HMS Indefatigable 1794 by Clark - Vanguard Models - 1:64 scale

[Clark]

After I had finished the Sphinx, I wanted to continue with the Indy. There are good building reports on MSW. Therefore, I will mainly show what I will change compared to the building instructions. I was so sorry that you can't clearly see the lower decks on the Sphinx, even though Chris had planned some openings there. It's similar with the Indy. In my opinion, the openings through the decks are too small. I will therefore follow the approach of Blue Ensign. He has greatly expanded the breakthroughs through the upper decks. In addition, I plan to illuminate the lower decks with a few LEDs.

First of all, I had to choose the LEDs. There are now countless variants available, all of which have their advantages and disadvantages. I decided on 3-millimetre LEDs in ultra-bright yellow diffuse (1600 mcd, 1.9V, 20mA) and ultra-bright warm white diffuse (2800 mcd, 3.3V, 20mA). To avoid having to rely on batteries, I also purchased an LED driver (12-volt DC output). The yellow LEDs then require a resistance of 510 ohms, while the white ones require a resistance of 470 ohms. Then I tried it out to see if it would work at all.

Then came the early Christmas and I unpacked the Indie. First of all, I was amazed at the size of the Indy. This is also described in the other blogs, but when you see it in front of you, you are initially blown away. So there should not only be room for the Indy, but also for the associated plans.

 

 

The next step was to think about the routing of the wiring. In the middle of the hull, this is certainly not a problem. The problem is the LED wiring under the poop deck. To get a first idea of how the wiring should run, I made a rough drawing.

 

Holes were drilled in the bulkheads on both sides. For the double bulkhead 9, the two individual bulkheads were aligned using the keys supplied in the kit and then the holes were drilled accordingly. The wiring in the rear area had to be routed slightly differently so that the rear bulkheads had their outlets drilled higher up. I hope that the wires can then run accordingly later.

 

 

The bulkheads were inserted and fixed with the holders. Here, too, I was amazed by the precise work of Chris. No reworking, let alone major filing, was necessary. Only the pegs were a bit difficult to push in, so I bevelled them a bit for better guidance. The bevel was only made on the front and rear side of the pegs. At the bottom left of the picture is a bevelled peg and on the right is a peg before the bevel.

 

The bulkhead ears protrude quite a bit, especially in the rear area. I am therefore very afraid of breaking them off and have constructed a provisional railing for them. I used the leftover material from the MDF sheet in which the bulkheads frames were in.

The fillers for the bow were slightly bevelled. I have not yet done this at the stern because I want to see how the planking at the stern will be done later.

I did not modify the deck planking any further. The same applies to the hatches and the openings of the companionways. These areas of the deck will hardly be visible.

To glue the steps of the ladder, I used a right angle and held it against a piece of balsa wood that was fixed with pins.

 

Edited December 13 by Clark

[Blue Ensign]

'Indy' is a good subject for lighting with that  highly detailed interior and wonderful Great Cabin.

 Good luck with your project.

 

B.E.

[Clark]

On 12/13/2024 at 6:21 PM, Blue Ensign said:

'Indy' is a good subject for lighting with that  highly detailed interior and wonderful Great Cabin.

 Good luck with your project.

 

B.E.

Hello Blue Ensign,

Thank you for stopping by. So far, I have not worked with LEDs. I think I will have to try a few things when the build is more advanced. I will probably install the LEDs when the 3D puzzle phase (your term) is over.

Clark

[Clark]

The longitudinal beams fitted well. In some places, light blows with a small hammer were necessary.

When fitting the deck beams, I was initially surprised that 3 of the cut-out beams were left over. Here Chris probably thought that some might break.

 

When sanding the bow and stern formers, the laser carbon can be used as a guide. Here I first sanded with a Dremel and then reworked with self made sanding sticks (80 and 120 grades) to work out the curvatures.

The fillers for the stern area were glued into the last bulkhead, with a 4-millimetre MDF spacer used for the simulating the stern post. Everything fitted perfectly and no sanding was necessary. Congratulations, Chris.

 

Contrary to the description in the building instructions, I also glued on the lower stern fillers (but not to the false keel) so that I could work on them. I found this easier to do outside the hull.

I used a thin strip to check the shape. I also applied a little putty in the area of the lower stern filler to get a better idea of how the planking would go.

 

 

[Clark]

The deck was prepared for installation. First, I set the markings for the subsequent planking. I assumed that with a maximum plank length of 8 metres in the original at a scale of 1:64, the maximum plank length on the Indy is 125 millimetres. For easy calculation, I assumed 120 millimetres. Assuming that the planks were laid with a fourfold offset, a distance of 30 millimetres is necessary from offset to offset. In addition to the offset lines, I also added additional markings where the upper edges of relevant bulkheads run. This is for later mounting of the brackets for the Indie overhead.

The deck was glued using the technique  described by Blue Ensign in his Indy blog. . That means first one side was glued and then the other side. However, PVA glue was only applied in the middle area to begin with. For the outer area, the Indy was turned upside down and PVA was applied from below using a brush.

However, a centre bridge broke off during attachment and was lost. In the picture you can also see that the lower deck half is displaced by about 0.3 to 0.5 millimetres. I checked the bow and stern again. However, the deck halves are exactly centred there. So I didn't correct them any further. The deck will also be planked, which will help to even out any such errors.

 

I made a replacement for the missing centre bridge out of plywood

Next, the horizontal gun port strips and the vertical frames were glued. The vertical frames are position-specific, but Chris marked them so precisely that you can't go wrong if you can read. 
This also further stabilises the bulkheads.
When installing the stern frames, it was important to note that the LED cables would later have to pass through these frames. I therefore removed the vertical leg from the middle stern frame so that it would still be possible to feed the wires through the hole drilled in bulkhead 18. 

When positioning the poop deck beam ledges, I was afraid that there might be a little too much play at the stern. To align the ledges here, I therefore provisionally attached the deck beams of the deck and applied PVA glue moistly with a brush to the joints of the ledges.

 

  

To sand the inner bulwark supports smooth, I laid the Indy on its side and fixed it in place with the help of the Amati apparatus.

 

I sanded the bulwark supports and the vertical gun-port strips again with my sanding sticks. In the straight area, I essentially orientated myself on the bulkheads. These are ideally aligned, so that mainly the vertical gun-port strips were sanded into alignment. In the bow area, the orientation was based on the curved longitudinal strips for the gun ports.
 

 

The result was checked with a thin strip.

 

I also sanded the support structures of the rear cabin smooth at this stage. LEDs are to be installed here and it would be unfavourable to start the sanding process again after the LEDs have been installed.

Before I fitted the inner bulwarks, I first constructed a bracket with which the Indy can be fixed overhead later when planking. A 10 millimetre dowel sanded at the side, was passed through the opening for the foremast. 

A 5 millimetre sheet with a walnut reinforcement was then used to further stabilise the dowel.

The sheet was then fixed to the bulkheads below with screws. As the deck will be planked over later, the screw holes are harmless.

A suitably prepared 12 mm dowel was passed through the opening for the main mast and stabilised accordingly.

The Indy can later then be clamped into the AMATI holding device using the two dowels

 

The inner bulwarks were first soaked with water, then clamped to the spars, left to dry overnight and glued with PVA glue the next day. In the picture you can also see a small protrusion of the aft bulwark near the deck compared to the bulwark laid in front of it. The projection is aligned from the other side with a small wood strip.