HMS Unicorn by ianmajor - Corel - Scale 1:75, 1748 to 1771

[mtaylor]

Ian,

 

I'm going to assume you're using a drill press for the mast holes...????   Start with a small drill (say 1mm) and slowly go larger and larger (1 mm steps or even 5. if you feel paranoid) until you get the size you need.  A drill press would ensure that the drill goes dead center each time.

[ianmajor]

Mark,

 

I must admit I hadn't considered using a drill press to drill the main mast hole - I thought the ship would be too big to fit securely to my press/mill. I will have a look at that. The other advantage of using the press/mill is that I can set the 2 degree rearwards cant more easily than doing it by hand. Hum - got me thinking - thanks for that.

[mtaylor]

Ian,

 

If it fits, just make sure it's secure and go slowly.  I almost ravaged a deck doing that way but I started with the full-sized bit.  I've learned to go slow and start with the smallest bit I can find.

[WackoWolf]

I made a mistake with a drill press that was brand new at the time. I got done drilling and had to take the model out from under the drill press and the nut holding in the press let go and the dam thing crash, makeing a mess. Take you time and please make sure evrything is tight. Best of luck. To me because of what happe that is a scareel way to do it, but what works for you doesn't mean it will work for me.

Edited November 30, 2013 by WackoWolf

[ianmajor]

Wacko,

 

I can well imagine your feelings when the press let go. I had a similar experience a few years ago. Watching many hours of work crushed before your eyes is soul destroying. I didn't put a "like" against your entry because I didn't want to give the impression that I "liked" the idea of you making a mess!

 

Mark,

 

I have measured up around my mill/press, the hull just clears the quill but I fear that once the hull is clamped properly and drill bits fitted there will be no machining room. Sadly the ship, size wise, is at the upper limit of that which can be handled in my workshop. I do look wistfully at some of the guys workshops but try not to be envious since that is a mortal sin.  

[texxn5]

Thanks Ian for the information on Piet's log.  I got lucky and found what I needed.  Your Unicorn looks great.  Model train sites would be good for finding that kind of metal, I hadn't thought about that.

John

[kpnuts]

Exactly as I expected an excellent model done by a skilled modeler very well done 

[ianmajor]

It has been a few weeks since I last did an update. There have been a few (pleasant) family distractions but I have still managed a bit of progress.

 

I used 3mm square walnut to make beams to go under the rear edge of the waist area. The under edge of the deck is chamfered so that the edge of the plywood doesn't shew. This makes the shaping of these beams a little complex. The first photo shews the main beam ready to be fitted.

 

 

The next photo covers all of the recent progress.

 

The beams are fitted around the rear edge. They actually consist of 9 pieces fitted together. Against these I have placed the two ladders which were made using the jig that I made for the companion way ladder.

 

The gun ports are all now lined to hide the gaps. I increased the size of the ports to allow for the thickness of the lining. I used 0.5mm thick lime.

 

The quarter deck rail is nearly complete. It is not yet permanently fitted. When it is I will add some metal rails on the wings.

 

The cannon have been removed for now. They were in the way. They will be rigged when they are refitted.

 

Below the front of the quarter deck is the beginnings of the chain pump/main mast partners cluster. I am making this as a separate sub unit. I have positioned its base temporarily in place to ensure the cannon rigging does not clash with it. I will cover the building of this unit in more detail as I do it.

 

Along the rear edge of the fore deck is the 3mm square walnut shaped ready to fix under the fore deck once the stove is permanently fixed in place. There are also gratings awaiting their coveing sat in place on the quarterdeck. These are intended to be removable to make the top of the stove visible.

 

 

Next up will be revarnishing the gun deck. I can then start rigging and fixing the cannon. This won't be for a few weeks because my wife and I are off to the Lake District for a (probably wet) holiday.             

[ZyXuz]

Hey Ian,

Really nice update, and I just love the quarter deck rail that you just made. Another good reference for me!

The waist area is now becoming more like a real ship design!

