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Speedwell by dvm27 (Greg Herbert) - FINISHED - Ketch Rigged Sloop, 1752


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Greg, your work sets an exceptionally high standard. Is this the same project I saw several years ago at your sail-making workshop in Baltimore?

 

Mark

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  • 10 months later...
  • 3 months later...

So what do you get PopPop on his 65th birthday when he already has everything he needs for his hobby? A paper on bulkhead model made from the pages of his own book. They even bought their own copy for the artist to make the model from the plans. If you look closely it has all the details of my model. Definitely one of the coolest gifts I've ever received!DSCN8078.thumb.JPG.23afd5790d75503503aecee29be35554.JPG

Greg

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Admiralty Models

moderator Echo Cross-section build
Admiralty Models Cross-section Build

Finished build
Pegasus, 1776, cross-section

Current build
Speedwell, 1752

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That is a great, innovative and very well considered gift Greg; you rare rightfully proud.

 

cheers

 

Pat

If at first you do not suceed, try, and then try again!
Current build: HMCSS Victoria (Scratch)

Next build: HMAS Vampire (3D printed resin, scratch 1:350)

Built:          Battle Station (Scratch) and HM Bark Endeavour 1768 (kit 1:64)

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That is a nice birthday present, something you will cherish for the rest of your life.  We can tell that you are a proud PopPop.

Ryland

 

Member - Hampton Roads Ship Model Society

            - Ship Model Society of New Jersey

               - Nautical Research Guild

       

 

Current Build - Armed Virginia Sloop, 18th Century Longboat

Completed Build - Medway Longboat

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That is just one of the greatest ideas I’ve ever seen! Very nice! 

Rusty

"So Long For Now" B) 

 

Current Builds: HMS Winchelsea 1/48  Duchess of Kingston

 

Completed Build Logs: USF Confederacy , US Brig Syren , Triton Cross Section , Bomb Vessel Cross SectionCutter CheerfulQueen Anne Barge, Medway Longboat

 

Completed Build Gallery: Brig Syren , 1870 Mississippi Riverboat , 1949 Chris-Craft 19' Runabout

 

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9 hours ago, druxey said:

A dust jacket would be more appropriate, The Learner.

And the ship should be displayed in the library.

Mark
"The shipwright is slow, but the wood is patient." - me

Current Build:                                                                                             
Past Builds:
 La Belle Poule 1765 - French Frigate from ANCRE plans - ON HOLD           Triton Cross-Section   

 NRG Hallf Hull Planking Kit                                                                            HMS Sphinx 1775 - Vanguard Models - 1:64               

 

Non-Ship Model:                                                                                         On hold, maybe forever:           

CH-53 Sikorsky - 1:48 - Revell - Completed                                                   Licorne - 1755 from Hahn Plans (Scratch) Version 2.0 (Abandoned)         

         

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

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  • 1 month later...

Been awhile since my last update. Currently busy turning deadeyes and preparing for rigging. I had a form tool made for my by Sherline and it works beautifully for both the 10" and 7" deadeyes. Ideally I thought the form tool would part the finished deadeye precisely as both shoulders were formed but, in actual practice, the pressure resulted in the deadeye chain snapping off prematurely. I suspect this would not happen if the material was brass but wood just cannot handle the deflection. No problem though as I just shortened the parting portion of the form tool. Each deadeye was then parted off with a razor saw.  Drilling was also a breeze using the rotary table on my mill. No holding jig required - the jaws keeps them in perfect position (thanks for the tip Ed).

 

Later this month Speedwell heads up to Canada where David Antscherl will provide his carving magic. We have a detailed bill of carvings from the original so they should be very accurate.

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Greg

website
Admiralty Models

moderator Echo Cross-section build
Admiralty Models Cross-section Build

Finished build
Pegasus, 1776, cross-section

Current build
Speedwell, 1752

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Hi Greg,

 

Fascinating, I did not know Sherline would make custom cutters.

 

So you chuck them in the three jaw chuck on the rotary table, and turn them 120 degrees? Clever!

 

Sorry I cannot join you in the carving workshop. Next time!

