HMS Victory by Yabuhebi (Chris) - Caldercraft - 1:72

[Yabuhebi]

I finished all of the gun port liners. I did go over some of them again to try and square them up, but opted to put a coat of primer on to bring out any issues easily. The dark woods tend to hide issues and as can be seen here, once everything is white, you can see where I may need to make accommodations.

 

I did notice that some of the 2nd planking doesn't fit tightly together. I know much of it will be hidden by the copper plates. And there are also gaps in the upper planking that will be visible.

 

I want to add one more coat of primer after this one dries and I have had a chance to quickly and lightly sand it in a few days.

Perhaps that coat and then the addition of the two different stripes will help to fill in some of the voids or at least smooth them out and make them less visible.

 

I also notice some of the wales are bulging out and will have to be sanded back a bit.

 

[Yabuhebi]

Been a while, but I have moved along. Not always for the best, in fact as I stand here today, I am both happy and very unhappy with progress so far.

 

Laid out the water line per the plans. Just jury rigged a pencil to a piece of wood and drew my lines after leveling the hull as best as possible. 

 

My error was the line at the bow. It follows the wales and while it looked ok before painting, looking at other builds after the fact it seemed to me that there needs to be more of the planking below the lower wale before the water line begins.

 

After painting, it was clear that I needed to fix that....

 

 

[Yabuhebi]

After taping off everything, began painting. I used my airbrush and began experimenting with various thinners I have in stock. I had tried Tamiya and that didn't seem to work well. Neither did AK, Vellejo or Real Color thinners. Ultimately after getting an email from Jotika suggesting I use water, that's what I went with and it seems to go well....just watch how thin you make it.

 

 

 

You can see here that the water line is too high at the bow. It needs to actually follow my planking that is barely visible here.

 

 

I re-taped the bow and fell like that will be more realistic. 

[Yabuhebi]

I taped off striping for the hull and then began laying down the first layer of yellow ochre.

 

Unfortunately, while cleaning the airbrush, the chucking nut that holds the needle in place fell on the floor.

This is the second time I've done that. Last time while painting my Titanic model and I never found it.

I did not find this one....I tried to paint without it, but the flow was too heavy. 

 

So I had to order a new one....ordered two this time. 

 

[Yabuhebi]

As I waited for that part, I took a stab at some other items.

 

I needed 7 grates and they went together pretty easily.

The first one, I installed all the grates for one side, then put a piece of masking tape over the whole piece to flip over.

 

I thought that was a good tactic but the tape keeps the assembly from moving, so if it isn't square, the next set of grates are harder to install.

 

After that, I removed the tape after flipping it and it went very easy after that.

 

Installing the coamings for the grates was a bit of a task. The plan required mitering of the corners. I didn't have anything to cut reliable angles, but I do have a full size band saw with a small 1/4" blade but I don't have any slides for cutting angle.

 

So the first grating I just cut everything at 90 degree angles. It worked fine.

 

I ordered a cheap cutter and it came the next day. I cut 2 or 3 pieces of 3mmx4mm walnut and the blade broke. In addition, it cut lousy angles and it was impossible to see my cutting lines.

 

I ordered a more expensive wooden version of a cutter and while I haven't used it yet, it appears to be a higher quality.

 

I finished all the gratings with the plastic cutter and filled any gaps with wood putty.

 

 

Making the stairs was hell itself.

The instructions suggest the ideal tactic is to make a jig. 

I do not believe you can do this without using a jig. The treads at 1mm in thickness just do not easily fit into the side rails without a bit of force.

 

You can see just below the 3 stairs I did. The middle one was my first non jig attempt. It is a horror to look at.

The one on the right was with the jig, but I took it out too soon. The pressure created by the tightly fitting treads pushed the whole thing a part and the side rails broke trying to get humpty dumpty back together again.

The left one, I left in till the glue set up better. My fear is that once dry, I wouldn't be able to get the stairs out. So it's a dance to get it out at the right moment.

 

My only saving grace is that these stairs are mostly hidden under the upper deck which is mostly hidden by the quarter deck....and they will prepare me for what I need to do for the stairs on the quarter and top decks which will be very visible.