[ianmajor]

I have been away from the workshop for much of the last 6 weeks so progress has been rather steady. I had intended to start rigging the cannon but discovered I had only ordered sufficient 2mm blocks to do one third of them. So before putting in a fresh order to Cornwall models I decided to get a few other jobs done to see if I needed any other items.

 

My main work was fitting gratings around the bow area of the ship. I had previously ordered some Mantua 1.5mm beech grating for the cluster around the main mast. I had been unable to source the Corel variety. When I received the Mantua gratings I was very pleased with the quality. It is much less fragile than the Corel offering.

 

The question was - did I have enough to do all the gratings including those in the bow? 

 

The gratings took a lot of fitting to get them in to place. I don't think the Corel grating would have stayed in one piece with all the sanding and filing that I did. The bow on my Unicorn is distinctly asymmetric so I had to be careful that the lines of the grating didn't accentuate this. I think I managed reasonably well. 

 

The foremost grating inclines upwards, which it probably shouldn't, but it does now cover some of the horrors in that area.

 

 

After the lousy weather of the last 3 months it was nice to have a day of sunshine. So I took a photo of the old tub out in the fresh air.

 

I have ordered the extra 2mm blocks plus some trim to try to improve the area around the stern.

 

First, though, I am away from the workshop again for another week. I will be in the London area and I am taking the opportunity to make my first visit to the NMM. It has an exhibition of Turner paintings on display at the moment - I will get to see the painting of "The Fighting Temeraire" amongst others.

 

Then on my return I hope to make some serious progress on the Unicorn. 

[ZyXuz]

nice work on the gratings, Ian shaping them to fit the rails is really not an easy job.. well done! 

Your works always inspire me, and now I'm thinking to add gratings on the bow too

anyway, what are the 2 blocks there? or which ship structure u refer from? 

[ianmajor]

Hello ZyXuz,

 

The blocks that I am referring to are the ones I need for rigging the cannon.

 

The two blocks on the bow are euphemistically known as the seats of leisure. None of this is covered by the Corel kit.

[ollyweb]

 

I have been away from the workshop for much of the last 6 weeks so progress has been rather steady. I had intended to start rigging the cannon but discovered I had only ordered sufficient 2mm blocks to do one third of them. So before putting in a fresh order to Cornwall models I decided to get a few other jobs done to see if I needed any other items.

 

My main work was fitting gratings around the bow area of the ship. I had previously ordered some Mantua 1.5mm beech grating for the cluster around the main mast. I had been unable to source the Corel variety. When I received the Mantua gratings I was very pleased with the quality. It is much less fragile than the Corel offering.

 

The question was - did I have enough to do all the gratings including those in the bow? 

 

The gratings took a lot of fitting to get them in to place. I don't think the Corel grating would have stayed in one piece with all the sanding and filing that I did. The bow on my Unicorn is distinctly asymmetric so I had to be careful that the lines of the grating didn't accentuate this. I think I managed reasonably well. 

 

The foremost grating inclines upwards, which it probably shouldn't, but it does now cover some of the horrors in that area.

 

Unicorn bow.JPG

 

After the lousy weather of the last 3 months it was nice to have a day of sunshine. So I took a photo of the old tub out in the fresh air.

 

I have ordered the extra 2mm blocks plus some trim to try to improve the area around the stern.

 

First, though, I am away from the workshop again for another week. I will be in the London area and I am taking the opportunity to make my first visit to the NMM. It has an exhibition of Turner paintings on display at the moment - I will get to see the painting of "The Fighting Temeraire" amongst others.

 

Then on my return I hope to make some serious progress on the Unicorn. 

 

Hello Ian really very nice work on the side of the bow, all those gratings is not provided in the kit but in all the ships I've seen it improve the realism.

Bravissimo

Gianni

[ianmajor]

Many thanks for the likes they are most apreciated.

 

Gianni, the main advantage of this extra grating is that it hides some of my poor work around the bow!

 

Well - I am back from an enjoyable trip to the NMM during which time I had no access to the Web. So I will add a slight digression off topic.

 

On arriving I got my first view of the Cutty Sark.

 

 

My wife and I walked around the adjacent old Naval College then in to the nearby NMM building. Much of our time in the museum was spent looking at the paintings in the "Turner and The Sea" exhibition.

