HMS Unicorn by ZyXuz - Corel - Scale 1:75

[ZyXuz]

Stern Modification - 1

The stern decoration provided by Corel is made of cast metal, and its details isn't that satisfying. So, I planned to rework on the stern gallery. I've been searching for examples of ship with black and white colour scheme, and I found the Trincomalee would be the best to refer to. 
 

H.M.S. Trincomalee

I'm really loving it. Simple and beautiful, and with its name on it. So, I started to work out mine.

 

I copied over the size of the cast metal provided by the kit and made a simple plan on the gallery. I've also made the windows to rectangular shape to ease my work.
 

Then I cut out 2 holes on the sides of the ship, as a 'see through' from the side windows.
 

The frame of the stern is made of 4mm x 4mm walnut strips. Gap in between is the height of the newly designed windows. 

Well, for the creased 'blue print'... I mistaken it as unused paper, and thrown it away... XD And I was real lucky to find it back the next day
 

After some measurement and trial, the side frames are done too.
 

It looks like a weirdo plug...
 

I added planks on the sides by using 3mm x 3mm strips.
 

And made 2 holes for the windows.
 

cont'

[ZyXuz]

Cont'
 
 
 

For the head and foot, I used balsa block to shape them. I think there is certainly better wood for it, but balsa is the current wood material I have enough to build them. 
 

Now, the head on the stern gallery is added. Again, to ease my work I removed the club shape on the head, and made it smooth instead.
 

By using leftover wood from the stern filler, I added them at the bottom. That little curve might help designing my gallery
 

And again, plank them all using 0.2mm x 4mm walnut strips which left from my Pearl.
 

Up till now, it's already a week. 
When every piece is glue, it looks like this. Anyway, it's still not glued to the ship.
 

 

 

After painting...
 

Now it's time to add the white border line to the gallery. By using unused (due to modification) 2mm x 5mm walnut strip from the kit, I profiled a 'U' shape it like what we can see on the Trincomalee.
 

So, this is now the gallery looks like now.  

I'm running out of extra wood strips and couldn't continue already. Anyway, I've just placed an order from CMB and it might take around 2 weeks to reach Malaysia. I also included some cast metal of Amati, which at least looks better than the Corel kit ones in the website. Let's hope for the best!

Whilst waiting, I'll continue on the bulwark planking and other fittings first.

Thanks for viewing!

[RGL]

Well played sir!

[mtaylor]

Nicely done, Xyxuz.

[ianmajor]

ZyXuz,

 

That is a very nice modification well executed. 

 

I was never happy with any part of the Corel stern. This looks much better.

 

Have you seen Ed Tosti's Naiad? There are many excellent descriptions of producing quarter galleries on the MSW forum, but Ed's is my favourite. Have a look at this which is one of many entries in his log on the subject - most inspiring.

Edited December 2, 2013 by ianmajor

[ZyXuz]

Thanks all for your kind words

 

Ian,

Wow! That's really an awesome work!! I really should have seen that earlier..

I think I should spend some times on scratch build log from now on

I love how he executed the side galleries. Let's see how can I improve that when my orders arrive 

 

Thanks for the link! 

[Landlubber Mike]

Really nice work - I'm planning on scratching the stern on my Unicorn as well as the cast pieces are very disappointing.  I bought a spare set of the cast pieces to see if I could modify them in any way to improve them, but I think I'm going to forget that idea and just build them from scratch.  Your method, along with the Naiad method, will be bookmarked for future reference!

Edited December 2, 2013 by Landlubber Mike

[mathewp]

Looking good Xyxuz. I like the work on the stern. Nice and tidy.

[ollyweb]

The decision to revise the stern was a great idea ... your work is very thorough and well done.
compliments
Gianni
P.S. I also modified the stern but unfortunately I thought of this when the model was already completed.

[ZyXuz]

Thanks Matt and Ollyweb That really motivates me

 

Ollyweb,

Thanks! 

Yea, I saw your stern modification on the gallery too! That's cool!

And I actually 'stole' your idea on the rectangular windows

[Ferit]

Really really nice... Very nice...