 

[Yabuhebi]

Got my chucking nut and laid down the yellow ochre.

 

After finishing it and removing the tape, I was semi happy with the striping. 

There are a lot of pictures here because I tried different camera modes to try an capture the correct colors.

 

I thought the final painting was going to solve my concerns over the quality of the hull work thus far.

I did not. I only made the flaws and gaps much more noticeable. It was just too much to handle.

 

I've said elsewhere, this kit is VERY DIFFICULT. I don't think I was fully prepared for the hurdles I was going to have to jump through.

In retrospect, I should have tackled a less difficult model to gain experience in planking and the yet to come rigging.

Is this model ok for on the job learning? I don't know. The Trumpeter Titanic was the same way, so many pieces, so much small detail on a 1/200 scale ship.

 

The nice thing about this model is the quality of the manuals. Detailed and plainly written...while in contrast Trumpeter's was 20 or so pages of pictures, no words.

 

Also, the Titanic model has many quality YouTube builder logs that I was able to follow while doing my model. There are very few Caldercraft specific Victory YouTube logs, I have watched all of them and still continue to search. There are certainly many other wooden ship models that have helped with specific tasks and I continue to search and save.

 

Either way, I will press on, but am less than happy with certain aspects of my work. 

 

[Yabuhebi]

So after stressing and mulling, I broke out my filler and went crazy.

I bought little sanding 'sticks' with the sanding material glued to the ends and filled every gap and crevice I could find.

 

Then sanding, sanding and more sanding. Once done, I had to re-tape everything, painting the yellow ochre then waiting for it to dry and doing the black.

 

[Yabuhebi]

After the taping and painting which I did my brush this time, I was left with a little bit of leakage that I had to carefully touch up.

 

Did it help? A little. Other than starting from scratch, ripping all the wales and lids away, sanding smooth and starting again, this was my only choice.

 

[Yabuhebi]

I added the red ochre to the port side gun liners. Again a little more paint touch up and another once over of the yellow and black and I think I am going to call the port side done.

I will do the starboard side tomorrow....

 

 

 

Installed the coamings and gratings and they look fine...or grate?!!

[Yabuhebi]

I finished touching up the gunports. I still have some minor spots to get at and needed to flip the hull upside down to get the 'top gun ports'

 

I didn't get any pictures of where I am so far but decided to start the copper plating. I started at 1:59pm in the first pic and the 2nd pic at 5:43pm.

 

I took about 30 minutes or so in the middle to eat lunch and check some other builds and my books to make sure I had a plan in place for laying out the tiles.

 

So 5 rows in about 3-3.5 hours. I'll see you when it's done!!!! 

 

 

Edited April 11 by Yabuhebi

[RossR]

Good luck with the copper plates.  Can’t wait to see it when you are done.  

[Yabuhebi]

Over the past 3 weeks, I have spent about 2-4 hours at a sitting working on the copper plates. I did begin filling in some of the stealer plates, but I used regular scissors to cut them (which works, they cut easily) but they do bend a bit and when I installed them, they didn't look very clean.

 

I stopped installing more partial plates and concentrated on full plates only. Once I am done, I will go back and tackle the partials. I removed any of the partials that I did that looked bad. 

 

I also have a bit of a gap between the hull and the keel on the port side nearer the stern. I should have filled this in before. It will be visible when done, but nothing more I can do other than remove those plates and fill the gap. We'll see....

 

I finished the port side and I'm working on the starboard side. However the weather has finally turned for the better up in the northeast US and I have been concentrating on getting my boat in the water. I guess you see that a lot in builder logs....huge gaps between spurts. 

 

I also started working on the cannons as a break. I would do 4 or so courses of plates and then remove five cannons and build the bases. I don't have any pictures of that. So far, that is pretty standard work. Cutting out the carriages, axles and wheels is fairly easy, the stock is thick and does require a bit of power to cut through the sprue to get them free.

 

I sanded all of the carriages and axles to remove any fuzz. I also drilled out the holes for the bed bolt. The factory holes are a bit smaller than the 1mm wire provided. I created a crude jig for the fitting the carriages and axles together. Just some small blocks glued to a larger piece of wood to hold the carriages apart while adding the 2 axles.

