HMS Bellona by Andy Thurston - Corel - 1/100

[Andy Thurston]

I'm going to post a build log of this, my second kit, Corel's 1/100th scale HMS Bellona.  I've only built one kit before, which was Constructo's HMAV Bounty (photo attached), so The Bellona will be a real challenge for me.  I'll post my progress: if anyone has suggestions for me based on what you see me post here I'd be very pleased to hear from you if you add comments to the log.
The kit was a gift from my wife Ali, as was The Bounty.  We live in the UK.  I love ships, but our joint hobby is music: Ali is a singer and I play bass guitar, guitar and drums... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVcIj4R5pPI
Best regards to all,
Andy Thurston

 

Edited December 4, 2024 by ccoyle
corrected log title

[Andy Thurston]

The kit has 976 different identified parts, most of which appear at least twice (port and starboard) and some very many times (e.g. decking timbers).  The plans amount to 14 sheets, one of which is A1 and the remainder of which are A2.  Each of the 976 parts is labelled multiple times in the different plans.
So, how to easily find all the references to a part in all those plans?  My approach… create a spreadsheet.
I inserted an image of each of the 14 plans onto separate worksheets, and made them slightly transparent so I can see the cells behind them.  Then where each part number appears on the plan I write that part number (in red) in a unique cell near to the reference on the plan.
Then, going forward, if I want to find a particular part in the plans I just use the Excel Search feature to locate them.  Much quicker than manually searching each and every time 🙂

[Andy Thurston]

The wooden strips arrived in a box, about 30 different types in all, but they were largely muddled up together without labels or descriptions.  Having sorted the wood into the 30 or so different types, I've created a filing system in the original box to keep them in.  The compartments were made by folding birthday wrapping paper into a corrugated pattern to create long, thin sections and adding cardboard labels for each compartment.  Helps me to get organised before proceeding with the build and to get familiar with the parts provided.

[Nearshore]

Hi Andy,

I am building the same ship. I am about 2 1/2 years into the build. The instructions are not the best and if followed verbatim they will get you into trouble. If I can be of any assistance, I will be more than happy to share my experiences. If you need some perspective pictures of a particular area, I will be more than happy to share what I have with you. I have taken more than 2000 pictures along the way which have helped me in identifying issues and solutions. Good luck on your journey, this is a nice model, and I'm shore you will enjoy the challenges that it has to offer.

 

Cheers

Nearshore

 

[ccoyle]

Your Bounty looks very nice! Based on that result, I have little doubt that you will do well with Bellona.

[Andy Thurston]

Glueing the Main Deck

After a distinct lack of progress over Xmas I've finally started the assembly by glueing the main deck to the bulkheads. The whole assembly can then be lifted by an inch or so to allow the front bulkhead to be inserted: this seemed easier to me than trying to glue the front bulkhead at the same time as those shown in the photo, since it complicates the assembly somewhat (due to lugs on the deck having to align with slots in the bulkhead) and there was a chance that the glue would start to dry before I got it all put together.

My childhood Meccano set makes a very useful tool for building jigs

[Andy Thurston]

On 12/4/2024 at 12:42 PM, Nearshore said:

Hi Andy,

I am building the same ship. I am about 2 1/2 years into the build. The instructions are not the best and if followed verbatim they will get you into trouble. If I can be of any assistance, I will be more than happy to share my experiences. If you need some perspective pictures of a particular area, I will be more than happy to share what I have with you. I have taken more than 2000 pictures along the way which have helped me in identifying issues and solutions. Good luck on your journey, this is a nice model, and I'm shore you will enjoy the challenges that it has to offer.

 

Cheers

Nearshore

 

Hi Nearshore
That's very kind of you: I'm certain I'll have loads of questions!
I had already found your build log for the Bellona and I have a shortcut to it saved on my computer for reference.  Luckily my kit didn't have the warped keel that yours had, which was a great relief.  I am still a novice builder (just one previous kit) so I'll be referring to your build log quite a bit I think 🙂
Best wishes,
Andy

[Andy Thurston]

Constructing the Stern and Bow Sections (14th Jan 2025)

Much filing and sanding will be required to shape these parts (which are cut with regular right angled edges) so that they follow the desired profile of the hull. I've made the bow section detachable until I've finished the sanding, as the keel and the stem (that part of the keel that extends in front of the ship) would get in the way of the sanding block.

