HMS Bellerophon 1786 by AON – scale 1:64 – 74-gun 3rd Rate Man of War - Arrogant-Class

[shipman]

Billy Ruffian.

It's about time someone told me the correct pronunciation of Bellerophon.

[AON]

As a sea cadet we said Bell-air-a-fon.

But a crusty old RCN (ex RN) Commander once corrected us saying it was Bell-er-o-fon just like it is spelt.

I am sure the Greeks have the proper pronunciation.

[druxey]

Either as Alan wrote, Bell-er-o-fon or Bell - AIR - o- phon (stress on the second syllable). 

[AON]

Received my swivel guns today!

OMG they are tiny.... and so sweet.

(3D resin printed from my CAD model .stl file by a local club member)

Edited February 21, 2022 by AON

[dvm27]

Sweet Alan! Are those delicate handles printed at the same time? They look incredibly fragile but scale-like.

[AON]

Yes and yes.  I do not intend to handle them anymore then necessary.

But damn they do look good!

[allanyed]

I am also a fan of 3D resin printed cannon barrels.   The trick is getting or making your own STL drawings which is another skill that takes practice.  Once done, at least they can be scaled by the printer so no need to have a new drawing for every scale.   

Allan 

[AON]

Another project completed.... the Donor Wall display for the local library.

Now they just need to start collecting donations so they can add plaques to the leaves.

[BANYAN]

Very nice and a great idea.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[AON]

Today I completed the installation of chocks between the frames.

 

Tomorrow I will sand them down to the frames and remark all gunports carefully before beginning cutting out the frames to install the upper and lower sills (cills).

[druxey]

Another landmark day! Have fun fairing up tomorrow.

[AON]

Managed to sand all the chocks flush to the timbers this afternoon.

Started fairing!

(oh joy)

[AON]

...and possibly the final word with regards to the correct pronunciation...

 

https://pronouncebee.com/hms-bellerophon-1786/

[TBlack]

AON,

Well, she sounds English, so she must know more than I do. Anyway, a neat little site.

Tom

[AON]

So the wife saw these wooden plant stands on Amazon and I said "I can make that out of my scraps cheaper".

So I did... I made a set... and I went one better and made a second set slightly taller.

They are collapsible for storage and reversible to vary the plant height.

 

What was it they said: If she doesn't find you handsome, you had better be handy!  

 

Now back to sanding my hull.

 

Edited March 23, 2022 by AON

[druxey]

Another way to put off fairing frames! Bit extreme, though, but gets you a lot of brownie points! Nice stands.

[garyshipwright]

Hi Allan. Nice plant stand's  and its a good thing the misses has not seen them or I never get back to work on my ship. Keep up the good work. Gary

[AON]

I've got the outboard side of the frames 90% done.  Just need to finish them with a few finer grades of sand paper.

I will start on the inboard side Wednesday.

 

[garyshipwright]

Looking good Alan. Now were have I seen this hull before? When it came to Alfred those many years ago I broke up a glass from a picture frame and use the pieces to help me with all the differnt angle's and tight places.  Do be carefull if you do. Can't ever remember cutting my self, not sure were I read this.

[Dr PR]

Webster's "Third New International Dictionary:"

 

bellerophon: bel'-ler-o-phon (emphasis on the first syllable). Mythological creature who slew the Chimera with the help of Pegasus.

 

I first encountered the name in "Forbidden Planet." Dr. Morpheus' ship was the Bellerophon. If I recall correctly, Walter Pidgeon pronounced it with a bit more accent on the second syllable, and since Morpheus was a philologist (someone who studies languages) who is to question?

[AON]

I must admit, I find that I get some strange comfort and feeling of satisfaction passing the palm of my hand over the smooth hull.  Makes me want to do it again, and again.  Then I look at the inside and that old dreaded feeling comes back, 'damn it, there's more yet'.

 

Gary - I've never heard or read about using broken glass.... seems like something I should steer well clear of.