 

Having seen some builders add a wire loop to the back of the cannon to hold the breaching wires. I like that. I'm thinking I would run all 30 cannons through a piece of wire to hold them all upright and then seeing if my looper pliers can create a small enough loop to suit the task. 

 

...that's down the road a bit, but I think that doing a few different tasks when working on something like copper plating or planking helps to keep the builder motivated.

[Yabuhebi]

 

In between cutting the grass, power washing the winter away and other stuff that is supposed to be fun....I have tried to plug away on Victory.

 

I think I am very close, maybe a few more rainy days away from finishing the full copper plating. Once done, I will concentrate of adding the little wedges and edges. I want to be sure they are as perfect as I can make them....or as perfect as my fingers will let me!

 

[kiwiron]

Looking good. Small medic type scissors work well for the small pieces. Yes you will stick those pieces into your fingers. 

[Yabuhebi]

I have also been building the 30 cannons for the upper deck. 

 

I have 15 bases done. I have cut out the remaining pieces (except the wedges for the cannons...they seem very fragile and I expect I will be creating a lot of them on my own).

 

I have left all the wheels for later, I've seen where builders have strung them on a wire and sanded them all together. That sounds like a plan I'll try.

 

After sanding all the sides and axles, I use a basic jig to build the bases. I also drill out the holes for the bed bolt brass wire. The wire is about 1mm and he hole is about not 1mm, so it needs a bit of widening. 

 

I do 5 at a time because my patience begins to wander. There is still a lot to do. I have to create or use kit pieces for all of the eyelets on the cannons and the interior walls. I have to learn how to rig the tackles and breaching tackles and more. I have to blacken everything and create jigs to consistently line up the final cannons. So exciting! 

 

My hope is that as this will be my first attempt at creating the blocks  and seizing the lines for the tackles and it will prepare me for future more complicated rigging tasks.

 

 

[Yabuhebi]

5 minutes ago, kiwiron said:

Looking good. Small medic type scissors work well for the small pieces. Yes you will stick those pieces into your fingers. 

I have a set of those from a previous model. I was planning on trying them out. I did try using an exacto knife for a few, that worked well too, but was very labor intensive and had a greater risk of cutting what's left of my finger tips off. 

 

Thanks for the tip!!!!!

Chris

[kiwiron]

A magnifier on a stand is good for those tiny blocks.

[Yabuhebi]

Still here!!! Been slowly cutting tiles to finish the water line. I spend an hour or so every few days, but we're getting close.

 

I do have a set of very small surgical and sharp cutting scissors that work well. I just have to smooth out any curl with a wooden dowel sometimes.

I also have one of the large magnifier lights from Harbor Freight that I have clamped to my workbench. I don't need to use it to see, but it provides extra light when I am working.

 

Right now, I am trying to think how I'll 'finish/smooth' out the line between the copper plates and wooden hull. I thought the best, creative way would be to use a small strip of wood, perhaps 1mm square and route a groove on one side for the copper plating to lay under. That isn't possible with the tools I have.

 

I think I may end up taping the plating and painting the exposed area black. It may paint some of the plates on the very upper edge, but will make the line clean. I also have to touch up some of the gaps in the copper plating. A local hobby shop sells Tamiya copper paint. I am going to get that and see how close it matches. If not, I will get a some of the other brands, Vellejo, AK, etc. I am sure one is very close.

 

I also screwed up on one side where the keel runs up to create the bow. Instead of running the plates horizontal on the bow (parallel to the water line), I had them follow the bottom keel, so there is a row of plates that go up (almost perpendicular to the rest of the plates). It looks terrible, but now the problem is that I feel like I am very close to having just enough plates to finish and no more.

 

I have not wasted many, so they must provide enough to do the hull with a few extras, but not a ton. I am going to do the other side so that all plates continue on parallel to the water line. If after I do that and fill in all the little slivers and have enough, I will redo the other side.

 

If I have to sacrifice the plates that cover the very bottom of the keel, I will do that!

 

....sorry, no picture of what I am talking about, but I will provide it. Just too lazy to walk downstairs and take it!

