted pva glue and let it sit overnight.

 

 

 

I have also started on the last 3 small boats.  I really am not a fan of planking those little boats lol.  Along with the boats, I am working on making rope hanks for the belaying pins, then I just need to finish the rigging, clean up my mess around the ship and add touch ups and I should cross the finish line.

[BETAQDAVE]

On 5/15/2024 at 2:10 PM, brunnels said:

Question on non tensioned ropes like the horses hanging from the yards.  I see many builders use alligator clips or small clamps to hang from ropes to simulate the weight on the ropes hanging, is the technique to just brush these ropes with diluted PVA glue and then hang some weight on them while they dry?

    The primary problem with small scale models is that the rope that we use, has little or no heft to it and won't  drape realistically.  The problem with just hanging a single weight on the line, is that you end up with the example at the top, rather than the one below which would be more true to life.  And, unfortunately, it's very noticeable when you have pairs of lines exiting from blocks.

[Keith Black]

IMHO, what makes the footropes look as realistic as we modelers can achieve is evenness along the yards. I notice that on the starboard side of your main main's yard the line between the stirrups droops too far down. Making the footrope lines even between stirrups and attached points will make a world of difference in appearance. 

 

 

 

[brunnels]

The main ship is now complete.  I still have three more small boats to complete which I'm going to put off for a while.  I started the small boat frames, but I honestly have not felt motivated to work on them, so I think it's better to put them off for a bit and do a proper job on them when I have the motivation for it.  Plus I keep staring at my Vanguard Sphinx kit that I've been itching to start, so I will probably call it good on the Beagle for a while.  

 

I will make a proper stand for the Beagle though once I decide what type I want to build. 

 

Here are the pictures of the completed main ship less the boats.

 

I bought this name plate on amazon for $11 with custom engraving, I will add it to the new stand I put together.