 

After some of the comment on MSW I was not expecting to see many of the old models on display. I was, therefore, pleasantly surprised that there were about 40 sailing ship models to be seen. A few were in the children's section on the top floor of the west wing, the rest were in two large glass cases in the next room. I took a few photos of them - in particular I was interested in the early 18th century rigging. All the models from this period had lateen rigged mizzen masts - this conforms to the way I wish to go with the Unicorn.

 

The next photo is one of those that I took and which I will use to guide my rigging efforts. It is of one of the models in the children's section. It shews the mizzen mast of a ship dated 1710. In the background is an English galleon of 1588.

 

 

I was trying to see how the running rigging was belayed since there are no belaying pin racks to be seen. I need to understand this better before finishing the deck fittings. In some of the models there were belaying pins fitted in to the top rail of the open bulwarks, others the rope was wrapped around the bulwark rail. In some of the models the rigging appeared to be simplified with, for example, rope passing in to a block with it apparently glued in to the block then cut off at this point - presumably the result of a repair at some time. I will have to consult a copy of Lees.

 

I have added a general view of one of the main glass cases.

 

     

[ianmajor]

Outside, at the rear of the museum, is a model ship in a bottle which is claimed to be the largest in the world. I couldn't resist adding a photo of it. The sails have pretty patterns on them reminiscent of curtain material!

 

 

All in all it was a very interesting and useful trip. I thoroughly recommend a visit. It is also one of the most pleasant parts of London as can be seen from the next photo. This was taken from the top of the hill in Greenwich Park near the Observatory. The old Naval College is dead ahead, the NMM is hidden in the trees on the left, the masts of Cutty Sark can be seen above these trees and across the river in the background is the familiar skyline of Canary Wharf.

 

 

Having been inspired it is now time to get back to some more modelling.

[hamilton]

Hello Ian:

 

Excellent work on the Unicorn - you know what they say - slow and steady....

 

Loved the pictures from the NMM, too - the ship models you posted photos of are featured heavily in Goodwin's book on the Blandford - and the second one approximates the look I'm trying to achieve for my Blandford build - I'll be adding the sweeps as a finishing detail. I would love some day to go there - we stayed in Greenwich for a while last time I was in London (which now is a long time ago), but at that time my interests were more in chasing donkeys across the common (not literally, of course!) and other youthful pranks than this noble history....

 

hamilton

[Blue Ensign]

Thanks for the Greenwich trip photo's Ian, you've jogged my memory to make a return visit, it's been years since I was last there. I had wondered what had happened to the Victory in a bottle model after its stint on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, a fitting location I think.

 

For those who don't know about this model here's a link to the background.

http://www.artfund.org/ship/nelsons-ship-in-a-bottle

 

Looking forward to more progress on Unicorn

 

B.E.

[ianmajor]

Hamilton and BE thanks for the comments, and thanks to the others for the likes.

 

Whenever I walk down into the village I pass the sign outside our local "lifestyle boutique". For some reason it always makes me think of model ship building.

 

 

Well I managed to finish the gratings on the foredeck. I wanted them to be removable so that the stove colud be seen. The technique I used had to be such that my poor woodworking skills could cope.

 

So the first step was to make two gratings - making sure that they were both square and the same size so that they could be fitted any way around and be interchangeable. This was quite easy using the Mantua grating.

 

The next step was to cut and file up holes in the foredeck that allowed these gratings to just pass through.

 

 

Then I lined the holes with 3 x 2mm walnut strip to make a ledge for the gratings to rest on, and also to give the impression that there were beams on the underside of the deck. I also cut and lined the hole for the stove flue to pass through.

 

Next I made frames from 3 x 2mm walnut that were a nice sliding fit around the gratings. To make sure the ends were identical in length I cut 6 pieces slightly over length, glued them together then filed them to size. This also makes it easier to file them square. The parts of the frames were glued together using the gratings as assembly jigs.  

 

To fit these I cut the deck planking away around the hole and trimed the top of the lining to allow the frame to sit snugly in to the deck

 

[ianmajor]

The frames were then fitted around the lined holes.