 

Phil - if you only knew the struggles I am having trying to undo 55 years of saying Bell-air-o-fon.  Why we all did this is beyond my comprehension, even after we were told we were wrong by one person that knew better.  It seems so simple to say it correctly now when I look at it, but my brain doesn't want to go there. That is when I realize the struggles of the sailors back then that couldn't read and were trying to say the word.

 

Did you know one reason for ship's having figureheads was because most sailors couldn't read so wouldn't otherwise recognize their own ship!

 

 

Edited March 30, 2022 by AON

[allanyed]

50 minutes ago, AON said:

Did you know one reason for ship's having figureheads was because most sailors couldn't read so wouldn't otherwise recognize their own ship!

My God what a disaster that must have been with the majority of ships having lions for a figurehead.  The poor guys getting a few too many ales in them ashore must have surprised a lot of other sailors when they got in the right hammock on the wrong ship!

Allan

Edited March 30, 2022 by allanyed

[AON]

Yes.  I imagine it might have happened. But most sailors would have remembered where they "parked the car".  It definitely helped the new crew.

 

It is the same reason why they had signs with images over the shops in town.  People recognized the image but couldn't read the letters.

 

I imagine some well bred person decided to standardize the figurehead.... cheaper to make than the one of designs.  Probably got a bonus, raise, or even a promotion for it. A decision made without thought of consequences.

 

I believe the story because something very similar happened to me once. 

Edited March 30, 2022 by AON

[AON]

Working on fairing inboard.

I'm left with the same nagging question: "when is it enough?"

My wife visits me and asks: "will anyone see that?"

My response: "I will know."

There was this look, after 46+ years I know it well, she left the room.

I think I'm done, but someone suggested looking with different illumination.

I'll look with fresh eyes and a different light source tomorrow.

(God please let me be close)

 

[garyshipwright]

Alan you will know when its finished when you ran a plank across it and your fingers feel  nothing but a level  area from bow to stern. This and when  your happy with it. It looks like your have a lot of fun but she does look good from my screen. Another thing you could do is cut some small battans and planks and tie them to the hull at different  height and  this will help you figure out if its faired. Of course you already knew this about the above items. Gary

[Kevin Kenny]

Alan if you want to get a good finish you will need to place some temporary strakes inside the model. Use PVA which you can easily remove with 90% alcohol when you are finished and you will never know you put them there.  The problem with sanding at this point is that there is too much movement in the frames. The temporary strakes solve this problem. When you are happy with the outside you reverse the process and temporary plank the outside and sand  the inside. 
kevin

[garyshipwright]

Hi Kevin I have to agree with you on the movement because Alfred's frames did the same thing when I was trying to sand them down. One of the things I did, is along the same lines but I made some temporary ribbands and use bread ties to tie then in place. Didn't think about PVA at that time You can get roll's  of this stuff, at a cheap price.  The photo's below show some of the temporary ribbands. 

Edited April 5, 2022 by garyshipwright

[AON]

Only my cant frames without gunports wobbled fore and aft.  Everything else was quite stiff.  I attribute this to the number of chocks i had installed.

I'll be spending a few hours in the shop after lunch.  We will see how I feel about it after that.

[allanyed]

Kevin,  Your method is basically what I have done and it works well.  The only difference is I glue a few temporary strakes on the outside and fair the inside first.   Then when it is done I glue the clamps and a few strakes near the keel.  Once these are set I remove the temporary strakes on the outside of the hull and fair the frames outboard.   I wonder if it really matters which is done first, inboard or outboard.   

Allan

[AON]

I did manage to get into the shop and determined, though it is looking fine, I am not quite done yet.

 

Other than that, we were surprised with temperatures just shy of 20°C (it reached 19.7), and finally a good abundance of sunshine... so yard work was called for.

There will be plenty of time for more sanding... rain is predicted.

Edited April 5, 2022 by AON