HMS Blanche by Robbl - 1800 1/48 (POF) (was HMS Euryalus 1803)

[robbl]

Hello all

 

After a long hiatus, I felt guilty enough to pick up some tools and do a bit of work on Blanche. Things have been a bit busy, and will be for a while to come, so I am only doing small bits and pieces for the foreseeable future.

 

When I last posted, I was doing deck clamps and gun ports to stiffen up the hull and strengthen the framing, as I have not yet removed her from the build board for external fairing. As a result, the external side view has not changed much except for the addition of the tops of several frames, and port sills for the forecastle and quarterdeck.

 

 

Internally, I finished putting in the deck clamps which I had previously started, and repositioned a couple that looked poorly aligned. I have also done the fore and main mast steps, and I think they look ok for a first attempt.

 

First is the main mast step....

 

Then the foremast step......

1st - the rough shaping was done by copying the plans for the frames on which it rests (R to S), and cutting a slab of wood to the shape of the inside of those frames.

 

Then I sanded the block so the fore end matched the inside shape of the forward frame. After that, I used my little mill (Proxxon MF70) to cut the groove for it to sit over the keelson, followed by more sanding and shaping. Then finally I used the mill to create the slot for the mast.

 

The steps, and the hooks and crutches that I will do soon, are all from old Totara wood that was once fence posts and is much darker than the Totara I used for the frames, which was old flooring boards. The keelson is from a slab of Totara, and is a slightly richer colour than the frames. Clamps and thickstuff/planks are Kauri.

 

So that's my catch up as it stands now. Next work will be crutches and hooks, and maybe try and do some internal structures.

 

Cheers

Rob

 

[egen]

welcome to return

[gjdale]

Nice to see you back Rob. Hope you manage to find a little more time for modelling soon. The ship is looking great.

[Wintergreen]

Nice to see a variation of the wood used in that you use local species. 

Glad you found time also, for an update (pls hint we were you found it so I can source some time for myself also )

[robbl]

Håkan, if I told you where I found the time, there would be less for me!

 

Mini update ..... I finally released Blanche from the building board she has been bolted to for so long.

 

 

It was with considerable relief that I didn't see any sag or hogging. More relief was due to the fact the whole thing didn't spring apart ......

 

So to avoid breaking off all the tops, I built a little support from some polystyrene glued to some timber ....

 

Which will be clamped into my portable workbench

for external fairing. I quickly took it outside to create some dust and the arrangement worked well. Less pleasing was seeing how much I have to do, as my early woodwork leaves something to be desired .... this is going to take a while.

 

Still, it was nice to see the undersides after all this time.

 

She looks a bit like a beached whale....

 

 

Cheers

Rob

 

Edited March 18, 2014 by robbl

[Wintergreen]

True that, will need to find my own source then...

 

the hull looks splendid, to say the least

[clloyd]

Lovely hull.  Well done.

Colin

[robbl]

Thanks for the comments guys.

 

A little progress..... I have fitted the 3 crutches aft. Each of these was roughly cut based off cardboard templates, then sanded, sanded and finally sanded some more until they fit ok.

There is "air" between the ends of the crutches and the frames which I am comfortable with, however I am considering slipping some planking under them. Next on the agenda is fitting the lower hooks at the bow and the foremast step. I am also experimenting with some wood to build some of the internal structures, so hope to have some progress shots of that soon.

 

So, feeling that I was close to finishing the external fairing and then I could charge (figuritively) ahead with internal work, I took her outside for a bit of a cleanup. Started sanding lightly with a fine sanding stick ... moved onto a rough paper .... ended up using a wood rasp and chisel. Ok then, perhaps there are a few more hours of sanding to go then ...

 

 

I can say that I am happy with my decision to fit the deck clamps and gun ports before doing the external framing, as it has provided a lot of strength to the hull. I have been able to use a powered hand sander and twice knocked her against objects while carrying her outside for sanding without any frames getting damaged.

 

And since I get quickly tired of sanding I started a little side project  (admiral thinks I have the attention span of a gnat)

Cheers all

Rob

Edited March 18, 2014 by robbl

[mtaylor]

Nice work on her, Rob.  Seems like all we do is glue... sand.. sand.... sand... check... curse... sand...  sand.. 

 

Will Le Salamandre be a parallel project?

[robbl]

Not quite parallel as much as something to work on while the main project has things drying, or if I am a bit tired of some repetitive task or stuck onsome concept.