 

 

Once the frames were glued in to place I did a test fitting of the stove and its flue.

 

 

Then the gratings were tried for fit.

 

 

The gratings should be curved to match the camber of the deck but I left them flat to match the existing gratings. The frames are also rather too thick in cross section but again this matches the existing fittings. 

 

Then I had a Homer moment. I looked at Dan Vadas' Vulture and realised the lip supporting the gratings should only go across the ends not down the sides. I should have used thinner lining down the sides. Doh!

[ianmajor]

I have also reinstated the missing images in this post (about 20 of them).

[texxn5]

Nice photos, thanks for the updates

[Landlubber Mike]

Looking good Ian  I have to say that you're a brave man cutting out existing work for your modifications!

Edited March 26, 2014 by Landlubber Mike

[ZyXuz]

Nice update Ian Actually, flat gratings looks better for my eyes

[ianmajor]

Hello John, Mike and ZyXuz . Thanks for the comments. A thanks all for the likes. I don't think I am brave. My wife thinks that I am certifiable.  

 

When I lined the hole in the deck through which the flue passes I decided to use 0.5mm thick walnut. The thinnest walnut that I could get was 1.2mm. I will require 0.5mm material when I make the bodies of the pumps, the binnacle and also planking for ship's boat(s). I don't possess one of those nice wood planing machines and can't justify the cost of getting one. Also my attempts to use a hand plane produce inconsistent results.     

 

So I knocked up an attachment out of some bits of aluminium to fit on my micro miller.

 

The principle is to have a block of aluminium clamped to the mill table, bring the milling bit up to and alongside the block, then to feed the wood through the gap. The width of the gap between the block and the bit determining the resultant thickness of the wood.

 

Simple but rather dangerous. My milling bits have steep spiral side cutting edges designed for metal. They tend to grab the wood and pull it through sharply - which could pull my fingers in with it. Nasty.

 

So I produced something slightly more complex with a safety guard on it.

 

I started with three bits of aluminium. 

 

1) A block with a square cross section to act as the fence.

2) A wider piece of aluminium strip to act a as a base and to protect the miller table.

3) A piece of aluminium angle to act as a finger guard.

 

 

The angle in the photo has one side cut back. The wood will feed through here. There is also an oval hole in the middle through which the milling bit will pass. It is oval to allow the bit to be moved towards or away from the fence to give different thicknesses of wood.

 

The other two holes are decoration only (I reused a piece of angle which already had the holes in it).

 

Next I clamped the base under the block and drilled clearance holes through each end to take a pair of T bolts. Then I clamped the angle on top and drilled 2 holes right through. These were tapping size (in my case for 4BA thread). I removed the angle and opened the two holes in it to clearance size. The block and the base were then threaded with a tap. 

 

The three parts could then bolted together.

 

 

 

 

 

[ianmajor]

Most of the measurements on this attachment can be plus or minus a hammer head's width. The exception is the face of the block that will be next to the mill bit when wood is being planed. It is important that the side of the mill bit is vertically parallel to the side of the block else the result is wood with a tapered cross section. So to ensure this I removed the guard, fitted the block and base to the mill table and took a skim off the face of the block. Even after the attachment is removed and refitted the mill bit will remain parallel to the block's face.

 

 

Now it was time to try it out. I refitted the guard and lined up the mill bit with the centre of the oval hole then locked the 'X' (side to side) co-ordinate control.

 

 

Then I lowered the bit until it was just short of the base and locked the 'Z' (vertical) control. Using the 'Y' co-ordinate control I moved the mill bit towards the block and used a 0.5mm feeler gauge to set the gap.

 

Edited March 26, 2014 by ianmajor

[ianmajor]

Then I fed some scrap bits of 1mm wallnut in to the device. I experimented with various settings.

 

 

First I had the bit running at high speed. This grabbed the wood and fired it across the workshop. Failure.

 

Then I used a much lower speed. This was much better. I still had to grasp the wood firmly to stop it shooting through the device but I ended up with some 0.5mm thick wood.

 

 

Some wood of this thickness produced this way was used in flue lining. 