Note the two gun ports in the stern section, which is where the two stern chaser cannons (or cannon being its own plural if you prefer) will be located.

[Andy Thurston]

Bow Section Shaped and In Place (15th Jan 2025)

Much sanding was needed to get the required shape.

[Andy Thurston]

Stern Assembly (24th Jan 2025)
I've been working on the stern assembly. I've left it detachable for now so that I can sand it to the desired shape without the keel getting in the way. The second photo shows the deck planking on the stern balcony. The third photo shows a few of the peripheral parts dry-fitted (i.e. without glue) to show how the balcony will look. The balcony doors and windows are made of photo-etched brass and need to be painted.

[Andy Thurston]

Planking of Bow Deck and Main Deck (30th Jan 2025)
Limited progress this week due to having three gigs (in three different bands... that's lots of songs to remember!).

Deck planking well underway now.  The instructions from Corel suggest doing this after constructing the hull, but that would necessitate fitting the front and rear decks which would overhang the main deck areas and would make it more challenging to lay the deck planks.  So, like several other builders on Model Ship World, I've done the decking earlier.
For the caulking I'm just running a marker pen along both sides of the wood before glueing in place.  I've seen various discussions about the most authentic colour for that period being a dark brown, but I've used black and I'm very happy with the results.

Edited January 31 by Andy Thurston

[Andy Thurston]

Three views of the gratings in various stages of completion.  I didn't get on at all well with the grating components supplied with the kit, so I bought a sheet of laser-cut grating from eBay and cut it down to the required grid sizes.  They are fractionally larger than those provided by Corel, but the difference is trivial.  I made these much earlier than needed as something to do while I procrastinated about completing the hull ready to do the hull planking 🙂

[Andy Thurston]

The stern gallery took about three attempts till I was happy with it.  The first time I painted it with a brush and it looked awful, so I stripped all the paint from it and spray painted it, but then I made a real mess when I tried to do the glass in the windows, so I completely stripped it apart, again removed all the paint, and then on this third attempt managed to get it to a satisfactory standard.  To paint the windows I used Vallejo Gun Metal metallic paint thinned down and mixed with flow improver, which I then added to the recessed window and pushed to the edges of the windows using a tooth pick: the paint flowed to the edges of the windows largely from the effect of surface tension and capillary action... worked rather well.  The decoration on the pillars isn't the brass from the etched pieces but is metallic bright brass paint, again from Vallejo.
To be honest it looks a bit messy in the blown-up picture, but with the naked eye it looks quite tidy 🙂

Edited June 18 by Andy Thurston

[Andy Thurston]

Having seen other build logs (those by Harlequin and Nearshore in particular) I realised I should cut a rabbet line so I can slightly recess the hull planks to help me hide any issues where they join the hull.  I really wish I'd done this before adding the bulkheads.  I used a Dremel to remove the outer layer of the plywood keel and found that a small silicon carbide cutting wheel was good for removing the bulk of the wood, and then a scalpel to get into the corner near to where the rudder will go.  I can make any small adjustments to the width of the rabbet line as and when needed, but I think this will do for now.

[Andy Thurston]

I made all the canons and carronades: as with the early construction of the gratings this was a deferral activity whilst I was procrastinating about planking the hull.  The Corel kit suggests using brass wire for the axels but it looks wrong as I wanted to use wood.  I was unable to source any with a suitably small diameter so I sanded down round larger wooden strip to the required diameter (using the Dremel and gripping the wood with sandpaper until the diameter had reduced sufficiently): took a while but I'm happy with the results.

