HM Gun Brig Sparkler 1797 by AJohnson - Vanguard Models - 1:64th

[AJohnson]

Hot on the heels of my Trial build, I'm starting a log for my next build, @chris watton's latest kit the Gun-Brig Adder.  Though I will be building it as one of the other Brigs in the Acute class Gun-Brigs, Sparkler!  

 

The Admiral and my daughter looked through the list of fifteen names available in the class and said "Make it as Sparkler!" so this is what was decided and I mentioned this on Chris's Vanguard news and updates thread a while back, little did I know someone was was taking note and I received a lovely surprise inside the box when I opened it and it contained a custom nameplate emblazoned with the name "Sparkler" 😁 .  Thanks again Chris! 

 

I won't do an unboxing as such as there are already three other Adder logs on the go by @DB789, @ECK & @Glenn-UK so I will try to avoid repetition.  I will however try to build on what I learned on building Trial and will be adding sails again.  The scene I want to have a go at recreating is of the Brig hove-to and handling a boat.  There are some wonderful drawings and sketches available as references; a few below to give you a flavour of my ambitions for this kit (whether I get there time will tell! 😉)  The last two are taken from E. W. Petrejus's book "Modelling the  Brig of War "IRENE" " (one of my favourite refrences.)

 

Enhancements planned and bought so far include pear blocks from Vanguard and an 18ft. cutter, I also think @BenD at Ropes of Scale will be getting an order for more of his fine products....

 

Updates in due course for those interested. 👋

[Ronald-V]

That custom name plate is really cool of Chris! Wish you succes building this one!  

[ccoyle]

47 minutes ago, Ronald-V said:

That custom name plate is really cool of Chris!

 

Yeah, that's the first I've ever heard of a manufacturer doing that for a customer. Can't beat that for customer service!

 

I wonder if Chris'd do the same thing for anyone building HMS Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis? 🤔

[Oboship]

After having enjoyed your detailed Trial build log it is a must to follow on your Sparkler's! I like the idea to build the brig hove-to, particularly considering your sail making skills. Have fun with the new project!

Uwe

[AJohnson]

While starting the initial stages of the build and needing to get some pictures taken and start the build log, a little history of Sparkler, summarised from the detail available from the History of Kent forum and Wiki.

 

HM Gunboat No.7 was built at Deptford in 1797. Immediately after her launch, she was taken to the Royal Dockyard at Deptford, where she was fitted out and her hull was coppered. Once completed she commissioned into the Channel Fleet under Lieutenant Austin Ternan. The vessel was formally named HMS Sparkler on 7th August 1797. Lieutenant Ternan was replaced by Lieutenant William Walker in June 1798.

Walker's command was not a shining example, as On 2nd July 1800, Lieutenant Walker was Court Martialled. He was charged with False Muster, False Accounting and entering his infant son on the books and claiming for provisions for absent hands.  He also reduced the fresh provisions for the vessel's crew and took the remainder ashore for his own use. Lieutenant Walker was found guilty of all charges by the Court Martial Board and was dishonourably dismissed from the Service.  He also liked his creature comforts and applied for permission to alter the cabins to provide himself more space!  This was refused, a plan from the RMG (ZAZ5028) shows the cabin arrangements as existing and Walker’s proposed alterations.  Of note is a little detail I spotted, in that his cabin already had a stove, so that is one little detail I will need to add, a small chimney for that stove. (Something like the one Chris has added to Harpy)

 

Lieutenant John Stevens was appointed to command HMS Sparkler in August 1800.  In company with other Royal Navy sloops and gun-vessels drove two French sloops ashore at Grandcamp Bay in Northern France on 19 Aug 1800, and destroyed them. A dispatch dated 11 September 1800 credits the ship, along with the cutters HMS Dolphin, HMS Champion & sister ship HMS Bouncer in destroying two more French sloops on 9 September 1800.