 

So if a build can be slower than my Blanche, la Salamandre will be that build  

[harvey1847]

 

for external fairing. I quickly took it outside to create some dust and the arrangement worked well. Less pleasing was seeing how much I have to do, as my early woodwork leaves something to be desired .... this is going to take a while.

 

I will copy that idea about the foam... Thanks for that.

 

I have been sanding and sanding the Triton for almost two weeks. It´s amazing the amount of dust that a little thing like this can produce.

 

Beautiful work with the deck clamps!

 

best wishes Rob.

 

 

Daniel.

[gjdale]

Looking great Rob. That little side project should keep you busy too! Hope the gnats are good company

[robbl]

More sanding done, yet more to do. While doing this, I contemplated my first attempt at the foremast step and was not impressed. So I ran it through the mill, then gave it a good sanding (does that task never end!!)

 

And am now happier ..... while I was at it I did the first two breast hooks as well,

 

The other thing I have been thinking about is the building of the internal structures, such as the aft magazine. First on the agenda was experimenting with creating the bulkheads.

Starting with a length of tounge and groove floorboard

I cut lengths of 4mm thick strips

Then glued 3 of the strips together

and then ripped them down to 2mm strips ending up with 2mm thick lengths of 3x4mm boards

 

which I then glued edge on to make wider sections, which I then ran through the thickness sander to get them smooth and down to 1.6mm thick.

 

So, a successful few days avoiding sanding

 

Cheers

Rob

 

 

 

[garyshipwright]

Hi Rob.

 

She looks very very good sir and is really showing her curves, just like a beautiful women. Your wood working is very good and have been watching your build and looking forward to seeing more of her come to life. Good job sir.

 

Gary

[allanyed]

Rob,

 

Thanks for the latest posts, it is really nice for me personally to see her coming along so nicely. 

 

Allan

[robbl]

Thanks Gary and I agree regarding the shape of these ships, the lines are beautiful and I guess that's what draws us to them.

 

Hi Allan, it's good to be back at it, and there'll be a couple of questions flying your way soon, that upper deck transom is probably weeks or months away but it niggles at me all the time 

When's your next book being published?

 

Cheers

Rob

 

[robbl]

Hi all

 

A little bit of progress internally. First, I added t-track and bolts to the building board so my gantry can be used for height measurment and clamping. Then, a new assistant supervisor was appointed.....

Retired Admiral the Lord Bob brings experience to the task.

 

Then, to learn about making decks and platforms, I decided to start with the aft magazine and platform, as it looked a lot simpler than the fore platorm. First I used the bulkheads I had made from Matai in the last progress post to construct the walls of the aft magazine.

 

And I also cut the aft platform beams from Totara, and checked their positioning for height along with the magazine.

 

I started with the idea of milling the mortices, but that took longer than cutting them with a scalpel and small chisels. This effort highlighted two things - I need smaller chisels and I need to cut away from the hand ... blood is on the underside of the beams.

At this stage I realised my potential for getting all the angles and measurements wrong while working inside the hull was immense, so made slots in a piece of offcut wood to allow me to construct the platform off ship.

 

This allowed me to line up the timbers and their mortices and hold everything nicely in place while I worked, so I ended up with this....

 

Which when placed back in the hull with the magazine looks like this ....

 

So I still have to do the knees, and until I do, the platform will not be fixed inside the hull. You might notice, in the close up of the top down image attachment below, the magazine has its floor planked (Rimu), next for it will be the internal bulkheads, lightroom fittings and doors. The "jig" for the platform worked so well, I plan on continuing that method for the orlop deck and fore platform, however I want to finish this aft area first.

 

oh, almost forgot, another "take-away lesson" from this was to avoid the use of blu-tack to test fit the beams in place ... it was difficult to get off afterwards.

 

Cheers

Rob

Edited February 8, 2014 by robbl

[gjdale]

Very nice Rob. Love your "jig" for working off the model.

[AnobiumPunctatum]

Robbl, wonderful pictures

[allanyed]

Rob,

When you get to that transom, fire away with the questions.  I am sure Wayne or I will be able to help, at least I hope so.

 

Another book???  I swore never again, but........

 

Allan

[druxey]

Lovely work, Rob, except for the bloodshed….

[robbl]

Getting there Allan, just have to finish these platforms ....

And Druxey, I suspect the blood is a sign - a message to suggest it is time to wrap it up for the night.

 

This update is just a note to show that I'm still at work, even if the progress doesn't show. I had been working on the aft magazine and got to the point of working on the light room. As there will be more light rooms in the forward magazine, I decided to see if I could mass produce these. To do this, I ripped a length of wood (Matai), then using the tilted blade on the table saw, cut the angles profile of the light box.

