HMS Ballahoo by jim_smits - FINISHED - Caldercraft

[jim_smits]

Quick update.

 

Varnished the deck twice and now have a lovely hue to the maple decking. Also added the bulwark rails. The rear piece wouldn't fit properly, so I cut a new piece from the sprue that was slightly wider and gave a better fit. Finished off the rails with black paint.

 

The rails give a great final look to the hull now. Now onto adding fixtures and fittings.....

[jim_smits]

Just got back from the southwest model and hobby show. Had a fun day at Royal Bath & West show ground and there were several ship clubs in presence but I was greatly surprised at the lack of tall ships on display.

Just a single Victory model and that was it. Rest were modern warships, fishing boats and yachts.

[jim_smits]

Thanks for all the likes everyone!

 

Bit more progress. Put together the grates and surrounds, sanded the corners round and also a slight curve to the top of the grates. Varnished and glued to the deck in the appropriate position. Also added the mast bases and sanded a circular hole for the rudder.

 

Next steps:

 

Drill holes for all the deck eyelets and carronade rigging points.

Put together the carronades and rig up.

[egkb]

Looking Great Jim.. I should be back in business on Tuesday (I want to revisit a couple of things, then on with deck work)

 

Take Care Mate

 

Eamonn

[jim_smits]

Cheers as always Eamonn.

 

Made a start on the carronades today. The kit supplied carronades are pretty basic, there are simple blocks for the stand with no rear wheel detail, the elevation screws were very bent and one had snapped, and the carronade itself does not have a ring for the breaching rope.

 

First step - cut off the dodgy screws and replace with some 1mm brass rod. Not perfect but it will do.

 

 

Second step - cut a notch out of the rear block and sanded the two remaining square to rounded 'wheel' shapes.

 

 

 

Third step - drilled a couple of small 0.5mm holes and added small 0.5mm brass wire for the breaching ring.

 

 

 

Just need to repeat for all four carronades, drill holes for eyepins and paint.

[Beef Wellington]

Nice upgrades there Jim, big improvement and nice with only 4 to do    .  Did you also drill out the barrel?  I think Pete did that on his Snake to pretty good effect, but then I saw that on Ray's Diana he just painted the ends red to simulate tompions and that seemed to look pretty good too.  Would be nice to see a photo of one next to a 32lb'er on your Snake!

[jim_smits]

Hi Jason,

 

Yes, the barrels were drilled out as well. The casting process tends to leave one side of the barrel filled in.

 

Picture as requested....!

 

[jim_smits]

Opinions please.

 

There is so little space between the bulwark and the carronade rigging points, that I am thinking of removing the hooks from the gun tackle and just rigging directly to the eyelet instead. This should give a better look to the rigging whilst not being the most accurate. Good call?

 

Also, a second random question. Gun tackle blocks are attached to hooks and eyebolts by non-tarred line (light coloured) whilst most other blocks are attached using tarred (black) line. Why is this?

[jim_smits]

Hmmmmmm.

 

There is much faffing about at the moment. Carronades are coming together but rigging them is starting to bug me a touch. I have added breaching rope to one and rigged all four single blocks to the eyelets on the carronade. The trouble is the double blocks to be attached to the bulwarks. I just cannot seem to get a nice tidy strop between the eyelet and the block. Previously I might have said 'that will do' but i'm now starting to get fussy....!

 

I am going to attempt the methodolgy as set out here: http://www.modelboatyard.com/stropping.html and see how I fair. I had also been using GS-hypo but I am starting to come round to the thought of using watered down PVA as it is less messy.

 

Certainly not using hooks makes the process more tricky as I will have to get all the rigging attached and threaded through the blocks before attaching the carronade to the deck and the blocks and breaching rope to the bulwarks.

 

Is there an eaasier way to do this? As I say, using hooks possibly but even with Chucks lovely small blocks, I would still get a result where the opposing blocks are almost touching. If I can get the non-hook method to work I am hoping the overall aesthetic result will be better.... Hopefully.....

 

All thoughts welcome.....

[Beef Wellington]

Jim - I'm struggling a little bit with this as well, obviously boils down to individual preference, but the methodology link you have looks a great way to go.  There seem to be pros and cons to either way of approaching them.  For the smaller blocks and line, I don't see too much of a problem with knots as they can be quite subtle - I've found it more of a problem on the larger blocks using the larger line when the knots become unacceptable.  I know I'm not helping..

 

One possible additional option would be to rig the blocks to the rear eyebolt instead of the sliding bed, as this is how a number of ships have them rigged - doesn't seem funtional to me, but its a balance with aesthetics.  I've seen a number of modelers also rig training tackles but I've read (somewhere) that these weren't really used in practice, but it can make a strong visual impression.

[jim_smits]

Yeah, this is where I am trying to make a show of the carronades as I am rigging the training tackle as well.

I shall have a 'tinker' tonight an see how it goes....

[jim_smits]

Result!

 

Managed to get the technique to work and I will now be applying this to all my future block stropping.

 

Looped some thread around the block and fixed with a tiny spot of cyano.

 

 

Threaded an eyelet over one end of the thread and doubled back over the block and fixed with a clip.

 

 

 

Next, seized the three lengths of thread together to give the impression of a simple loop around the block and eyelet.

 

 

Once the seizing was completed, I soaked the area in diluted PVA and allowed to dry. Once dried, all the loose ends were trimmed off with a sharp knife. This left a very nice tidy block stropped to an eyelet. Very happy with the result.

 

 

Repeated for four sets of blocks and glued in place on the bulwark. Fixed the carronade in place and threaded the rigging through all the blocks. Really pleased with the result and just three more carronades to go.