On 15 September 1800, Lieutenant Charles Papps Price, of HMS Badger, sighted a French long cutter some four miles off the West Island of the Îles Saint-Marcouf. He sent Lieutenant M'Cullen of the Royal Marines with 24 picked men in Badger's ten-oared galley and six-oared cutter to catch the French vessel. He also signaled Sparkler to draw the fire of two shore batteries, one of two 24-pounder guns and one of two 12-pounder guns, while Badger's boats cut out the French vessel. The French crew ran their cutter on shore and cut her masts and rigging. Nevertheless, the British towed her off despite heavy small-arms fire from the shore. The prize was the privateer rowboat Victoire, mounting four swivel guns, 26 oars, and having a crew of at least 40 men, under the command of Captain Barier. Price described her as "quite new... the completest Boat for the Service of the Islands that possibly could be constructed." The only British casualty was Badger's gunners mate, who took a musket ball to the shoulder.

 

Lieutenant William Dick replaced Stevens in 1801 before Sparkler departed for the Baltic.  Sparkler joined Admiral Hyde Parker's North Sea Fleet at Yarmouth to take part in the expedition to the Baltic, which had as its objective to compel the Danes to abandon their neutrality. In March Sparkler sailed with Parker's fleet from Yarmouth for Copenhagen. Sparkler was present at the Battle of Copenhagen on the 2nd April 1801, part of the supporting Gunboats to the south of the Middle ground sand banks.  Sparkler's crew received head money for the engagement, but she did not actually participate in the battle and so her crew was not listed among those qualifying for the clasp "Copenhagen" Service medal.

 

Following the Treaty of Amiens, the "Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy" offered the "Sparkler Gun-Vessel, 160 Tons, Copper-bottomed", lying at Sheerness, for sale on 9 September 1802. 

Sparkler then became a merchantman. She was raised in 1803 and given a new top and sides of fir plank.

She first appeared in the online copies of the registers in the 1804 volume of the Register of Shipping (RS). She first appeared in Lloyd's register in the volume for 1805.

On 3 December 1812 the French privateer Augusta, of 14 guns and 120 men, from Saint Malo, captured several British merchantmen near Scilly. One of the captured vessels was Sparkler, Brown, master, which had been sailing from Cadiz to London. Auguste put Sparkler's crew, as well as that of two other merchantmen, aboard Mary, which Auguste then released.Mary arrived at Plymouth on 30 December

On 23 December HMS Armide and the hired cutter Nimrod were in company when they recaptured the English brig Sparkler, A. Brown, master. Nimrod sent Sparkler into Portland Roads.

Having been captured and recaptured, Sparkler apparently changed masters, and perhaps owner, a change that was not reflected in Lloyd's Register. The next mention of Sparkler was that on 11 July 1813 she had arrived at Gravesend from Memel, with Keith, master.

In February 1814 the transport Sparkler, Keith, master, was driven ashore and wrecked at Bayonne. The French took the crew prisoner.

[AJohnson]

Building in earnest has begun.  I won't do a step-by-step log, as there really is no point in duplicating Chris's' superb instructions that come with the kit.  Beside there are already a few logs for the Adder that go through things in much detail.  I'll just highlight the things I found interesting or difficult, or both!

 

The initial assembly of false keel and bulkheads was very straight forward, some of the slots were a bit tight, but nothing a quick rub over with sandpaper didn't fix in a moment.  As with my other builds a lucky penny was glued onto the false lower deck; dated the year of the Admiral and me tying the knot - explains the knurled old looking coin that wouldn't look out of place in an archaeology dig! 😆

 

Fairing of bulkheads all went without major drama, and I only broke one this time! Shout out to Dan @DB789 in his Adder log who brought attention to the length of the false deck needing a trim before gluing anything permanently.

 

First planking has started, fairly slow as this bluff bowed beastie needs a fair bit of measuring, trimming and pre-bending to get the planks to lie flat on the bulkheads.  Going okay so far, but being patient, so doing some other assemblies from later in the instructions to keep the momentum up, will show those later.

 

Thanks for looking in.

[HardeeHarHar]

On 10/4/2024 at 2:03 PM, AJohnson said:

little did I know someone was was taking note and I received a lovely surprise inside the box when I opened it and it contained a custom nameplate emblazoned with the name "Sparkler" 😁 .  Thanks again Chris! 

What an awesome surprise!!!!!!

