HMS Snake by Beef Wellington - FINISHED - Caldercraft - Scale 1: 64 - First wooden ship build

[Dfell]

Beautiful - clean - neat - precise workmanship - lovely to look at.

[Beef Wellington]

Stergios/Jim - glad you were able to figure that out in my absence!

 

DFell - thanks for looking in and the kind words.

 

Small update having started the masts...I'll probably be taking this slow and posting lots of pics hoping that people can stop me before I make any catastrophic errors. I also wanted to post plenty of pictures of the basic process as this always seems to be point in many logs where beautiful finished masts suddenly appear as if by magic out of nowhere...

 

First off, cut the dowels to slightly longer than the required length as a contingency in the event of an error. This kit provides dowel that needs to be made square in a number of sections. First off the main mast, center located and appropriate sized square marked out. I'm using a simple hobby vise and hand files so took this slow and steady.

 

Once roughly shaped, needed to decide how to fix the cap. Once again the precut caps don't seem to make any sense, it would have been nicer to have had the cap shape cut and do the any cutouts myself. As it is, needed to make a decision; make a round section in the top of the newly squared mast to fit the precut round hole as indicated in the plans, or as I ended up doing, square out one hole to smallest size possible and adjust the mast top to fit. Made this decision after similar situation with the bowsprit as the tenon should be square (I can live with it being very slightly the wrong size). Photo shows cap prior to adjustment and the square tenon made at the mast top.

 

Having previously made up the crosstrees, dryfit seemed to indicate the right dimension. Everything will need some final finishing but its good to know it all fits together. The extra mast length will be trimmed later. To ensure that the cross trees are as parallel as possible to the waterline these will be finally positioned and glued with the masts dry fit in the hull and the angle on the bibbs adjusted accordingly.

 

Next up, the cheeks and bibbs...

Edited October 28, 2013 by Beef Wellington

[Blue Ensign]

Nicely done Jason, the squaring off of dowel was one of the things I found my Proxxon Mill  very useful for, but as you clearly demonstrate the job can be done just as well by hand. Well done.

 

B.E.

[hamilton]

Very precise work Jason - looks great!

hamilton

[texxn5]

I like the sheaves Jason, keep it up.

[Beef Wellington]

Took a bit of a detour to work on the jib boom.  The reason was to get a bit of practice, there are a couple of areas on the plans that don't quite look right and I suspect are simplified in the kit instructions, typically where you'd expect to see an octagonal section with dimension slightly larger than the required dowel.  I hope to try to build up these by squaring off the dowel and gluing strips to build up to a square section, and then shape back down to an octagonal cross section.  Given this seemed to work pretty well it seems this should work fine on the upper masts as well where it'll be more obvious.

 

Jib boom won't be fixed yet and there are a couple of holes still to drill to simulate various sheaves.  I'm actually really enjoying this part of the build despite my initial worries, though slow and steady is definitely the order of the day.  Also it seems that the small details really make a difference so I want to do this justice.  Apologies the photo aren't the best.

 

Edited November 3, 2013 by Beef Wellington

[hamilton]

Great technique, Jason - I tried this same way of making octagonal sections for the heels of my topmasts as well as the topmast hounds on Blandford, but the scale is so small and my skills so poor, that the result was nowhere near as nice as yours! Very well done!

hamilton

[Beef Wellington]

Thanks Hamilton, nothing really revolutionary, just some practice and proving to myself it can be done.  Its nice working with wood again after all the carronade rigging.

 

Another small detour on the tops.  Kit supplied versions are simple ply and given that these are likely to get quite a bit of attention decided to dress these up a bit using a technique I saw on BEs excellent Pegasus build.  4x0.5mm walnut strips were glued to the ply to simulate planking, to ensure overall dimensions remained the same the edge piece was traced around with a sharp knife to remove any excess and get the correct shape.

 

Pretty happy with the way it turned out with edge in place and the battens installed.  Tried to shape these so that they get thinner toward the center and will probably tidy these up a bit more before installation.

 

[Landlubber Mike]

Those tops look fantastic Jason.  Really nice job!

[Beef Wellington]

Thanks a lot Mike!

 

Continued slow progress on the lower masts.  Nothing new here, but given that this was the first time I'd done this, I wanted to post the pictures that I wish I could have seen before starting.

 

Marked the template of the cheeks onto the dowel

 

Using a hand file, reduced the  marked area so it was flat

 

Cheeks glued in place.  Before these were glued, the top of the cheek was angled to account for the slope of the mast and the fact that the top should sit parallel to the waterline.  Also sanded the cheeks a bit so that the mast is more uniform in width from base to top.

 

After some finishing and a coat of paint, the paper bands were attached.  CA glue was used and seemed to work just fine.  Bands were 'tacked' in place, and then finally glued in a couple of stages.