[Yabuhebi]

The first pic was my failed attempt at running the copper plating along the bottom keel.

I have removed all those plates and re-installed following the water line. They look much better.

 

I am not sure if I will have enough plating to do the bottom of the keel and the rudder. No worries, I ordered another 100 from JoTika. They are relatively cheap, about 12 pounds....whatever that is in USD!!!!! They actually shipped it out today.

 

I also bought some copper paint from our local craft/hobby store. I decided to go with Tamiya and it is surprisingly close.

I see a few spaces and gaps and I painted them and then wiped away the excess. I will circle back when it dries and do it again.

I also pained the bow keel ridge before adding the base plates.

 

I was hoping I would be able to bend those plates so that they fit over the keel, but there is barely enough there.

I do have a PE bender, but there just isn't enough meat to bend them. I was thinking maybe to just install flat and use a wooden dowel to bend them down....not sure if that will look good, so I will check.

 

Honestly, once I turned the boat back right side up, you can barely see a lot of the issues I have with my plating, which is encouraging. I am also happy to see that none of the grating fell off.

 

So I will tweak the plating with paint, and re-paint the black water line to clean everything up. I will also do one more touch up of the ports before forgetting I ever worked on them!

 

I am also thinking ahead as to how I am going to make sure the lower gun port cannon holes are all parallel and in line. Since my gun ports do not seem to be consistent in size, I am going to have to think about another way to do that.

 

Perhaps draw a string tight across the hull from front to back making sure the string is in the middle and using that as a guide. I think if I can get them all even horizontally, I can do what is needed to alter their stance/direction in each port so they line up. We shall see!!!!

 

I have also been working on the cannon bases. I also took a first stab at adding a ring to the cannons for the breaching ropes. I have done 3 and they seem ok.

 

Thanks for all the likes and encouragement!

Chris

[JFMJr]

On 6/8/2024 at 9:30 AM, Yabuhebi said:

Still here!!! Been slowly cutting tiles to finish the water line. I spend an hour or so every few days, but we're getting close.

 

I do have a set of very small surgical and sharp cutting scissors that work well. I just have to smooth out any curl with a wooden dowel sometimes.

I also have one of the large magnifier lights from Harbor Freight that I have clamped to my workbench. I don't need to use it to see, but it provides extra light when I am working.

 

Right now, I am trying to think how I'll 'finish/smooth' out the line between the copper plates and wooden hull. I thought the best, creative way would be to use a small strip of wood, perhaps 1mm square and route a groove on one side for the copper plating to lay under. That isn't possible with the tools I have.

 

I think I may end up taping the plating and painting the exposed area black. It may paint some of the plates on the very upper edge, but will make the line clean. I also have to touch up some of the gaps in the copper plating. A local hobby shop sells Tamiya copper paint. I am going to get that and see how close it matches. If not, I will get a some of the other brands, Vellejo, AK, etc. I am sure one is very close.

 

I also screwed up on one side where the keel runs up to create the bow. Instead of running the plates horizontal on the bow (parallel to the water line), I had them follow the bottom keel, so there is a row of plates that go up (almost perpendicular to the rest of the plates). It looks terrible, but now the problem is that I feel like I am very close to having just enough plates to finish and no more.

 

I have not wasted many, so they must provide enough to do the hull with a few extras, but not a ton. I am going to do the other side so that all plates continue on parallel to the water line. If after I do that and fill in all the little slivers and have enough, I will redo the other side.

 

If I have to sacrifice the plates that cover the very bottom of the keel, I will do that!

 

....sorry, no picture of what I am talking about, but I will provide it. Just too lazy to walk downstairs and take it!

Awesome 

[Yabuhebi]

Took a break from finalizing the copper plating. I still have to add the row that covers the bottom of the keel. Originally I thought I would have to add just a slight bend on each side, but there is barely enough width for that. I have a PE bender from a previous build that had an intensive use of PE and it kind of works, but most PE is very bendy, these copper plates are a bit thicker and trying to bend .5mm edges is tough. 

 

I did order 100 extra plates from Jotika, not sure if I'll need them, but now I feel safe that I will have enough to finish and have enough for rudder.