 

Mark

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Hi Greg - great looking deadeyes, and awesome cutter.  I spent a long time trying to grind one by hand, and still needed to do a lot of the rounding of the edges on the lathe.  

 

Not sure if you had the same experience as I did loading the deadeyes in the chuck for drilling. I found it was hard to do with one hand while I tightened the chuck with the other, and it was tedious to load it level.   I ended up standing a short dowel with lightly less diameter than the deadeye in the chuck.  It gave me a little platform to rest the deadeye on so I could  tighten the chuck with two hands, and made sure that the deadeye was always level for drilling.  Turned it into a few second process, which helped a lot given the number of deadeyes.

 

Dave

Current builds:

Wingnut Wings AMC DH9

Model Shipways 1/48 Longboat

Model Shipways 1/24 Grand Banks Dory

 

Soon to start:

Fully framed Echo

 

Completed builds:

East Coast Oyster Sharpie

Echo Cross Section

1/48 Scratchbuilt Hannah from Hahn plans

1/64 Kitbashed Rattlesnake from Bob Hunt practicum

1/64 Brig Supply

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Had some trouble loading at first Dave but then started loading deadeye with a curved hemostat (right hand) and tightening the chuck with the left hand. Only required finger pressure tightening to hold the deadeye in place. No bars required to tighten or loosen.

 

Mark, the form tool cost was only $35 and included one on each end. I imagine they could make form tools for the muzzle, reinforcements and ball of a cannon. They are cut on a wire EDM machine (whatever that is) and are incredibly precise.

Greg

website
Admiralty Models

moderator Echo Cross-section build
Admiralty Models Cross-section Build

Finished build
Pegasus, 1776, cross-section

Current build
Speedwell, 1752

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  • 1 month later...
On ‎7‎/‎9‎/‎2017 at 7:07 PM, dvm27 said:

As many of my favorite modelers are posting updates this weekend I thought I'd share some recent progress on Speedwell. She is now sporting her copper cupola (say that three times quickly!) which arches over the steps to the "Great Cabin". I use that term in quotes because, after the lockers are installed, there is little room for the commanding Lieutenant. But this little vessel was designed for shore duty and was seldom used for sleeping. The cupola was shaped from a square of holly, hollowed out then spray painted with a hammered copper finish followed by matte varnish.

 

The rudderhead cover was also shaped from a holly plug which was then hollowed out. The panels were added to each side. Each one was a different dimension and all are hand fitted.

 

A little more work on the inside and outside of the hull and Speedwell, Volume I, will be off to the press!

 

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  •  

Very nice work, a true scale model.

 

Regarding the cupola, was it common for these to be copper, or specific to this particular class, do you know?

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I believe that, on many vessels of this size, where there were compound curved entryway covers over the companion to the not-so-great Great Cabin, these were of copper. The RMG model of Speedwell has such a copper hood. Lead would be too soft for this purpose.

Be sure to sign up for an epic Nelson/Trafalgar project if you would like to see it made into a TV series  http://trafalgar.tv

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1 minute ago, druxey said:

I believe that, on many vessels of this size, where there were compound curved entryway covers over the companion to the not-so-great Great Cabin, these were of copper. The RMG model of Speedwell has such a copper hood. Lead would be too soft for this purpose.

Thank you, learnt something new!

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  • 1 month later...

Speedwell is up in Canada receiving her carvings so not too much to report from the shipyard. Her deadeyes are dyed with Fiebings brown stain and a new tiller created. The old one was built up from hollow square tubing and round tubing but I never quite liked the way it looked. So I replaced her. Basically, I started with oversized square stock and turned the round tapered handle on the lathe. I then cut each side of the square stock on my Byrnes table saw with slitting blade until the matched the round stock. The small ball was silver soldered in place and the new tiller blackened. Much improved!

 

To forestall building the masts and spars I decided to build a binnacle. David Antscherl designed a simple version which would be appropriate for the sloop. I built three because...why not. But only one has a compass.  I would be happy to give the other two away to anyone who can provide proof they purchased our Speedwell book (a photo on your desk will suffice). Just send me a PM.