[AJohnson]

Progress over the last couple of weeks, finished the first planking.  😁

 

The bulk of the planking was very straightforward, nothing to add to the other logs on here or Chris's instructions.  The bluff bow was a little tricky to get the curves correct so that the planks lay flat on the bulkheads, but that was just a case of patiently doing one or two per session and getting the curves as tight as I could without breaking the ends off - and yes I did break a couple...  I found a really useful curve was the end of the steel rule I use, I also (re)learnt how good a conductor of heat steel is! 🙄😆 embarrassed the number of time I went, "now I need to measure this next plank - ouch the rule is hot!"

 

One the plus side I did manage to use my new toy (proportional dividers) for measuring plank widths without drawing blood. 😉  I like old things like this, so got an old pair from eBay, these are c.1950s West Germany (HAFF brand).  It is no quicker, or more precise than using a card tick strip and radial fan of Chuck's method of planking, but I enjoy both ways of shaping planks, so happy with the results.

 

Thanks to those following along and the likes.

[Ronald-V]

That is some serious bending there! But you managed that well, looks good  

[Thukydides]

I only just noticed you had started a new log. Looking good so far.

 

Are you planning on putting sails on her like with trial?

[Craigie65]

Andrew,

What a good job you have done on the first planking, as Ronald has pointed out those are pretty tight curves!  

 

Will you use CA for the second planking?

[flyenrw]

Andrew; Really challenging work well done!   After my first pill, I can really appreciate how well you've done the planking. Those curves are like hair pin curves, my God, what an effort to turn out so well!             Best Regards, Roger

[Dr PR]

Nice planking job!

[AJohnson]

On 10/27/2024 at 6:10 PM, Thukydides said:

I only just noticed you had started a new log. Looking good so far.

 

Are you planning on putting sails on her like with trial?

Thanks, yes I will be putting sails on, post #1 of this log has a couple of sketches at the bottom showing what I would like to try for, the Brig hove-to and lowering a boat.  I learnt a lot doing the Trial sails and would like to improve on them if I can.  We shall see! 😁

Edited October 28 by AJohnson

[AJohnson]

On 10/27/2024 at 6:26 PM, Craigie65 said:

Andrew,

What a good job you have done on the first planking, as Ronald has pointed out those are pretty tight curves!  

 

Will you use CA for the second planking?

Thanks Craig, I shall be trying to avoid C-A for the second planking and trying this Super Phatic glue instead.  @Knocklouder mentioned it in his DoK log, so thought I would give it a go.  No odour, initial results look promising, slower grab time, but that is no bad thing with my positional accuracy with parts sometimes! 😆

I will still use C-A like P.E. eyelets etc. but trying to keep it to a minimum.

[AJohnson]

Small update for tonight, preparations for second planking.  

 

Completed steps 30-35 in the instructions, adding the lower stern pattern, keel and prow parts.  The only thing to add to the instructions is that I found temporarily clamping the outer stern board and rudder post in place helped me align the lower stern pattern, using the stern gun-port openings as a reference and the rudder post helped me judge it was nice and perpendicular.

 

Have also soaked and clamped parts 46 & 47 to the hull and will leave them to dry and take the hull shape.  I'm not too worried about the wood staining as I have settled on how Sparkler will look and I will be painting and coppering her (as mentioned in the history of the vessel.)

 

Thanks to the growing band of followers and the likes. 😁

[AJohnson]

Second planking is underway and about a third now complete.

 

I ended up using a hybrid system of tick strips and proportional dividers to set out the three bands of planking that seemed to fit the best; six planks in each band. By using the dividers to mark out the third points at each bulkhead position then using thin masking tape to lay the best line along these ticks.  They needed some tweaking by eye until I was happy.

 

Now a case of steady as she goes, doing one plank per. side in a session and then moving on to something else while the Super Phatic glue dries, slower but less smelly than C-A!  Plenty of edge bending as with the first planking, but holding the planks down by pinning through the first planking to one side of the second planking.

 

Thanks for the likes and looking in.

[Craigie65]

Looking good Andrew.