[Andy Thurston]

Having learnt from my many mistakes doing the stern gallery, the photo etch detailing on the bulkheads of the bow deck and the poop deck only took a couple of days to complete.  I've glued the bow bulkhead detailing into place, but the detailing for the poop deck will be glued in place after the quarter deck has been fitted.  (I'll need to slightly dismantle it to get it into position, but that's a trivial problem.)
Corel suggest using tack heads for the doorknobs, but at this scale they would represent doorknobs about 20cm in diameter, so I glued tiny resin beads in place: these are perhaps a bit too small, but I prefer them to the tack heads.

Edited June 18 by Andy Thurston

[Andy Thurston]

The poop deck is the last thing I need to attach before I can start the hull planking.  My childhood Meccano set proving very useful once again.

[Nearshore]

Hi Andy,

I see that you are considering or perhaps already installed the poop deck. If i may offer a suggestion, I would not do that and instead take an approach of building up from the main. i have not perminitlly installed the poop deck for this reason or the quarter deck.  I just think that fitting all the components on the main deck without the other decks will give better access to those components and make an easier installation..... Just a thought.  You are doing a great job so far!!

 

Nearshore 

[Andy Thurston]

On 6/18/2025 at 9:23 PM, Nearshore said:

Hi Andy,

I see that you are considering or perhaps already installed the poop deck. If i may offer a suggestion, I would not do that and instead take an approach of building up from the main. i have not perminitlly installed the poop deck for this reason or the quarter deck.  I just think that fitting all the components on the main deck without the other decks will give better access to those components and make an easier installation..... Just a thought.  You are doing a great job so far!!

 

Nearshore 

Hi Nearshore
Yes, I've made a few decisions that I later think were daft!  Hopefully I'll soon get time to make some additions to the post, where you'll see some discussion of where I think I could have made better choices.  Hey though, it's a really fun learning curve... loving every minute of this build 🙂
I will confess to you that I've downloaded over 200 of your photos, and you're my main source of reference for my own build... I hope you don't mind!
Best wishes,
Andy

[Nearshore]

Hi Andy,

i am looking forward to seeing more post of your progress. I agree with you on that building this ship is very challanging and rewarding. I have over 2500 pictures of my progress, so if you need a picture of a particular area, I more than likely have one. The pictures I take have helped me identify the flaws so that I can correct my mistakes if possable. They aslo help me with identifying the approaches I need to take for the next steps of assembling.

The instuctions Corel provides do not give much detail on the assembly. I am glad that my pictures have helped you and i do not mind at all that you have downloaded them. If I can offer any advise on an area you may have difficulties with, i will be more then happy to help if I can.

 

Nearshore

[Andy Thurston]

First layer of planking underway, with a few interesting decisions and discoveries along the way.
I put the first plank on in accordance with the plans.  After the glue dried I decided that it was a little bit too low around the third and fourth bulkheads so rather than lift the entire plank I just sawed through it along the centre of the fifth bulkhead, lifted the plank from the 3rd, 4th and 5th bulkheads, and re-glued the plank slightly higher than before.  This worked fine and gave a better line along the plank.
I then tested where the other planks would lie and realised that the barrels of the canons on the main deck would be hard up against the top of the gun ports after fitting subsequent planks, so I inserted a length of 2mm x 2mm wood above the first plank to raise the subsequent rows of planks above the decks.  I had some spare 2x2mm wood from a previous kit, seen in the darker colour on the photos.
Planking in the upwards direction was then reasonably straight forward.
I deviated from the instructions when fitting the half gun enclosures.  The instructions said to fit planks 30a & 30b 10mm apart, and similarly with planks 30c & 30d, and also 30e & 30f, and to then glue the gun enclosures behind those planks.  I didn't fancy doing this on the concave hull surfaces as I thought it could make fitting the in-between planks challenging and also a bit awkward for filing the middle region of the edges of the gun enclosures to match the profile of the hull.  I also didn't fancy doing it on the convex hull surfaces as this would likely leave a gap between the half-gun enclosure and the protruding hull planks.  So in each case I decided to fit the gun enclosures to the first plank (having bevelled the edge to make the gun enclosure proud of the hull for the remaining planks) and then shape the enclosures to the hull and add the remaining three planks per gun-port successively.  This then makes it very easy to saw the first half of each gun port using a modelling tenon saw because there aren't any other planks to get in the way.  To be honest this deviation from Corel's instructions has worked out quite well, so no real regrets about this decision.
One final thing to note is that having fitted plank 30a in accordance with Corel's instructions, I found that the main deck gun ports would be significantly lower than the two stern chaser gun ports, so I've decided that I will cut the main deck gun ports 2mm higher than indicated in the plans.  This will also then give a more uniform height spacing between the three rows of gun ports, and effectively compensate for the addition of the 2mm x 2mm strip mentioned above.
This kit is proving quite challenging - I suppose because it's only my second build - but I'm enjoying it which is probably what matters most 🙂
N.B. in the last photo you'll spot that I extended the two upper gun ports in the downwards direction instead of the correct upwards direction... oops!  I later glued in some filler plank sections to correct this.