 

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Greg

website
Admiralty Models

moderator Echo Cross-section build
Admiralty Models Cross-section Build

Finished build
Pegasus, 1776, cross-section

Current build
Speedwell, 1752

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12 hours ago, SJSoane said:

Greg, Sweet tiller! How, exactly, did you hold it when you trimmed it in the Byrnes tablesaw? Before or after it was bent?

 

Mark

The bending was done after cutting the square sides to their final dimension, Mark. Remember that the over-sized square stock was chucked in my four jaw holder with a live center. So essentially I had a round tiller piece emerging from square stock. One of the square faces was then placed against the table saw fence and the opposite face was cut to the outside diameter of the round portion. The piece was rotated 180 degrees and the opposite face cut. This was repeated with the other two faces.

Greg

website
Admiralty Models

moderator Echo Cross-section build
Admiralty Models Cross-section Build

Finished build
Pegasus, 1776, cross-section

Current build
Speedwell, 1752

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Thanks, Greg, that makes sense. So you chose to start with stock larger than the diameter of the round portion so that you could trim down exactly to the diameter, rather than trying to cut the round part to the exact dimension of the square portion.

 

Mark

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Hi Greg,

The binnacles look very nice indeed,hopefully a plan will be included in Vol.2.

 

I started on the POB version a couple of months ago,I've much to learn. This will be only my 3rd build the previous being a Caldercraft kit of HMS Cruizer followed by a 95% scratch build of Chucks' HMS Cheerful. I look forward to seeing what she will look like when David adds the carvings. He did say in some correspondence we had that there will probably be a set of cast carvings in the future. I hope so anyway.

 

Kind regards,and I wish you a pleasant week.

 

Dave :dancetl6:

 

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Dave,

Do give some thought to a build log.  You get some help and also help others who wish to build her.

Mark
"The shipwright is slow, but the wood is patient." - me

Current Build:                                                                                             
Past Builds:
 La Belle Poule 1765 - French Frigate from ANCRE plans - ON HOLD           Triton Cross-Section   

 NRG Hallf Hull Planking Kit                                                                            HMS Sphinx 1775 - Vanguard Models - 1:64               

 

Non-Ship Model:                                                                                         On hold, maybe forever:           

CH-53 Sikorsky - 1:48 - Revell - Completed                                                   Licorne - 1755 from Hahn Plans (Scratch) Version 2.0 (Abandoned)         

         

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

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On 9/16/2019 at 2:37 PM, davyboy said:

Hi Greg,

The binnacles look very nice indeed,hopefully a plan will be included in Vol.2.

Dave :dancetl6:

 

Yes, we are including the detailed plans for our binnacle. Keep in mind that the binnacle is less than an inch in length so those extreme close-up photos magnify every flaw a gazillion times.

Greg

website
Admiralty Models

moderator Echo Cross-section build
Admiralty Models Cross-section Build

Finished build
Pegasus, 1776, cross-section

Current build
Speedwell, 1752

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Greg, I understand old Hollywood actresses always had their photos taken with a softening filter, to ease away the imperfections. You would never see the imperfections in real life, but in artificially close up photos, the imperfections showed. I wonder if ultra close up photos of the old Admiralty models would show greater imperfections than we see with the naked eye. If so, I think the model ship building community should use softening filters for all of our ultra close up photos. Fair is fair...😀

Mark

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Yep

Building: 1:64 HMS Revenge (Victory Models plans)

1:64 Cat Esther (17th Century Dutch Merchant Ships)
 

On the building slip: 1:72 French Ironclad Magenta (original shipyard plans)

 

On hold: 1:98 Mantua HMS Victory (kit bash), 1:96 Shipyard HMS Mercury

 

Favorite finished builds:  1:60 Sampang Good Fortune (Amati plans), 1:200 Orel Ironclad Solferino, 1:72 Schooner Hannah (Hahn plans), 1:72 Privateer Prince de Neufchatel (Chapelle plans), Model Shipways Sultana, Heller La Reale, Encore USS Olympia

 

Goal: Become better than I was yesterday

 

"The hardest part is deciding to try." - me

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