Interested in your use of the proportional dividers. How well do the proportional dividers handle the curve of the hull? Or can you only use them on relatively flat areas?

[Charter33]

Genuinely impressive planking skills, Andrew! Thanks for sharing the detailed photos and the process you use. Definitely making a note of these for future builds....👏

[AJohnson]

35 minutes ago, Craigie65 said:

Looking good Andrew.

Interested in your use of the proportional dividers. How well do the proportional dividers handle the curve of the hull? Or can you only use them on relatively flat areas?

Yes the curves are the issue, which why I ended up using a strip of paper, taking off the length, then measuring that with the dividers. Less of a problem for just working out the thickness of one plank, as over 4mm width of a plank the curve is minimal. Overall using the dividers is no more efficient than using strips and a fan as per. chucks methods. But I like using old tools like these, so there is a certain tactile enjoyment to be had in the process. I wouldn’t say it is in anyway better, but working for me so far…

[Craigie65]

Thanks Andrew,

Anything that makes planking easier is an asset!

I am a bit of a sucker for tools, sometime I forget it is the model that is more important.  If you are anything like me you will have a drawer (or 2) of little/unused tools. 

[AJohnson]

1 hour ago, Craigie65 said:

Thanks Andrew,

Anything that makes planking easier is an asset!

I am a bit of a sucker for tools, sometime I forget it is the model that is more important.  If you are anything like me you will have a drawer (or 2) of little/unused tools. 

Oh yes!  I'm guilty of that charge, but they look so good in the draw! 

Really (for kits) it is hard to justify more tools than a good knife, steel rule, cutting mat, pins (&pusher), clamps, sanding blocks/sticks, pencils, and well not much else really... (you can borrow the iron for edge bending....)

Okay, some paint brushes etc. if you paint your models.

Oh and magnifying glasses nowadays for me 🤓

[dunnock]

Nice planking Andrew.

I bought some proportional dividers a while ago but couldn't get on with them. Maybe I'll give them another try.

 

David

[Danstream]

Good job on the first and second planking. The second one looks beautiful. I am impressed with how much you manage edge bending the planks in the bow area. I always crack them if I exceed a reasonable entity. Surely another build of yours that I will keep following.

Cheers,

Dan

Edited November 8 by Danstream

[AJohnson]

Thank you for the comments and likes everyone, second planking continues.

Some of the bends were getting on the limit I could do without splitting the planks and some took a few goes under the iron to get them to curve enough.

Some progress pictures, four planks left to do on each side now, but think I'm passed the worst of the bending.  I have done some initial sanding of each band I have done so I don't have it all to do at the end.

With a following wind I should have the second planking finished at the weekend. 

[Craigie65]

Andrew,

Learning a lot from your build.  Those really are mighty tight curves, hope you have enough spare planks to complete. Would be a shame to hide the excellent job you have done with the planking under a coat of paint.

[AJohnson]

4 hours ago, Craigie65 said:

Andrew,

Learning a lot from your build.  Those really are mighty tight curves, hope you have enough spare planks to complete. Would be a shame to hide the excellent job you have done with the planking under a coat of paint.

Thanks Craig, but It's worse than paint, it is going to be hidden under copper! 😬 I have done a bit of research 🤓 and Sparkler was coppered and fit-out soon after building.  I don't mind, the planking was always going to be an exercise in improving my planking skills anyway.  Maybe one day I will dare to do an unpainted model, just as long as I don't do any research, or my OCD will kick in and I'll have to paint/copper it, if I know the original was that way!  😆

 

But yes, planks are getting thin on the ground, so might be scraping together a few odds and ends to do the last couple underneath, but I have kept all the trimmed ends.

Edited November 14 by AJohnson

[Craigie65]

Ah historical accuracy, it’s a bit of a martinet!

Edited November 14 by Craigie65

[AJohnson]

Evening all, second planking is complete. Well the laying of planks anyway - much sanding and filling to be done now.

 

Overall happy with the results for a bluff bow, but equally glad it is being hidden under paint and copper! 😆  So those of you who like the look of plain wood need to avert your gaze from this log from now on.... 😎

[Craigie65]

Excellent job on the second planking, nice symmetry to your work.