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

[dunnock]

Thanks Maid of the Mist.

Vanguard Model copper plates are of much better scale and thinner than those found in other kits and I found them easier to cut and apply.

You can find more information at entries #30 to #33 in this log

David 

[dunnock]

Gunwales and Rails

I’m back from a very nice two weeks in Scotland so not much progress made until yesterday, when rain provided a good reason to stay in and resume work on Harpy.

 

I’d missed out the stage in the instructions that said fit the outer sheer rails. They were painted matt black while still in the fret and then dry fitted and left clamped to the hull overnight before gluing them up.

I painted the gunwales before cutting them out and touched up the edges with a black Pigma pen.

The hole for the bowsprit was enlarged and a piece of 6mm dowel lined up with the bowsprit stop.

The presence of the bowsprit gives the correct positioning of the forward pieces of gunwale which are now glued in place.

The stern cabin roof, stern davit and cathead all need to be considered together to ensure that each fit correctly. @ECK and @Blue Ensign’s logs are both helpful in describing this. The top edge of my stern cabins were only marginally lower than the bulwark sides and needed to be sanded back and shaped so that the roofline met the gunwale. I also needed a little filler piece on the starboard cabin.

The basic arms of the catheads are made up to give the correct forward position of the gunwales. The gunwales were clamped and glued in sections to give time for correct alignment.

The cabin roofs were trimmed to reduce the overhang and then soaked and shaped around a jam jar to make fitting and glueing simpler.

I cleaned up the excess gunwale and outer sheer rail at the stern and fitted the assembled taffarel and it’s frame. This piece was also soaked and clamped to give the required curve to make fitting and clamping a bit easier.

Here it is all masked up ready to paint the ports and also the stern cabin sides. Originally I was going to leave the cabin walls natural but now think that I prefer them to be painted red ochre. It's a pity I didn't do this before because I think it's going to be an awkward paint job.

 

Thanks for looking in, the likes and kind comments

 

David

[dunnock]

Outer Hull Fittings

 

Before moving on, I wasn’t happy with the look and position of the stern and my gun port sills. With the help of some IPA and a #18 chisel blade, the stern pattern popped off without a problem. I did some further sanding of the counter and glued the stern board back in place. I’d used some spare 4x1 box strip for the gun port sills but it looked to thick and too yellow. It has been replaced by some 0.6mm pear fret.

With the stern replaced I added the quarter pieces and the capping rail. The quarter pieces are in two parts. One piece to go between wale and upper sheer rail and a covering piece. A little bit of wetting out and bending with finger pressure helped shape the latter to the wale. The stern capping rail, which had first been painted black, was soaked and bent to shape before glueing in place.

The mid sheer rails are in two pieces: one at the bow and another runs the length of the ship. They are nicely curved and aligned with the gun ports, making fitting very straightforward.

Next the fenders and chesstrees. These are square and chunky looking pieces when first removed from the fret and benefit from a bit of sanding and shaping before fitting to the hull.

Finally the steps. Each step is made of two pieces of 0.6mm pear, which are glued together before fitting to the marked positions on the hull. The Lowest step is fitted to the top edge of the wale and I’m worried that it looks vulnerable while there is still some manhandling of the hull needed. There are some spares should it come to that.

Now that most of the fittings have been added to the exterior of the hull, I will clean it up and apply some matt varnish as a finish.

 

Thanks to everyone for the likes and for following

 

David

[Burgundy]

Great looking ship, and very clean build!

[dunnock]

The Rudder

 

The rudder is a three part piece with a 2mm core sandwiched between two 1mm facing pieces. The pintles are integrated into the core piece and three lugs plug into the stern post. This makes for easier fitting but as has been noted elsewhere, loses something of the look.

I rounded off the forward edge of the rudder but in doing so, knocked off two of the locating lugs. After a couple of failed attempts at glueing them back, I eventually drilled and pinned the rudder in place.

 

The copper plates come as three complete sheets: one for each side and a strip for the rear edge. I also applied some copper tape to the forward edge.

The straps are black laser-cut board. There are small holes in the copper plates as a guide to the position of the pintle straps. When the rudder was pinned in place, I used masking tape along the hull to align the gudgeon straps. The bands are cut from heat-shrink tubing.

I like the contrast of the black straps against the copper plates but for authenticity, decided to paint the straps copper.

The spectacle plate is a one-piece brass photo-etch piece that fits into a slot on the rudder above the hance. In my continuing clumsiness, I dropped it down the sink while I was rinsing it off after cleaning it ready for blackening. I made a new piece from two eyebolts.

The final addition is the rudder coat. I made an initial paper pattern using the fret to draw around, cut it roughly to shape and then cut a piece of fabric from that. Three iterations later I had got it about right and painted it with brown mix of acrylic paints. The ‘iron’ plate is cut from some black card overpainted with iron grey. Once in place, some final trimming was needed. Cotton wool stuffed in from the top keeps the coat filled out.

 

Finally I have added the horseshoe plates at the bow and the butterfly plates at the stern post and painted them all copper.

Thanks for the likes and kind comments; they're all very encouraging.

 

David

[dunnock]

Head Works

 

All of the parts involved in making up the head are very delicate as I found out.

 

The hair brackets are first to be fitted after painting them yellow ochre. Don’t try to remove the char from the edges, they only break in two. The PE etch decoration is next also painted yellow ochre.

The cheeks only needed a little sanding off the top edge but I found that the bolsters required a couple of mm removing from the bottom edge. Too late I realised that the bolsters are handed because the hawse holes are at different levels.

The head timbers and knee caused me the most headaches. Minimum sanding to remove char is best because the slots for the head timbers are weak spots. I ended up with several more parts than I when I started.

The knee was glued back together with thin CA which also hardened the whole piece.

Eventually I was able to glue in the head timbers (after using the spares provided) but then I found that quite bit of gentle fiddling about and fettling was needed to make the assembly fit the prow. When it was finally in place, the main rails were added after a bit of sanding but without more drama.

 

Finally the cathead brackets are added. The outer edge is given a slight curve to blend with the main rail.

 

I was tempted to follow BE’s lead and add a third pair of head timbers but maybe after I have recovered from the headache of the head works.

 

As a bit of light relief, I have added the boat davits; pinned and glued for extra strength.

Thanks for looking in 

David