Lady Nelson by Danstream - Amati/Victory Models - 1:64 scale

[Danstream]

Hi,

I affixed the nameplate of the ship and painted black the stern panels:

I must admit that this end of the ship now looks quite spiffy. I finished the cap rails and painted them also black:

Now only the white bottom part is missing to complete the main painting steps. To do that, I have first to finalize the rudder with its tiller and hinges. Actually, I didn't like the solution proposed by the kit for the rudder hinges, therefore I gave a try to scratch build my owns. I started by soldering small portions of brass tube to brass stripes:

The rod in the picture is the one I will use for the hinge pins. Then, I glued the obtained hinges to the stern post using the brass rod to maintain them aligned.

Next, I will prepare the rudder piece to be put on. Incidentally, I am going to replace the tiller with one that I scratch built shown in the picture and that I think looks less obvious than the one of the kit:

That's all for now,

best regards,

Dan

Edited November 19, 2024 by Danstream

[flyenrw]

Hi Dan, The hinge detail is a nice touch. Certainly looks more like a gudgeon and pintal.

[AJohnson]

Great scratch details and painting Dan, agreed does look rather “Spiffy” 😁

[Danstream]

Hi all,

I went on with finishing the bottom of the hull. I started with taping the waterline with a flexible Tamiya tape. Apparently, according to the plans, the waterline doesn't have to run parallel to the keel, but should form quite an angle with it.

After all my efforts to get a reasonable layout of the planks, I feel a bit of a pain in obliterating most of it. I began with filling the most obvious cracks and then I sprayed a white primer to uniform the surface.

To render the whitish coat of the hull, I used a Gunze paint denominated H311 Gray FS36622 which I picked from my set of airplane colors (this is a tint which was part of those used by the US Air Force in the past) and which seems to a newbie like me to fit quite well the bill.

After removing the masking tapes, there are few spots of overspray to be corrected. In addition the tapes have lifted few spots of the black finish which I will address later. All in all, the result is not bad as it can be seen from the overall views:

That's all for now, next I will work on the furniture of the deck.

Best regards,

Dan

 

Edited December 2, 2024 by Danstream

[vossiewulf]

Looks nice, Dan.

[Robert-S]

Hello Dan, just discovered your logs. Beautifully clean work, congrats! I am starting with her in January, your log should inspire and help. On the other builds: Your F-15 sports nice decals - where are they from? F-15s are usually less colourful than, say F-14s, which I miss a bit. They are mostly gray and I have couple of them to build...

[Danstream]

2 hours ago, Robert-S said:

Your F-15 sports nice decals - where are they from?

Thank you Robert, happy that I could be of help, both with my Lady and with my aircraft models. The decals of my F-15 are from Dutch Decals, a company in NL specialized in Dutch subjects, see, f.i.:

https://www.scalemates.com/nl/kits/dutch-decal-dd48074-f-15-usafe-hawk-75-dh-82--1220448

usually, their quality is very good. By the way, the orange banner of the fins, is a colorful exception to the specification for using only grey tones to honor the country hosting the squadron.

Looking forward to seeing your next builds.

Cheers,

Dan

Edited December 17, 2024 by Danstream

[Danstream]

Back to finishing the hull of my Lady N. I retouched the black paint of the stern and removed the paint from the friezes and the nameplate.

I pinned the chain plates on the sides:

I installed a shoulder to better support the bowsprit, as seen in other models and also in period models:

Finally, bitts and posts for the culverins were glued in place onto the caprails.

Next, the catheads will be attached to the bulwarks and the black paint will be finalized.

Best regards,

Dan

 

[AJohnson]

That stern looks very neat Dan 

[Danstream]

Finally, I am posting my first instalment of the year. It is just a small step, but I am posting it anyway. I corrected the overspray of the light grey paint that I had on the bow (there is still a small ridge along the demarcation of the paint that I have to correct).

I also painted black the caprail with its accessories and mounted the two catheads the shaping of which fought me all the way because of the soft quality of the wood they are made of.

The modified structure for supporting the bowsprit was also painted and now just dry fitted on its place:

Next, I should install the horizontal windlass, but having ordered a different type from Amati, I need to wait a bit until I receive it. For the moment, will be working on the gratings.

Greetings,

Dan

 

[vossiewulf]

All looks very good, Dan.

[flyenrw]

As you March ahead, looking great, Ship Shape and Bristol Fashion! I'm still trying to figure out where I put my saddle.

[Danstream]

Hi, after weeks I am back to my Lady N. and after having glued the gratings, I started to populate her deck (but no glue yet).