Then I milled out the enclosure to make a rough box ....

(this was a test piece that was discarded)

Which I then carved to form my interpretation of the light box ....

....Which was then discarded as the door was

Too high

Too wide

The cross boards were round the wrong way.

But the photo was quite good so I kept that

I then added the window frames to the box (but haven't done any glass for it), and it now resides in the magazine.

 

I had also added the "spiral staircase" access ladder as well

 

By this stage, I had spent considerable time working on this tiny room that in all likelyhood will never be seen ..... when the Vacuum God visited and sucked up my newly built light room access ladder

 

I took this as a sign that I should take a break from the Aft Magazine, and move on to the middle platform and lower well. So I left the aft platform in this state ....

 

And moved on. The deck beams were easy enough to do. I chose not to do any round up on them, milled the rabbet for the deck planks and chiseled the mortices for the carlings. Having checked their heights when sitting in the notches chiseled in the orlop deck clamps, I then started on the lower well. At this point I found I had a problem. The main mast step sits too far back if I allow room for the elm tree pumps (frame 7 aft), so has to be moved forward over the recesses.

 

I am unsure what I might have done wrong here, but to be honest I am comfortable with the way everything is sitting. I wonder if the elm tree pump recess should have been in frame 7 fwd and not 7 aft, or perhaps 8 aft, aft of the step and fwd of the chain pump recess? In this shot, the aft of the step is sitting on 8 fwd and extends over 7 aft, covering the recess.

This is the well in place, the main mast step has had the bolts and wedges fore and aft added, and I have put two blocks with dowel in place for positioning the chain pump shafts later.

 

Regardless of the above issue, I am more than happy with how the middle platform is turning out so far.

 

I am adding limber boards under the platforms as I go, mainly to try and stop all the scraps falling into the channels. When I get to the forward platform, I will be returning to the aft as well to add the racks and other furniture.

 

Cheers

Rob

[harvey1847]

Hello Rob!

 

That aft magazine it´s the tiniest magazine I have ever seen... Did you "interpretate" the plan properly? I might be wrong of course but I cannot imagine anyone working there filling the cartridges.

 

Anyway, beautiful deck beams and scarfs on them.

 

Best wishes!

 

 

Daniel.

[allanyed]

Daniel,

It appears that Rob is following the drawings closely.

Attached are sections from the original plans for Blanche, Euryalus, et al.  the aft magazine is indeed quite a small space.

Allan

[egen]

Hello, Rob.
It is excellent work! It returns my thoughts in the past. when I built this block in my project .

 

 

I am unsure what I might have done wrong here, but to be honest I am comfortable with the way everything is sitting. I wonder if the elm tree pump recess should have been in frame 7 fwd and not 7 aft, or perhaps 8 aft, aft of the step and fwd of the chain pump recess? In this shot, the aft of the step is sitting on 8 fwd and extends over 7 aft, covering the recess.

 

 

I think, this difficult decision.
I had problems when established elm tree pimp in this place and I had to take out this detail from very difficult place in gundeck.

I think, the steps  was dredging for a pipe,

[robbl]

Egen, that makes sense, I had not thought of that. Perhaps I should look closely at that part of the gundeck and do some planning.

 

Daniel, 42mm fore and aft (6ft 6in) x 57mm wide (8ft 11in). Even the doors are low, so it would have been a difficult place to work.  And, yes, your comment had me running to the plans   When the racks go in there will not be much floor space.

[robbl]

 

This is a top down view of the magazine to show how small it is. Note that Admiral the Lord Bob is a tad rotund and unlikely to fit through the access passage and doors. It is not glued in place yet as I will do the floor pallets (perhaps) and the cartridge racks off ship, as well as needing room to fit some bulkheads below the platform.

 

(Actually this photo was taken before adding the internal doors and access steps.)

Edited February 25, 2014 by robbl

[mtaylor]

Rob,

 

I don't think that magazine would have been used for filling cartridges.  Probably used for storage and as a ready source for serving the aft guns.  As I recall, the larger magazine, in this case the fore, would have been used for filling and also serving the foreward guns.

[robbl]

Hi Mark, yes the fore magazine is a much larger work area and the aft one was for storing filled cartridges, so the

 work area didn't need to be big I guess.

[Mirabell61]

Beautiful work Rob !

 

I like all your work to date and the Fitting out of interior...

 

Nils