Edited July 21 by Andy Thurston

[Frecap]

47 minutes ago, Andy Thurston said:

First layer of planking underway, with a few interesting decisions and discoveries along the way.
I put the first plank on in accordance with the plans.  After the glue dried I decided that it was a little bit too low around the third and fourth bulkheads so rather than lift the entire plank I just sawed through it along the centre of the fifth bulkhead, lifted the plank from the 3rd, 4th and 5th bulkheads, and re-glued the plank slightly higher than before.  This worked fine and gave a better line along the plank.
I then tested where the other planks would lie and realised that the barrels of the canons on the main deck would be hard up against the top of the gun ports after fitting subsequent planks, so I inserted a length of 2mm x 2mm wood above the first plank to raise the subsequent rows of planks above the decks.  I had some spare 2x2mm wood from a previous kit, seen in the darker colour on the photos.
Planking in the upwards direction was then reasonably straight forward.
I deviated from the instructions when fitting the half gun enclosures.  The instructions said to fit planks 30a & 30b 10mm apart, and similarly with planks 30c & 30d, and also 30e & 30f, and to then glue the gun enclosures behind those planks.  I didn't fancy doing this on the concave hull surfaces as I thought it could make fitting the in-between planks challenging and also a bit awkward for filing the middle region of the edges of the gun enclosures to match the profile of the hull.  I also didn't fancy doing it on the convex hull surfaces as this would likely leave a gap between the half-gun enclosure and the protruding hull planks.  So in each case I decided to fit the gun enclosures to the first plank (having bevelled the edge to make the gun enclosure proud of the hull for the remaining planks) and then shape the enclosures to the hull and add the remaining three planks per gun-port successively.  This then makes it very easy to saw the first half of each gun enclosure using a modelling tenon saw because there aren't any other planks to get in the way.  To be honest this deviation from Corel's instructions has worked out quite well, so no real regrets about this decision.
One final thing to note is that having fitted plank 30a in accordance with Corel's instructions, I found that the main deck gun ports would be significantly lower than the two stern chaser gun ports, so I've decided that I will cut the main deck gun ports 2mm higher than indicated in the plans.  This will also then give a more uniform height spacing between the three rows of gun ports, and effectively compensate for the addition of the 2mm x 2mm strip mentioned above.
This kit is proving quite challenging - I suppose because it's only my second build - but I'm enjoying it which is probably what matters most 🙂
N.B. in the last photo you'll spot that I extended the two upper gun ports in the downwards direction instead of the correct upwards direction... oops!  I later glued in some filler plank sections to correct this.

Great job! Beautiful and neat! I'm watching the process with interest.

[Frecap]

16 minutes ago, Frecap said:

Great job! Beautiful and neat! I'm watching the process with interest.

Your approach to laying the first layer was very well thought out, which helped to avoid the incorrect positioning of the gun ports on the main deck. I was in a hurry at this stage, and later had to raise the gun ports by making inserts at the bottom and cutting them out at the top