 

Mast in place (not fitted yet).  There are some mast cleats that are identified in the plans but not mentioned at all in the instructions that also were fitted.  No mention is made of where these go, so I place these at around head height parallel to the deck as this seemed most logical.

 

Assembled pumps.  I had purchased the aftermarket CC kit, however, all I really used were the PE parts, and the 2mm dowel.  The kit doesn't mention the octagonal shape, or the 'metal' bands which were custom hand forged in my new furnace...err, cut from black paper.  The kit supplied parts look way over scale and I'm glad again that I spent a bit of time on these...as with everything, touch up will be needed before final attachment.

 

Question - what shape should the mast 'bases' be?  Guessing these simulate the chocks that would have secured the mast in place.  The supplied parts and the plans indicate they are round, but I've seen pictures where this is octagonal? 

Edited June 9, 2014 by Beef Wellington

[aliluke]

Hi Jason

Beautiful work - very crisp, clean and precise. Nice to see hand tools can do this - inspires me to keep my credit card away from milling machines and the like.

 

Base of mast - round in my opinion. Have had a look at some of the great models and all are round (this includes the models in the FFM series which are hard to dispute). The mast was chocked, as you say, and then clad in leather? or tarred canvas?. The number of chocks would tend towards round at scale where an octagon would be too few chocks to do the job. I also wrapped the mast to base junction with thin rope on my AVS to hide some gaps but that look is consistent with a tied wrapping to the chocks. I'm no expert though!

 

Cheers

Alistair

[Beef Wellington]

Thanks for the fast reply Alistair, round is easier so that's what it'll be.  Not that I need to worry about this just yet.

[mobbsie]

OK Jason it's official, you make me sick !!!!!! Your work is absolutely beautiful, I look at my efforts and just want to chuck her in the bin.   :D    

 

Just Fantastic

 

mobbsie

[j21896]

You're creating one beautiful model ship Jason!

 

Cheers,

Robert

[Sjors]

Wow, wow, and again WOW !

 

You make me feel if I'm a novice....

Great job Jason !

 

[Beef Wellington]

Robert - your Mars is spectacular, there is no way I could do what you have achieved.  You are taking a no compromise approach which I can only aspire to.

 

Mobbsie, Sjors - you are being far too kind, its only with the help of people like you on this site that I've got as far as I have.  I hope my pictures are not too boring!  The Aggie continues to call me but I'm resisting so far until this is completed and I have to make a final decision.  I don't want to bite off more than I can chew!

Edited November 11, 2013 by Beef Wellington

[Sjors]

Hi Jason,

 

If I understand it right, your next build will be the Aggy ??????

I think you know it all ready, but my Aggy is under the workbench......

I want to started at her when I finished the Le Mirage.

So maybe we can build her at the same time?

It takes a while before I get started so....

I should be cool to do it together.

Let me know what you think about it !

And we can support you but you have to do it your self and you are doing a great job !

You can handle the Aggy !!!!!!

 

[drtrap]

Have been working/tinkering with the "chain problem".  Decided to just plow ahead and have a go at making my own from wire. Pictures are pretty self explanatory, these are yet to be finally fixed but seem to indicate that this approach will work just fine.  It illustrates the issue because the chainplate brackets have no room for movement as they are exactly the same length/width as the wale to which they attach.  The lack of a gap in the chain loop looks much more authentic to my eye - the downside is that it will take much longer to complete.  Photos are of the starboard fore chains.

 

fore chain1.JPGfore chain2.JPG

Hi again Jason.

As I'm looking these pics with your custom made chain links I wonder, how have you attached so flush with the hull the brackets and especially their upper part with the thick wire of the chain link underneath?

[Beef Wellington]

Hi again Jason.

As I'm looking these pics with your custom made chain links I wonder, how have you attached so flush with the hull the brackets and especially their upper part with the thick wire of the chain link underneath?

 

Hi Stergios, hope I can answer your question.  The chainplate brackets (part 111) were positioned first and the holes drilled along the position lines marked on the wale.  The thin end needs to go at the top, as the hole on the chainplate links (part 109) is also half thickness, the pin goes through both of these.  Once pins installed (without glue) the chainplate link can then be bent to the correct angle and the length on the chainplate loops estimated.  The chainplate loops were the only pieces custom made.  Once the loop has been made, the chains can be assembled, and then placed on the ship for final gluing of the pins.

[Beef Wellington]

Hi Jason,

 

If I understand it right, your next build will be the Aggy ??????

I think you know it all ready, but my Aggy is under the workbench......

I want to started at her when I finished the Le Mirage.

So maybe we can build her at the same time?

It takes a while before I get started so....

I should be cool to do it together.

Let me know what you think about it !

And we can support you but you have to do it your self and you are doing a great job !

You can handle the Aggy !!!!!!

