HMS Beagle by Maid of the Mist - OcCre - 1:60

[Cathead]

Yikes! Dodgy instructions are the bane of way too many kits.

[Maid of the Mist]

It’s frustrating and baffling in equal measure.  

 

I could prepare a better set of instructions for this kit than OcCre have and I’ve been building model ships for all of 10 minutes.

[Mowzer]

I'm coming to the end of my Beagle build, and I can only confirm that the instructions get worse the further you go. When we get to the rigging, the paper instructions are completely wrong and omit essential connection points, the video instructions for the same ropes don't make it clear what goes where, but firmly contradict the paper instruction, but at least there's an option on the box photo showing a third way to get it wrong.  

As an "entry level" model for Occre, I'm amazing anyone ever buys another of their kits after their experience of this one. 

[Maid of the Mist]

Fairly decent progress.  I fit the rudder, the most challenging part of the process turned out to be cutting the nails down to a suitably small size and then gluing them into the pre-drilled holes without creating too much of a mess with the super glue. Judging from other builders’ logs, this seems to be a fairly common headache, regardless of kit, so it’s nice to know I’m not the only one who wrestled with it.

 

 

I also finished up the bow decorations, which turned out to be a fairly enjoyable task overall. The 1.5 mm brass wire was easy enough to work with, though the real challenge came when trying to get both sides to look identical, which I failed at rather miserably. That said, I’m not too concerned, since only one side of the ship will ever be visible when on display. So if one side looks a little different, no one will ever know… apart from me.

 

In hindsight, I think using laser-cut wood, as some manufacturers do, would be a preferable approach here. It’s a bit more precise than trying to get artistic with metal wire. Still, I really enjoyed the painting aspect, lining everything up with the black and white stripes on the hull was quite satisfying, and it gives a lovely sense of continuity across the whole ship.

 

 

I made slow but steady progress on the gun ports. These tiny wooden squares were cut from the gunwales, then veneered front and back, painted black, varnished, and fitted with four pieces of PE brass each. A very fiddly job, especially since every tiny brass piece needed a slight trim to fit properly.

 

The instructions seem to suggest applying a black wash over the brass, but not feeling confident, I skipped that. The bright metal adds a nice bit of contrast and visual interest, and since this build is more decorative than strictly accurate, I don’t mind a touch of shine.

 

You can see I've also made a start on the chain plates.  I absolutely love adding these.  So much visual interest and three dimensional detail....

 

 

[Maid of the Mist]

Chain plates are all finished now.  I've moved on to making tiny little ladders.  

 

More experienced modellers seem to dislike that these parts are made of PE brass rather than wood, but I think they look good once painted with a bit of dark brown acrylic.  Nice clean edges.

 

My “gateway drug” to model ships was book nooks, and I’ve always loved the feeling of putting together a miniature world, which is what you get with deck furniture!

 

 

 

 

[Maid of the Mist]

I spent quite a bit of time working on the quarterdeck this past week — all of it very enjoyable. The rudder wheel and binnacle are metal parts that turned out nicely with a coat of dark brown acrylic. I added a touch of gold dry brushing to the wheel to give it a subtle shine, as I imagine it might be the only part of the ship finished with a bit of gloss varnish. Gluing the wheel in place proved tricky, since it sits tucked beneath the quarterdeck and tends to tip forward due to its weight. It’s not perfectly centered, but I doubt the King needs to know his ship is being built by an inexperienced craftsman.

 

 

I also found the use of rope for the handrails quite interesting.  I wonder if that’s realistic? In any case, it probably doesn’t matter much, as there will be boats on either side of the quarterdeck once the kit is complete.

 

 

Current progress:

 

[vvvjames]

Just wanted to pop in and say your planking looks great, good job fixing up the first layer, that must've been difficult. Can't imagine planking a hull with that severe of a curve yet. Looking amazing!

[Maid of the Mist]

Thank you, and thanks to everyone for your messages and encouragement so far 🙂

 

Still a long way to go with this one.  I'm taking my time, but I reckon completion around New Year is possible.

[The Gimps Chimp]

Hi,

 

Just stumbled across your build log.  Looks like you're having fun and making some excellent progress.  I made this kit a couple of years ago and looking at your build log has taken me back to some of the same issues I had experienced.  As you have already identified, the instructions in the kit are of variable quality and sometimes contradict the video instructions.  What I would say is, yes it can be very frustrating when you have incomplete or conflicting instruction but it does give you the opportunity to look into the issue a little further to find a solution.  Then hopefully you will have gained some extra experience and knowledge.  I found I was constantly referring to the excellent reference book "Anatomy of the ship - HMS Beagle" by Karl Heinz Marquardt.  Not sure how available this is these days but I'm sure a copy can be found in one format or another.