 

So on to whacking away at the cannons. I wanted to add the loop to the back of the cannon that is used to hold the breaching line and decided to only do this for the 10 cannons that will be visible from the higher decks. I know the loops I installed are exaggerated, but they will give the proper look. I also know that because I used CA glue to fasten them, the blackening may not take and I will have to touch up with paint. No worries.

 

Building the cannons is very tedious in itself. Sanding the sides, axles and wheels is small work. But the extra effort of sanding all of them, give them a nicer finished look when done. I then painted the finished bases, it took 3 coats using the airbrush.  Like any miniature work, painting always looks good until you take a picture of it and look closely. Closeup pics will always show the graininess of the paint and take away the realness of the smaller scale items. It's just the way it is.

 

Sanding the wheels was tough. I had to squish each one on the end of a toothpick and sand them one at a time. That's 120 wheels!!!! 

Then....I had to use a exacto knife to shave off enough of the SQUARE axle to fit into the ROUND hole on the wheel. Very odd set up!

 

Once done, I added some CA glue to set them and then painted the tips black. I should have waited a day for that, because I had been hunched over these things for 5 hours and my painting was a bit off. Not that anyone will see them!!!!

 

I then went to blacken all of the brass I was going to need. I have used Birchwood's with a lot of success. I first washed the 10 barrels with loops in isopropyl  and water. When they came out after a minute or so they hadn't quite blackened. So I dried them off and then dipped then again and seem fine. I did the other 20 and hung them on toothpicks. I used the airbrush as a dryer to get some of the excess off...which sent blue dots all over!!! lol.

 

I then did the trunnion brackets, pins and eyelets. They are small and we'll see how they fair during installation. Part #480, the brass eyelets are VERY delicate. I am curious to see how they will stand up to being threaded with rigging.

 

So that is where we are! Over the next week I will install the finished cannons after drilling the holes for everything and then come up with a plan for laying out the rigging. 

 

That will be new for me! Handling little blocks, threading lines, tying teeny, tiny knots....SCARY!!!! But I think it is a perfect place to begin to learn the process on parts that will be of limited view once the upper decks are installed. 

 

Thanks!

Chris

[Yabuhebi]

An hour here, an hour there!

I blackened the cannons and all of the various bits that are attached to the cannon bases. It's a love hate result.
I think you have to polish the finished result with a clean cloth, but doing so will rub off some of the black, which will require you to dip them again.

Now pictures, as always will enhance the reality these are miniatures (built by a rookie) and will enhance my flaws.
But from farther away, they look fine.

Drilling the holes for the various eyelets is tough. .5mm bits are very thin and if you are not careful, you will break them, I think I started with 5 or 6 of them and they are all gone!!!

Also, the directions require a .7mm hole for the bolts that hold the trunnions in place. It was almost impossible to do this with any precision.
I have a drill press and suppose I could have rigged that up and secured each cannon base in place....I didn't bother.

My thinking is that once painted, they blend in. Once I am done creating the 10 showcase cannons I might consider cutting the heads off the pins that were meant to hold the trunnions in place and just glue them in the holes for the aesthetics of it all!

I did have to touch up the cannon breeches because the blackening agent doesn't work on CA glue, but I knew that was going to happen.
To be honest, for those that want to go with a paint option, the dried result looks great and I would guess that painting the cannons and ensuring they are drip free will look just fine!

The forward eyelets are there to hold a ring that the breeching rope runs through as it goes from the bulkhead wall to the cannon, around the back and back through a ring on the other side on its way to the other side and bulkhead. I have a way to make rings, just not sure yet what size wire to use. The wire I used to make the breeching loops is just too thick. I think I have some very thin brass wire. I'll keep you posted.

I also installed the 3 crooked ladders I made in addition to adding the lower stanchions for the rope railings. That was a bit tough to do because of the angle of the stairs in relation to the upright angle needed for the stanchion. Also, trying to guesstimate how much thread to leave for the finished railings was tough. Hopefully I guessed right!