[src]

Z,

Very nicely done! 

Sam

[Landlubber Mike]

Hi again ZyXuz,

 

Just out of curiosity, are you planning to add the stern detail piece that goes to the top of the stern?  I can't make out from my cast metal piece what it's supposed to be, but from Ollyweb's beautiful build, it looks like it's a bunch of flags or something to that effect.  The Chapman plans, however, for the Unicorn (on which the Corel kit is largely based it appears) seem to have two women and a lion (can't make out the starboard far end figure - will have to check my book later at home).  Click here, and image 55 for the Unicorn plan (the high resolution is better).

 

http://www.sjohistoriska.se/en/Collections/Archives/ChapmanNet/ChapmanNet/Drawings/?pressimagepage=5

 

I was thinking about carving my own stern ornamentation as my cast metal part is pretty terrible.  I even ordered a second just to practice on, but it's just as bad.  Going with the Corel design would be easier than the Chapman design though.

 

While we're on the topic of modifications and the Chapman plans, if you look at the plans, the quarterdeck portholes slowly become more and more open as you proceed towards the bows.  Ian suggested that the Corel plans have the quarterdeck about 4-5mm too low (if I remember him correctly).  Are you thinking of making any modifications to the quarterdeck?  I might do it if I am able to figure out how to do it, as well as if i can cleanly open up the portholes.

Edited December 5, 2013 by Landlubber Mike

[Anja]

Hello ZyXuz,

 

Very well done, nice work.

 

Anja

[ianmajor]

Gents,

 

On my casting the central part is a reasonable representation of a British Coat of Arms. Which one (or whose) I can't make out. It is similar to this government one below. See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_coat_of_arms for more versions.

 

 

The rest of it seems to be a representation of the aftermath of the Battle of Edge Hill, with its discarded cannon barrels, pikes and droopy flags.

 

If the single casting was replaced by individual decorations there would be the opportunity to add stern chaser gun ports, which would look right. That would mean removing the rear, non prototypical lockers at the rear of the quarter deck.

 

Yes, my belief is the quarter deck is too low. The tops of the gallery windows, modeled as per the instructions, are above the level of the deck. They would give a nice view of the captains feet as he paced the deck.

Edited December 5, 2013 by ianmajor

[ZyXuz]

Hi Mike & Ian,

Thanks for pointing that out. I did not notice the difference between Corel and Chapman's plan on the stern gallery on your previous sharing until you mentioned here.

Carving the gallery in such detail is really not an easy job, I did not even give myself a try I really hope I can do it one day, but doing this without any experience seems too ambiguous for me.

 

Anyway, I have included the Lion and Unicorn British Coat of Arm in my order from CMB. That's an Amati's product, check this out:

Item 5349 (17mm)

 

5350 (27mm)

 

http://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/acatalog/amati_decoration.html

They look much better than the Corel one, at least from the pictures

 

I bought the 27mm because the other one is currently out of stock, and I'm not so sure whether the 27mm is the height or width of it.. hope it's the width, because 27mm in height will be too big for my ship. If everything works fine, and I might able to add rear chaser gun at my quarter deck

 

For the decoration at both sides of the badge, I think they should be 'Trophy of Arms' like what we can see from HMS Victory stern decoration.

 

Ya, the quarter deck gunport was what I noticed on your previous sharing on Chapman's plan. If you look closely to the Chapman's plan, you can see the dotted line which I think it represents the quarter deck level, and it's not going parallel with the gunports (higher at the rear side). That's why the gunports tend to open up proceeding to the bow direction. Corel plan is to align the gunports with the deck, going parallel. My plan was to follow Chapman's, but cutting the thick round brass gunports hold me back to Corel's suggestion.

 

Regarding the height issue, I haven't thought of a clear idea. My draft one is to spare out some space (like 2 to 3mm) using the 'camber' structure of a ship deck - higher in the middle, lower at board sides. I have just done the beams for the deck yesterday, and will test them out over the weekends. I think Ian did move up the gunports level, and caused the round brass 'emerged' out from the rail. Anyway, it saves the cannons to point to a good angle If not, the cannons might perhaps point to a downward direction like this. 