 

I will be following your build with interest.  Remember, it's not a race :))

 

Chimp

[vvvjames]

Great work so far, the rudder really does shine. Excellent planking as well.

[Maid of the Mist]

I have a quick question for anyone with knowledge about gun carriage colours.  

 

From what I’ve read, Royal Navy gun carriages of this era were often painted a brick red, which would add a nice bit of colour contrast to the deck. I kind of like that idea, it feels more authentic and visually interesting.

 

What do you guys think? Any recommendations for the particular colour?  Humbrol No. 100 Red Brown perhaps?

[usedtosail]

I am using Model Expo's Bulwarks Red for my gun carriages.

[Maid of the Mist]

At the front of the ship, I put together the carronade, which went together quite easily. I went with lots of black paint and added a touch of walnut stain to the wood. As for the cannon itself, I decided to keep it simple and paint it entirely black. The official instructions suggest painting it black and then dry brushing with copper for a bit of shine, but I preferred the plain look, it feels cleaner.

 

 

Next up was the windlass.. This turned out to be a fairly intricate assembly, featuring a large metal piece that I painted with ochre, copper and black. It also involved some tricky wire bending, and the entire assembly had to be inserted and glued as one piece since it stretches from one side of the ship to the other. Aligning it correctly was a bit challenging, but I’m about 90% happy with the result. I really enjoyed wrapping the chain around the windlass, presumably simulating the anchor chain. Watching the chain weave through the deck is a surprisingly satisfying visual effect, and I think it looks really cool.

 

 

At the rear of the ship, I assembled the depth winch, mostly following the instructions. I left some parts as polished brass and painted the rest black. It was a fiddly little assembly, but I was happy with how it turned out and had no trouble gluing it in place.

 

 

And now for the part that almost every model ship builder loves: the cannons. Like the carronade, I painted the main cannons plain black, and for the gun carriages, I went with a simple walnut stain to give them a natural wood appearance.

 

I’m not entirely sure whether cannon carriages from this period would have been painted red, I suspect they probably were, but I’ve mostly been building this model for enjoyment rather than strict prototypical accuracy. If I were really focused on authenticity, a lot of the polished brass on the ship would have been painted black anyway, so leaving the carriages as stained wood feels fine to me. I did think about adding red for a bit of visual interest on the deck, but I worried it might look a little toy-like, so I stuck with the walnut stain for a more classic, realistic wood look.

 

 

Current state of play:

 

I've decided to skip ahead a few steps and tackle the figurehead, using this little chap as a reference photo.

 

 

There don’t seem to be any records of what the HMS Beagle’s figurehead actually looked like, but a bit of research helped guide my approach. By the time Beagle was built, the Royal Navy had moved away from the elaborate, gilded figureheads of earlier decades, opting instead for more realistic designs. I'm taking took my time painting a Beagle in tricolour style.

 

Edited Saturday at 06:33 PM by Maid of the Mist

[Geordie Tyne]

Hello Maid of the Mist. 

1 hour ago, Maid of the Mist said:

There don’t seem to be any records of what the HMS Beagle’s figurehead actually looked like, but a bit of research helped guide my approach. By the time Beagle was built, the Royal Navy had moved away from the elaborate, gilded figureheads of earlier decades, opting instead for more realistic designs. I'm taking took my time painting a Beagle in tricolour style.

 

Hi Maid of the Mist. 

 

I recently picked up a copy of Figureheads of the Royal Navy by David Pulvertaft published by Seaforth Publishing. I have looked for Beagle after seeing your latest post. I don't believe I can post a picture from the book, however I hope I can still be of some help with regards to the look of the figurehead as displayed in the book. 

 

The book shows that Beagle was given the fore-part of a beagle as her figurehead. It also states as you have said above, that there is some debate as to whether Beagle had a figurehead after she was converted to survey work in 1825. 

 

(Below, my poor rendition of what I can see in the book)

 

 

 

I don't know whether this helps you or not. I hope it does, however I apologise if I have taken unnecessary space from your build log. 

 

Here is a link to the mentioned book - https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Figureheads-of-the-Royal-Navy-Hardback/p/3199

 

Regards

 

 

Edited Saturday at 07:54 PM by Geordie Tyne