Oh yes, the manual asks for .25mm thread for the rope railings. Once blackened or even painted, there is NO WAY to get a thread that thick through the stanchion holes. That is where I broke my last .25mm drill trying. So I am using the .1mm thread....at least for these railings that are a but lower.

Perhaps I will see what I can do to the stanchions for the next deck BEFORE I remove them from the sprue.

[kiwiron]

Great job Chris it looks real good.

[mort stoll]

Hi Chris,

 

I used the copper eyebolts for the breaching rings on the cannons. I bought extra from CMB - no (affilation) You're doing a great job.

 

Keep up the great work.

Mort

[Yabuhebi]

On 7/16/2024 at 11:38 AM, mort stoll said:

Hi Chris,

 

I used the copper eyebolts for the breaching rings on the cannons. I bought extra from CMB - no (affilation) You're doing a great job.

 

Keep up the great work.

Mort

Hi Mort;

 

I just looked at that site, very nice and a great tip!

 

I did find some brass wire that is 30 gauge or about .254mm in diameter. I currently have some brass wire that is about .6mm in diameter, as you can see some attempts at making rings and hooks went ok, but they are just too big in scale for the cannons.

 

I was going to use the extra photo etch part #480 and bend them into hooks, but I think the new brass wire will work.

The only problem is this wire will not blacken, it must have a coating on it that greatly retards the blackening process.

 

Also, all of the live pictures and many diagrams show that the outhauls for the cannons should be a single/double block set up. The directions on this model only ask and provide for a single block. I found 2.5mm double blocks that I bought, They look pretty good and I am going to take a stab at rigging them up.

 

My goal is to work on the 10 cannons that are visible in the hopes of honing my skills for the cannons on the quarter deck that will be visible to everyone.

 

After viewing the post!!!! I realized that when I built the cannon bases, I just couldn't drill a hole to allow the trunnion pins. I decided to just cut the heads off them and glue them into place and paint them. That worked just fine!

 

We shall see!!!!!

Chris

Edited July 22 by Yabuhebi

[Yabuhebi]

I haven't forgotten about you guys or my 'precious'!!!!

 

Just hard to spend time in the basement when the sun is still shinning!

 

That being said, I have been plugging away when I have some free time or when it rains.

I had ordered different rope for the main breech lines from Rope of Scale. I really like the tighter look of the rope as opposed to what is supplied with the kit. 

 

I had added breech rings to the 10 cannons that will be visible. Learning to rig all of the ropes has been a huge learning curve. My fingers are just so fat and no matter what I do, they aren't as steady as they used to be!

 

I also wanted to try and match in miniature what a rigged cannon should be. I did try to buy double blocks, they they turned out to be too small and I abandoned using them on this deck. I may hunt for blocks that are a bit larger for the upper decks...

 

In addition, there is process or steps that should be followed in a certain order to make these look good. I am still learning them too. Right now, it's taking me an hour to rig just one cannon. 

 

Currently:

I thread the breach rope through the ring on the cannon and try to leave enough on either side to allow to be attached to bulkhead wall. I also had to leave enough to tie a ring to each end so that I could attach them to the rings installed in bulkheads. I have given up on creating hooks for this deck, but I will revisit that too.

 

Each cannon also have two tackles to run the gun in and out and a third for the back of the cannon. 

 

These too are tough. Very tiny parts and very fiddly. 

 

Attaching a connection ring to one block which is the stand alone block close to the bulkhead

Attaching a connection ring and the line that runs through both blocks that will attach to base of cannon.

 

It's hard to keep the blocks in a good position to tie off the rings and thread the rigging in the blocks.

 

Still learning and my solace is that the cannons will be hidden from direct view.

They are giving me practice for the upper decks and practice for the final task of rigging the boat!!!

 

So I will continue to plug along.

 

My boat will be coming out of the water shortly and once I winterize her and wrap her up....my time will be to VICTORY!!!!

 

See you soon!

Chris

Edited October 16 by Yabuhebi

[Yabuhebi]

After posting the last message, I happened to hit on a video build of another ship. In the video (I'll have to re-search to see what I was looking at!) the builder used wire instead of string to rig the blocks for the cannon tackles.

 

I was using small gauge wire to create hooks, but was having a devil of a time making the blocks. 