I embellished a bit the otherwise spartan companionway:

I am still undecided whether I will keep the orientation of the picture above (which is the way indicated in the kit drawings) or rotate it by 180 deg with the doors facing stern. Then, I tackled the horizontal windlass, the model of which, as included in the kit, is a bit questionable. I followed what was done by @flyenrw in his build, i.e. I sourced a different model from the Amati catalog which is closer to the type seen in epoch models (longer with a slender shape). This type, though, is still functionally flawed, hence I had to taking it apart and introduce some modifications:

After having squared the holes for the poles, I removed its central portion and built a ratchet wheel out of styrene cards. After re-assembling it, this is how it looks once posed in its location:

Next, I will prime these new parts and paint them red.

Best regards,

Dan

Edited January 29 by Danstream

[vossiewulf]

Looks great Dan, especially the windlass. Very nice work.

[flyenrw]

Hi Dan, the windlass turned out well, for sure! I appreciate your methods and simplicity to achieve a fantastic, clean, end result.

[Dr PR]

Very neat work! It is a nice looking model.

[Danstream]

Thank you @vossiewulf, @flyenrw, @Dr PR for your very kind messages! I appreciated your evaluations. Thanks also to those that hit the 'like' button! 🙏

Best regards,

Dan 

[Danstream]

Hi all, 

I completed the elements of the deck furniture and glued them in place as shown below. The windlass needed some modifications as reported in previous posts and I scratch built an elementary ratchet-pawl mechanism.

I also finalized the stern area with the new helm.

Next, I should start working on the cannons and their carriages. I should also decide what to do with the hand pumps because I don't like the ones provided in the kit. I noticed that @vossiewulf scratch built his pumps in his log, but not having his skills, I need to figure out how to make a simpler version of them.

Best regards,

Dan  

[vossiewulf]

1 hour ago, Danstream said:

I should also decide what to do with the hand pumps because I don't like the ones provided in the kit

Yeah, that's what spurred me to scratch build my pumps. I don't know Dan, you did really well scratch building the windlass, and I don't see the pumps as being too much trickier, I would go ahead and give it a spin before you cut yourself short.

[glbarlow]

I felt the bits were horribly out of scale (post #19 in my Nelson log linked below) and scratch built my own, something to consider. You’re doing very nice work. 

Edited February 5 by glbarlow

[Danstream]

@vossiewulf, thanks for your comment. Indeed, I am considering how to scratch built them in a simple way.

 

@glbarlow, thank you for your comments. I consulted many times your build log to get ideas for mine. Indeed, you are absolutely right about the incorrect scale of the bits. I already tried to shorten it a bit and to slim down its webs. However, the problem is not solved fully. But, at the moment, I am a bit annoyed about modifying parts and I need to go on with the build. I already halted my very first built of the 'Mayflower' because of the too many modifications that I introduced that slowed down it too much. I will see whether I will come back to it later.

[Danstream]

Hi,

after a long absence, during which I tried to replicate the pumps on the deck, I am back with my final product. What bothered me most about the items provided with the kit was that the cylindrical parts are not circular, but have an oval shape (which is obviously a flaw of the mould). Hence, following the suggestion above from @vossiewulf and copying his design, I scratched build new pumps. However, I used different materials which I was more comfortable with.

I obtained the body of the pump soldering a brass tube to a brass rod which was suitably shaped. The push rod is also made of brass. Other parts were done with styrene strips. Once assembled, this is how they look when placed on the deck:

Painting followed:

Not perfect and oversimplified, but I am satisfied with them.

Next, I will be dealing with the cannons. The items coming with the kit, once freed from burrs, are quite nice, but I am a bit puzzled about their size. In fact, I have the impression that they are a bit undersized as I try to show in the following picture:

The guy posed next to the cannon is about 1.66m tall (i.e. about 5.5 ft) and the cannon is barely touching his knees. It looks like a toy for him. Seen other problems encountered with the consistency of scale across this model, it could be that the entire model is not exactly 1:64 scale. Or it could be that my guy is too tall for his time. Is anyone in the forum have an opinion about that? I am pondering whether I should source bigger cannons. 

Thank you and best regards,

Dan 

 

Edited yesterday at 02:52 PM by Danstream

[ccoyle]

Just catching up on your log, Dan. I have to say that you do exceptional finish work!

[vossiewulf]

There ya go Dan, those look great! Nice job!

[AJohnson]

Those pumps look great Dan. 
 

Regarding the cannon, they do look a bit small, but were probably only 3lb or 4lb’ers. A suggestion, maybe look at Vanguard model’s cannon kit sets?  They are very nice and would set all your hard work off better than those cast parts that come with the Lady N. 
Though appreciate that you might not want the expenses of this route

[vossiewulf]

Dan, the thing about replacing the cannon with something larger is that the guns will no longer be centered in the gunports. I bought some bigger guns to try, but I ended up using the kit guns because I didn't like how the bigger guns were up at the top of the gunports, just didn't look right to me. You may have a different view, just letting you know the factor that made me keep the kit guns. If you look for other guns I'd recommend pinging Chris Watton like Andrew suggested and see if you can get some of his 1:64 Alert guns as those would most likely to fit.