 

After more experimentation I decided the best approach was to to reduce the thickness of the wood by small amounts using several passes - adjust the device to reduce the gap between each pass. It was less violent, Produced smoother results and reduced the risk of tearing the wood.

 

It is not ideal but it allows me, safely, to plane wood up to 10mm wide down to 0.5mm (or less thick).    

 

Modeler12 has come up with some interesting mill attachments (see for example here). They are considerably better constructed than mine!

[Blue Ensign]

Nice fix Ian, you're a great metal bashing man

 

B.E.

[ianmajor]

Thanks all for the likes.

 

BE thanks for the compliment. I am starting preparations for making the masts so I have been looking at your log - particularly relating to Steel. He and Corel don't seem to match. I know which I believe!

 

Well I started work in earnest on the cluster of deck furniture around the main mast. I am assembling this group as a complete sub unit. The first photo shews the components I made for the main topsail sheet bits, main jeer bits, and the gallows crosspiece.

 

My last delivery of walnut was rather grainy and much prone to splitting compared with previous lots. So before turning and milling the uprights I gave the pieces a coat of varnish which seemed to hold it together. Where they are to be glued the machining removed the coat of varnish - so that was OK.

 

My last delivery also had a piece of 5 x 5mm walnut strip that was badly split over about a third of its length. I cut a section of the split part off and ran it through my milling contraption (see previous part of log). This gave me a nice sound piece of 3 x 5 for the crosspiece.

 

I turned the main topsail sheet bit uprights with 2mm diameter extensions top and bottom. These fit in to 2mm diameter holes in the deck and the underside of the crosspiece.

 

 

For assembling the sub unit I used a jig - simply a bit of wood with holes drilled in the appropriate places. The next photo shews the start of the assembly process. As more parts are made and added I will use this to ensure everything fits together before committing it to the main model.

 

 

 

 

[ianmajor]

Before going too far I made sure that the sub assembly would line up with the existing parts of the model. To do this I had to drill the 2mm holes in the deck. The photo shews this done. The smaller hole in the deck is a 1mm pilot. There is another in the sub assembly base. I use these to align the sub assembly with the deck. When I am sure that all lines up I will open the pilot holes to take the lower end of the main mast.

 

 

The parts in place with a 1mm drill bit used to align the sub assembly.

 

[ianmajor]

I turned a stub main mast to ensure it would clear the bits. I couldn't resist putting a couple of spars between the gallows and the fore deck with my card outline of a pinnace sat on them. Well yes - they should be spare top masts and the spars are too long.

 

The gap behind the mast will be occupied by the two chain pumps. 

 

 

I also stepped back and took a more general view. It is at risk of looking like an actual model of a sailing ship. Swoon.

 

 

The stub mast is balanced in the waist area. You will notice the top end is turned down to 5 mm diameter. This will go in to the deck once I open the hole out (bit by bit) from the current 1mm diameter. Before opening it out I will turn a stub fore and mizzen mast so I can look along the three masts to make sure they are in line.

 

But first what should the diameter of the masts be.....?

 

I have created a spreadsheet that compares the Coral mast and yard sizes with those calculated from Steel. Some parts match in size others are completely different. A possible partial explanation is that the actual Unicorn predates Steel by half a century - so masting standards may have changed in that time.  

 

I tried to upload the fruits of my labours - no joy in its current form. If I copy and paste from the spreadsheet in to the log the data appears in one long line, and the MSW tools do not allow uploading of spreadsheets in to the log (fair enough). I will have to find a better way of achieving this so that I can compare notes with fellow Unicorn builders Mike and ZyXux.

 

I am also taking myself off tomorrow to the newly re-opened Manchester Central Library which holds reference copies of Lees' "The Masting and Rigging of English Ships of War" along with a copy of Lavery's "The Arming and Fitting of English Ships of War, 1600 - 1815". If nothing else it will keep me off the streets. 

 

I tried to use Danny Vadas' mast/yard calculator spreadsheet that is in the downloads section of MSW. Sadly it uses macros and my "as supplied with the pc" version of Excel Starter does not support them. This uses calculators from Lees.

 

Let's see what tomorrow brings.