 

Instead of trying to use string, I used wire! It was infinitely easier!

I've attached a picture with the nomenclature of a block and tackle.....

I just twisted the wire around the moveable block and added CA glue to each side. Once it dried, I clipped the excess wire and bent the remainder into a hook around a small finishing nail. 

 

For the fixed block, while adding the wire, I also added the string that will create the falls for the final block & tackle.

Again, added CA glue to the sides of the block and a bit to the falls after I tied a knot in them.

I cut the excess wire and bent a hook for that block.

 

I then threaded the falls between the two blocks. I am still working on getting the lengths right so they fit nicely on the cannon and bulkhead walls.

 

For these cannons, I haven't bothered creating the nice inspection style loops of rope for the hauling end. I went with the pics I've seen of the ship now, where the hauling end is wrapped around the falls.

 

That is a bit harder and I think I need to create a secure jig for that.

 

Overall, this went pretty fast and I was able to finish the last three cannons on one side and create all the moveable blocks for the other side in a few hours.

 

Thanks

Chris

[Yabuhebi]

I've had a few hours each day, so I read up on my manuals double check my saved video logs to get an idea of what I'm facing next.

 

I have finally finished all the cannons on the upper deck. Now I only rigged the 10 that will show through the quarter deck and even then, I didn't add the tackles directly behind each cannon. As I have been reading (and watching) ahead, it is sadly apparent that very little will be seen by admirers. Especially if the various life boats are stacked on the open quarter deck!

 

That being said, it is VERY GOOD practice for work that will be visible on the next deck.

 

I have to say, some of the builders who actually rigged all 30 cannons, that is some dedication! 

 

The next step was adding the screen to the Admiral's quarters. Part #389. You'll have to do some real eyeball gymnastics to see this, but hey, I added so many photo etch enhancements to my Titanic model that will NEVER be seen!!!! So why stop now?

 

 

 

 

I had to remove about 1-2mm off each side so that it fits and I had to straighten out the base to fit the deck. I placed the camber beam just behind the screen to get the right height and then sanded down the top so that it will fit.

 

Once done, I added a strip of wood for the back of the screen to hold it in place. That and the camber beam supports should hold it very tight.

 

After, I squared off the support columns. I have seen others create jigs to help with this. I ended up shaving one side and then slowly working the other 4 sides. The hard part was that I was able to use an exacto knife to shave away, but it was very scary trying to even it out towards my fingers.

 

I definitely need to create something for the rest of them!

In addition, the manual wants me to create another set of stairs....if you go back, you can see what a terrible job I did on the first three. Well....terrible is just too kind! You can see the 'fun house' stairs in some of these pics!

 

I tried to go slower. I sanded the treads a bit to help fit into the side rails. I was able to get 4 or 5 treads in but things started going south so I clamped it off and let it dry. A bit later I added the remaining treads. I can see now after the fact that one of the things I'll need to do is make sure the treads are the same 'depth' in the side rails. But this one is much straighter.....sort of.

 

 

I had a bit of confusion when installing the pillars in front of the screen. I thought they were flush against the screen, but the plans show they are out a bit...which I did.

 

Yeah, there's one of those crazy stairs!!!!

 

I also had to build the elm tree pump and the steam trunk assembly.

 

For the elm tree pump, I added a few pieces of walnut to the photo etch handle to make it look like real wood. As if anyone will see it!!! My end result is way out of scale, but I like it!

 

 

Not sure what the steam trunk is...but I just taped it together and added white glue to the inside. I'll sand it when I go to put it wherever it goes!

 

Finally, I  added to the stanchions for the hatch coamings. I blackened them and then drilled out the holes a bit to make sure the life lines would fit. I added too much CA glue to keep the stanchions in place...going to have to watch that up topside!!!

 

I was a bit nervous putting the final rigging for the life lines together, but they actually went very well! I threaded 2 stanchions to each line and tied a knot in end in case I couldn't finish the work. Drilled holes for the stanchions and then tied them off and added a bit of CA glue. I am using a very thin drill bit and broke one trying to remove it, you have to be very careful your hole is 'clear' before pulling out a bit that is almost the thickness of a hair!