 

[jim_smits]

Two down..... Two to go......

 

Glad there are only four to rig up, but I may have to steel myself when I build another larger ship........

 

[jim_smits]

Further build update for everyone. Thanks for the likes and comments as always!

 

The four carronades are now in and 95% rigged up. I just need to decide what I am going to do with the trailing ropes and whether to have them coiled on deck or lashed up to the tackle or a combination. Any suggestions?

At the moment I am leaning towards lashing to the tackle as it looks clean and tidy and because coils are a pain.....!

 

 

In addition to the carronades I have added the deck eyelets....

 

 

 

 

And finally added in the rudder post and painted as per the waterline. Getting the eyelets and the brass rod to line up perfectly for the rudder hinges was slightly tricky but got there in the end.

 

 

I've also cut out and sanded the tiller piece and drilled holes for the pin. I have shown the tiller in place but I will wait to glue in place for a while as it is screaming break me......

 

[egkb]

Looking fantastic Jim !

 

Though is the gap between Rudder and Rudder Post a tad wide? could just be the photo angle though

 

I have begun to deck my Ballahoo by the way, so am miles behind you !

 

All The Best

 

Eamonn

[jim_smits]

Cheers Eamonn.

 

The gap at the rudder was as small as I could get. It is basically the width of the eyelet used as the hinge.

[egkb]

Thanks Jim.. I was thinking it was something like that, and the fact that on our wee boats even small gaps will appear large.

 

Keep up the brilliant work

 

E

[jim_smits]

Another quick update. (in the correct build log this time......)

 

Last for a few days as I am off camping in Weymouth for a few days.

 

Just a slight update on the carronade rigging. Decided to frape the loose thread around the tackle to leave a tidy finish, painted with diluted PVA and then trimmed off the excess thread. Might not be historically accurate to any degree but it leaves a neat and tidy finish I am happy with.

 

 

[ccoyle]

I appreciated your comments about "only four" guns to rig.  Repetitive tasks is one of my biggest dislikes in modeling, and I really had to push myself to get a mere 16 guns rigged on HMS Fly.  I think I would go quite mad having to do anything more than that.

[jim_smits]

You've done my trick Stergios.....!

 

Wrong log....!

[drtrap]

You've done my trick Stergios.....!

 

Wrong log....!

Sorry mates, I'll come back ...

[jim_smits]

Started work on the channels.

 

The kit comes with deadeye strops that fit into a hole drilled in the channel notches. These strike me as not only a poor shape, having a flat profile as opposed to circular, but also the strop is 'split' and seems weak to me. So I decided to create my own deadeye strops from 0.5mm brass wire.

 

Firstly created a coil of brass wire by wrapping the wire around a 6mm diameter dowel. I then used a pair of snips to cut rings from the coil to use as the strops.

 

 

Each ring is manipulated to bring the ends together with a good edge and the tension holding the ends together, ready for soldering.

 

 

Added a little blob of silver solder and flux paste.

 

 

Used a butane soldering torch on a low flame to carefully solder the ends together to form a complete ring.

 

 

The ring can then be bent around a deadeye to form the strop.

 

 

I completed three deadeyes and strops, added the rest of the chainplate assembly and painted with primer and then black. Added the three assemblies to the channel and then glued the capping bar in place.

 

 

Glued and pinned the channel to the ship just below the capping rail and drilled and pinned the chainplates to the wale and touched up with black paint.

 

 

 

Just need to repeat another three times.....

 

 

 

[egkb]

Nice touch Jim, I haven't even looked that far ahead yet, but suspect that I'll follow suit !

 

Stay Well

 

Eamonn

[drtrap]

Nice tip Jim!

Have you tried to solder the edges using a soldering iron?

[jim_smits]

Nice tip Jim!

Have you tried to solder the edges using a soldering iron?

Hi

 

I was silver soldering the rings so a soldering iron will not get hot enough as far as I know.

 

Plus the butane torch is very quick far each joint. Literally less than a second on a low flame was all it took for each joint. Then left with a very strong joint, better than lead solder.

[jim_smits]

Hi all,

 

Sorry it's been a bit of a while. Life has got in the way and there's been a couple of ups and downs. In addition the conservatory workshop is not very conducive to working in the summer as it gets a touch hot. 

 

Anyway, went back to the builds today. Completed deadeye strops for the rear channels, and just painting and adding the chainplates.

 

Will need to assemble and add to the channels and seal with the capping bar.

 

Good to get back into the groove.

[egkb]

Good to see you back Jim ! 

 

 

Take Care Mate

 

Eamonn

[drtrap]

Well come back Jim!

[jim_smits]

Right. Time for an update.

 

Channels are complete, so have moved onto to completing the last of the deck furniture.

 

Added the bowspirit post. It is drilled and pinned into the deck to add strength and ensure that the rigging does not cause any problems. Deck cleats are still to be added to the top.

 

 

Also put together the companionway housing. Spent a while cutting out all the separate parts and sanded smooth from 120 grit down to 320 grit. After dry fitting each part I added some small off cuts of walnut to the inside edges to aid fitting the pieces together.

 

To finish the housing, I stained with 50% light oak stain to bring out some grain and then very lightly sanded back and then added a coat of satin varnish.

 

Finally, drilled holes to insert 0.5mm brass wire to give handles on the doors and hatch lid. Hinges were added by drilling several shallow holes and using a blade to link the holes. Four small lengths of 0.5mm brass wire were then sunk into the gaps and fixed with a spot of cyano.

 

 

The build so far.

 

 

[egkb]

Beautiful stuff Jim.. she looks the absolute business !

 

All The Best

 

Eamonn