 

 

If the camber structure can't help on saving the gunports level, then I might really need a clear plan on fixing this. Most probably by adding one more strip

 

[Landlubber Mike]

Hi ZyXuz,

 

Thanks for your thoughts on this.  I'll be curious to see how those Amati parts work out - they look like very good options.  My cast metal pieces are terrible Not sure if I'll be able to carve something, but it will either be fun to try or extremely frustrating!

 

I havent decided about the deck either.  Part of me is like try to get the ship as historically accurate as possible.  The other part is like you're going to burden yourself with something that only you are going to appreciate, while others looking at the ship will likely think the opened portholes look odd

[Landlubber Mike]

Here's a close-up of what I think is the Trophy of Arms on a Victory that was just added to the gallery:

 

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/gallery/image/5751-hms-victory-1765-graviou-francis/

[ZyXuz]

I can sure it will be fun! I first carving experience was during my 2ndary school. I 'stole' few chalks home, flatted them on the side and carved my surname on it in Chinese protruding. It looks terrible, but the whole process was fun!! And I shew it to my mom... she had no idea what I've carved :D

 

The opening gun ports look fine for me Since everyone is making own version of Unicorn, I think it will be great if someone can make one  historical accurate Unicorn  

Good luck on whatever you've decided

[ZyXuz]

Bulwark Planking & Gratings
 

Here's some recent updates on my ship, much relaxing and quicker comparing to the stern modification last time.

 

If referring to the HMS Unicorn (1824), the bulwark is painted to ocher green. But, since I don't have any green paint currently, I decided to paint them to red.
 

 

I did some sanding and tapering on the lowest plank to meet the deck's level, and pre-cut those wood strips between gun ports.
 

 

 
After the planking is done, I repainted them for a better finish. From the picture below, you can see that the beams are actually done too. Corel suggests to use the kit provided birch wood strip (4mm x 4mm), but instead, I used balsa. Birch strips are too nice for beam.
 

 
Then I started to drill holes for the eye bolts. I used an unused piece of plywood for more precise distance marking from the gun port. 
 

 
Done! And you can also see that the remaining deck planking is done too.
 

 
I continued to the gratings making on the same day. Gratings that provided by Corel is real bad in quality, so I purchased OcCre ones to replace them from CMB.
 

 

 
For the surrounds, I used 2mm x 3mm wood strips.
 

 

 

This is how my deck looks like now with gratings and ladder on. Also, treenails detail are added. I'm using the same technique as my Race Horse, which is chalked by using a mechanical pencil.
 

 
Thanks for viewing.

[ianmajor]

ZyXuz,

 

Very nice work. The deck looks tremendous.

 

I agree about the Coral grating parts. I found that they tended to crumble in to smaller pieces. The OcCre ones look an altogether better job.

[Jeff-E]

Hi ZyXuz,

 

I have just browsed through  your log and you are doing a very nice job on the Unicorn, I like the way you have modified the stern cabins it turned out neat and smooth. Your gunports and the inner bulwarks look fantastic

[ZyXuz]

Thanks Jeff and Ian for your kind words.

[ZyXuz]

Ladder Stanchion Making
 
Some fast updates recently, and hope they are not too rash.

I've finally put my ladder's stanchions on, and it's the first rigging done for this build. I first drilled holes at the 4 corners, and put the stanchions on which I already blacken.
 

 

My plan was to add two platforms for the stanchions at the end of the ladder, so that when the rigging is done I'll just need to put the whole completed piece to the deck. But when I done the platform, it didn't look good. The platforms seem like an extra piece of wood below the stanchions. So, I changed my mind to directly stick them on to the orlop. 

The challenge of this is I'll need to drill through the little ladder hole, and glue the stanchion on, and make sure it's in the correct direction. After sometimes of squeezing and twisting, I finally managed to fit the first one on. And of course, the knot is already done before I put it in.
 

 
Here comes the challenging part... I'll need to put the last stanchion to the orlop with the ladder blocking, and the stopper knot tied. What I did is, I put the stanchion with thread to the orlop first, got a desired tension, and made a mark at the end of the stanchion. There will be the point where the stopper knot located.
 