 

Hi Sjors, you are a very bad man tempting me like that  .  Aggie is definitely on my list (the top right now) but I'm forcing myself to wait and see how I feel when the Snake is completed.  I'm not sure how long it will be before I'm done, but if you are just starting your Aggie then it would be fun to build alongside one another.  But I hope you wouldn't be waiting for me, that would be too much pressure

[Sjors]

Hi Jason,

 

I know, I'm a man who love to gives other person pressure   

When I'm finished the Le Mirage I get started at the Aggy but that can still take time .

There is a lot to do on the Le Mirage.

Do you have any idea when you are finishing the Snake ?

I'll send you a PM

 

[drtrap]

Hi Stergios, hope I can answer your question.  The chainplate brackets (part 111) were positioned first and the holes drilled along the position lines marked on the wale.  The thin end needs to go at the top, as the hole on the chainplate links (part 109) is also half thickness, the pin goes through both of these.  Once pins installed (without glue) the chainplate link can then be bent to the correct angle and the length on the chainplate loops estimated.  The chainplate loops were the only pieces custom made.  Once the loop has been made, the chains can be assembled, and then placed on the ship for final gluing of the pins.

Thanks so much again Jason.

So If I have understood well, only parts No 107 were custom made, is this correct?

Did you use common/regular wire (like 0,8mm thickness wire) for those loops?

Cheers 

 

Stergios

[Beef Wellington]

Thanks so much again Jason.

So If I have understood well, only parts No 107 were custom made, is this correct?

Did you use common/regular wire (like 0,8mm thickness wire) for those loops?

Cheers 

 

Stergios

 

Correct Stergios, although its 107 and 108 (there are long and short versions).  From memory, I think it was 24 gauge wire, I'd estimate it to be about 0.5mm but I don't have a very accurate way to measure.

[Beef Wellington]

All - have a question that I've been unable to resolve and wanted to ask the experts out there.  I cannot figure out how the bowsprit shroud deadeyes and collars should be installed.  Various rigging book (Lever's 'Young sea officers sheet anchor' and Pederssons 'Rigging period ship models') all seem to provide tantalizing hints but not the complete picture.  Per Lever, it states that there was one deadeye or heart per collar (implying that two collars would needed for starboard and port deadeyes), but in the merchant service it was common to have both deadeyes on one collar.

 

I tried to draw below what I'm alluding to.  Questions:

1. Should the  eyes be at the bottom of the bowsprit (option A) or the opposite side of the deadeye (option B )
2. Given the 'lashing is passed through the eyes and over the bowsprit' (per Lever) does this mean the lashing goes from one eye around the bowsprit to the other eye, if so, how many times?  I'm not really clear how this works.

Any help would be much appreciated! - I'll post this in the 'masting and rigging' section as well as so more people may see it.

 

Edited November 15, 2013 by Beef Wellington

[realworkingsailor]

The collars should be rigged as drawing "A"

 

I found with my build, it really came down to a space issue whether or not I did one collar for each lashing or a single collar for both (which is the option I went with).

 

Andy

[Beef Wellington]

The collars should be rigged as drawing "A"

 

I found with my build, it really came down to a space issue whether or not I did one collar for each lashing or a single collar for both (which is the option I went with).

 

Andy

 

Thanks Andy, good to confirm.  How did you do your lashings, do they just go through the collar eyes multiple times, or do they go round the bowsprit as well?

[aliluke]

I'd vote for A as well - more by intuition than knowledge. I would have thought the lashing would only go between the eyes and not over the bowsprit (I can't even figure how that would work). Intuition again though but that is how I did it on my AVS.

 

Cheers

Alistair

[realworkingsailor]

Thanks Andy, good to confirm.  How did you do your lashings, do they just go through the collar eyes multiple times, or do they go round the bowsprit as well?

 

As has been mentioned, the lashing goes just between the eyes. You're probably going to need a needle and a good set of tweezers. I also find for jobs like that a dental pick is invaluable as a sort of hobby sized marlin spike (with a 1:1 handle).

 

Andy

[Beef Wellington]

Andy, Alistair - thanks a lot guys.  I now have the objective defined, now need to figure out how to execute.  I've been playing a bit and have a suspicion that these will take quite a bit of time to get right...

Edited November 16, 2013 by Beef Wellington

[aliluke]

I just had a look at my AVS Jason. As the lashing is on the underside of the bowsprit it is impossible to see it without a dental mirror. You'd also need a magnifying glass and that is at 1:48 scale. Not that I didn't try to get it right but I wouldn't die in a ditch over it.

 

Another little tip from that model - I found that using the Amati keel clamp (if you have one) to lock the masts and spars while working on them was a brilliant tool. I think there is a picture of that on my AVS log.

 

Good luck and I look forward to your results.

 

Cheers

Alistair

 

P.S. Yes the Amati keel clamp for working masts + bowsprit + the same type of lashing as you are doing is on my AVS log.

Edited November 16, 2013 by aliluke