HMS Harpy 1796 by dunnock - Vanguard Models - 1:64

[Geordie Tyne]

Very smart looking. The toggles look very nice sitting atop the tops.

 

Regards

[dunnock]

Lower Masts cont’d

 

With the tops fitted, details at the head can now be added.

The bolsters are made from some 2mm fret and cut and rounded off. They are cut a little longer than those supplied.

The hoops are cut from heat-shrink tubing and spaced according to the plan: four on the foremast and five on the main.

Eight battens are fitted around the head to reduce chafing of the shrouds and other ropes I cut them from 0.8mm fret which allows enough depth for them to be notched over the hoops.

With these details added, I have painted the head and mast to the bottom of the bibs in matt black.

A 5mm block is stropped to the foremast head for the main topmast preventer stay using 0.5mm served thread. The main difficulty is judging the length of thread required. I served 50mm of thread leaving a short length unserved at either end and siezed the block in centrally. The unserved section is threaded through to make a false splice, tightened against the mast and tied off.

The boom topping lift runs through a 5mm block at the head of the main mast. It is siezed to an eyebolt and glued into the mast.

I made the tenon 4mm square to fit into the tops and therefore need to cut new caps. They are made from 4mm pear, using the kit piece as a pattern for size. The holes in the main mast cap also need to be cut a a slight angle so that it sits parallel to the top and the waterline. The corners of the cap are rounded as per the drawings in Lees.

I’ve still to add eyebolts and the block on the main cap. This will wait for the fitting of the topmasts when I can finish the forward hole in the cap. The violin blocks for the yard lifts will be made up and added at the same time.

This is Harpy as she stands. The masts don't need any glue, they are just slotted in.

 

Thanks for likes and comments. They are much appreciated as always.

 

David 

 

[dunnock]

Ship’s Boats

 

Before going much further I needed to position the boat stands for the 22’ cutter so I decided to make up both boats.

 

I painted the interior with a mix of browns and ochre until I was happy with the colour and then added a colour wash of dark brown. The exterior is painted using off-white and iron-black (as an off-black) for the wash strake.

The interior fittings of the 24’cutter are laser cut 0.8mm pear. To help with the alignment of the forward mast step, I began by placing the forward grating and thwart. I used a cocktail stick to align mast step and thwart. The other four pieces of footwalling were then glued in place. I scraped off the paint and used thick CA but still had trouble achieving a decent bond. Damping the wood helped. Once the footwalling was in place, I could fit the stern gratings and stern bench. I added lifting rings as a bit of extra detail. The thwarts were a puzzle. Only four were supplied but the single-banked oar arrangement suggested five were required. I cut the fifth from the same 0.8mm pear sheet. The thwart at the main mast was added first followed by the other four.

I copied @Blue Ensign's idea for the rudder and added a pintle and a ring to the stern from which to hang it.

I haven’t used the provided oars. They are undersized according to May’s Boats of Men of War and I wasn’t sure of the shape. I had some brass etched ones from a previous model which, although still a little short, I preferred their look.

The boat stands needed to be lifted with a strip of pear to raise the boat above the deck gratings. They are only pinned in position at the moment.

I positioned the stands centrally between the hatches but looking at the photo below I may have to move them back a tad to clear the forward hatchway.

The parts for the smaller cutter are very delicate. The footwalling is moulded into the hull so gratings are added first. The sternboard posed a problem in that it appeared oversize by about 1.5mm. It maybe because I placed the stern grating too far aft and therefore the sternboard, to sit in line with the grating, was also too far back. I cut the sternboard to size but the thwart split and was eventually cut out completely and replaced with a separate piece. At least the join at the rear could be covered by the backrest.

Both boats are now put to bed until towards the end of the build.

Thanks for looking in

David

Edited yesterday at 12:28 PM by dunnock
Corrected 22 to 24' cutter

[RossR]

The boats look great.  Nice work.

 

[dunnock]

Thanks Ross

[Geordie Tyne]

Lovely looking ship's boats.

 

Regards

[dunnock]

Thanks Geordie