 
Marking the end point with the ladder on is even tougher.. got it after few minutes. So, I took the stanchion out again and made that stopper knot, cut the end and glue it on the orlop.
 

 
The last stanchion as seen from top.
 

Group photo with the gratings. In this photo, I've already adjusted the tension of the thread to tighter above the deck, and those going into the orlop, looser. 
 

 

Thanks for viewing!

[mtaylor]

You continue to do a beautiful build, Zyxuz.  Very ingenious way of getting the stanchions and rope installed.

[Jeff-E]

Nicely done ZyXuz, I will keep this method in mind for future builds 

Edited December 13, 2013 by Jeff-E

[ZyXuz]

Thanks Mark and Jeff for your kind words.

Anyway, I think I really need to learn to prevent making too much CA clouds.. they're really disturbing

Any possible way to remove them? 

[md1400cs]

Here comes a short update..

 

Ladder Making

 

Ladder has to be done before the hull planking, so that it's easier for me to check whether the feet of the ladder 'landing' correctly from outboard.

 

The kit provides the materials of the ladder, with pre-cut ladder slot for the steps. Anyway, they are not as good as expected.

 

 

As you can see from the picture above, the slots of the ladders are not aligned. I've tried switching them, but still only a pair matches. 

 

For the 'surroundings' and steps, I used these:

 

 

I made the wider strips inside the narrow ones, so that it acts like plug to the deck. After some measuring and checking, here's the result:

 

 

It's a bit terrible, isn't it? lol Especially at lower right corner..

I remade one anyway.

And then insert the steps into the slots.. steps are in 20mm length.

 

 

Just glue them together and they're completed.

 

 

View from this angle, the extended part can be seen clearer. It also helps covering the ugly plywood cross section.

 

As seen from deck..

 

 

Picture below shows how I check the angle of the ladder from outboard.

 

 

I haven't made the handrails of it, because the stanchions provided by the kit is way out of scale in their height. I might adjust the upper deck higher, or remake the stanchions.

 

Thanks for viewing!

ZyXuz,

 

I'm happy that I just discovered your log for this ship. You are doing a beautiful job. I will follow along One question, if you don't mind, I really like that rounded tool that you used for the ladder. What is that called, I will look for one?

 

Thanks...Michael

[ZyXuz]

ZyXuz,

 

I'm happy that I just discovered your log for this ship. You are doing a beautiful job. I will follow along One question, if you don't mind, I really like that rounded tool that you used for the ladder. What is that called, I will look for one?

 

Thanks...Michael

Hi Michael,

Thanks for your compliment.

 

It is called a peg clamp/Universal holder tool. I bought it from an ebay store, but currently ran out of stock. Anyway, here's another link on ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PEG-CLAMP-UNIVERSAL-WORK-HOLDER-FOR-ENGRAVERS-JEWELERS-JEWELRY-ENGRAVING-TOOL-/151140919490?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2330b368c2

 

The one I bought is a Rolson brand, and the handle is removable.. not sure about this one

 

Or you can buy from CMB too, an Amati's brand.. but much expensive

http://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/acatalog/amati_7387.html

 

Search around for the cheapest price!

[md1400cs]

Hi Michael,

Thanks for your compliment.

 

It is called a peg clamp/Universal holder tool. I bought it from an ebay store, but currently ran out of stock. Anyway, here's another link on ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PEG-CLAMP-UNIVERSAL-WORK-HOLDER-FOR-ENGRAVERS-JEWELERS-JEWELRY-ENGRAVING-TOOL-/151140919490?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2330b368c2

 

The one I bought is a Rolson brand, and the handle is removable.. not sure about this one

 

Or you can buy from CMB too, an Amati's brand.. but much expensive

http://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/acatalog/amati_7387.html

 

Search around for the cheapest price!

Thanks,

 

That was very helpful. I could not find one at the usual places, or through a google search. I just bought the one you linked for me on ebay. I can certainly remove the wood handle and attach it to a small table vice. That Amati one looks very nice, but...the cheaper will be perfect. Again Thanks!!

 

Michael