 

They look very nice!

 

The stairs actually look pretty good from this angle! Also, I now wish I had stained the walnut instead of leaving it raw. Although the stain wouldn't apply to anywhere I have glue (which is a lot on the stairs). I only say that after applying stain to the Admiral Screen and like the richness of it.

 

This one has to wait for a set of columns that will act as stanchions. 

 

Pretty exciting stuff!!!

 

 

Edited October 16 by Yabuhebi

[Yabuhebi]

Look at what I found! Almost a year later and there is was just laying on the floor! 

Well now I have 2 extra airbrush needle chucks!!!!!

 

 

I started fitting the camber beams and for some reason, some of the beams are on the opposite side of what is shown in Caldercraft's plans. Some are right, some aren't. Not sure what I did to screw up, but hopefully it doesn't affect the future!

 

Before gluing them, I did another double check to be sure the masts would fit with the quarterdeck installled. The fore mast was very tight and at first I thought the main was crooked, but I think it is supposed to have a bit of a rake to it? I used a large round file to clean out the holes again and everything seems to fit ok. Worse case, I can always sand down the bases of the masts before installing.

 

I glued the camber beams down. It's strange there are a few that aren't there, again I suppose there will be a reason for not having them in the way.

 

I then spent a lot of time reading and re-reading the instructions for the next step of installing the quarterdeck. I had to build the skid beams. They needed to be sanded smooth and they were a bit hard to put together....they don't 'snap' into place so I ended up gluing one side and then waiting a bit to get the other side done. Don't forget you have to add a piece of .7mm wire to one of the  beams....got me what it is for! Only time will tell!

 

I also have to add brace bits. I believe in real life these braces have sheaves in them. I think 3 on each side. I have 4mm wooden sheaves, so I cut holes to allow for at least 2 to be installed. I used the same heights that the manual required for a hole to double as a sheave.

 

I was very happy with the result and the fact I didn't break the braces. The sheaves seem to fit nicely. I think I will add a piece of styrene in-between if I can. I'll have to see. Instead of installing them now, I'll paint everything and install the sheaves after. 

 

Added the first coat of black paint to all and I'll do a second coat and fiddle with the sheaves next!

 

I also had to trim many of the beam slots on the quarter deck and I had to remove about 1mm or so from one side to make it easier to install this deck. 

Hopefully I can work on that this weekend!!!

[Yabuhebi]

Just an update of what I have tried to do over the past week, a few hours here and a few hours there.

Finishing off the pillars that support the skid beam assembly required some thought. I've seen other builders create jigs for this and I kept thinking, what can I build with limited access to metal or plastic? On a lark, I fitted a piece of the hull planking and the walnut deck and it seem to be the right height to allow me to remove enough material to make the pillar ends square.

Using my 1/4" file, I was able to make fairly quick work of squaring off the 10 pillars. By the last side, there was a bit of wiggle in the piece and I had to hold it and when done, I had to go back over the sides to be sure they were reasonably square. Once done, I dipped in my walnut stain and they seem pretty good. Once I install the quarter deck, I'll trim them and glue them in place.

I also added the sheaves to the bitt bracing and I sanded a small piece of styrene I had to create a buffer between the 2 sheaves. I didn't bother drilling a hole to hold the sheaves in the brace. The sheaves came with .1mm holes and I have a pack of thirty .1mm drill bits but they are way too fragile for this type of work.

They seemed to squeeze in nicely and I painted them, making sure to blow out any excess that might accumulate in the nooks and crannies.
I still have to get my head around installing both of the braces. I believe I've seen some video builds where they added pins to the bitts and pre-drilled the holes to hold the piece in place. I also remember someone using thicker toothpick size pieces of wood to help secure them. My concern is making sure they remain perfectly perpendicular and the fact that I have to install them BEFORE I install the quarterdeck. The small one should be a problem because it doesn't go up into the next deck.

Finally, I know the plans say NOT to secure the skid beam to the quarterdeck, but I did. It just seems like a lot of bending and when I pre-fit it, I don't think I'll have a problem with the way I've done it. I also installed the steam trunk to the deck.