HMS Vanguard by RMC - FINISHED - Amati/Victory Models - scale 1:72

[RMC]

To all, I hope you have a happy Christmas and a happy and healthy new year.  My family and I are off to the beach on Sunday for the holidays where I may have a chance to do a little more work on the yards.

[AON]

working on the yards had better be your plan "B"

family first

take the holiday off (if you can tear yourself away)

you will thank yourself later (we can wait) and your family will be forever greatful

Edited January 13, 2015 by AON

[RMC]

Hi Alan - this is a belated thank you for your kind thoughts.  In the usual chaos before going away, I didn't get around to it.

 

Well I did get the opportunity to work on the yards between eating and drinking far too much  The little Proxxon lathe was invaluable in tapering them. Even so the job was very time consuming and the smaller yards I found to be quite difficult and in one case, easier to break.

 

I found it best to taper in stages (see an earlier photo - I think on the previous page of this log). For example the fore topsail yard stunsail boom is 134mm. long tapering from 3mm to 1mm.  From the plan, 57mm along the boom its diameter is 2mm. I then tapered that part of the boom from 3mm to very slightly more than 2mm (in fact 2.2mm). Next, a further 38mm along the boom the diameter is 1.5mm. I then tapered this part of the boom (again to a diameter very slightly greater than 1.5mm). I then blended the two lengths of taper. Then finally the taper from 1.5mm to 1mm was done.  The reason for the slightly larger diameters and the 'blending' is that the dowel supplied is not perfectly round and it was impossible to accurately centre the spindle of the lathe, so that the 'joins' of the tapers are slightly offset.  The extra diameter of the tapers allows a bit of judicious sanding for a suitable adjustment to be made.

 

Here are the tapered yards (except the fore and main yards)

 

 

And with a coat of paint.

 

 

 

Thes are the stunsail booms for the upper yards.  Those for the fore and main yard are yet to be done.

 

For those who may be interested, this is sunset on the summer soltice - the sun is as far south as it will go.  The interesting part of the photo is the mountain to the right of the setting sun. It is called Pigeon House Mountain, named by Captain Cook on his voyage up the New South Wales coast in 1770 before he got to Botany Bay. How he could see a pigeon house in this is a bit of a mystery to me, though perhaps there is another resemblance.

 

Edited January 13, 2015 by RMC

[Timmo]

Nice work there. It becomes quite addictive using the lathe like that. Nice move with the allowance for off centre dowel.

[RMC]

Hi Arthur

 

I'm not really ahead at all.  I now spend a few days each fortnight away from home and am loathe to take small bits and pieces to work on while I am away. The hull is no longer easily transportable, so while away work on the things that are difficult to lose - the masts and yards. I still have a lot to do on the poop deck, the gun doors .....  I am now rigging the guns on the upper deck which is driving me crazy. I will try to post photos of progress such as it is tomorrow if I get the chance.  Putting the garden back to some semblance of respectability may take precedence however.

 

Doing the very small yards I found quite demanding. Rather than chisels, I used  a fairly fine rasp and some nail emory (sp?) boards 'borrowed' from my wife)  to file the yards down. It took quite a long time. There are two problems with the dowel supplied: it isn't round (as I earlier noted) and it isn't straight (which  I forgot to note). My solution to those problems (described in my most recent post) worked quite well.

[RMC]

Here are some photos of the foredeck with guns rigged.  I opted for partial rigging - though a bit more than the basic provided by the kit, rather than going the whole hog.

 

At scale 1:72 I thought  fully rigging them would have looked a little out of scale.  Now I know what a fiddly job it is I'm not sorry. Getting the rope to be perfectly coiled proved just too difficult. The thread provided went everywhere, but where I wanted it to go.  (If anyone can show me how to do it I'd be grateful (for future reference). I see from the pictures on the kit box it's obviously possible.) I ended up settling for something 'neatish'.

 

Given my wars with the kit's thread, I have now ordered complete replacement from Syren model ropes.  I shall report on my experience.

 

 

 

 

These are the various rasps/files/emery boards I used to taper the yards.  The fine ones are especially needed to taper down to 1mm.

 

 

 

Edited January 17, 2015 by RMC

[RMC]

While trying to avoid doing any more rigging of guns, I have come upon a rather perplexing mystery.  In the kit parts list there are specified 16 part 189 Deck Timberheads. There are in the kit, a total of 33 part 189 on two pieces of 3mm walnut. Looking at the plans I cannot for the life of me, find the need for more than the 6 required on the poop deck, and perhaps another 4 in the first opening on upper deck near the gunports.

 

Thirty-three certainly seems to be rather excessive - at that rate they should be popping up all over the place.  Can anyone help?

Edited January 21, 2015 by RMC

[RMC]

Thanks for that. Now I guess it's back to rigging the guns.

[Jdieck]

Hi Bob.

Great work!

I think some of the 3 mm walnut is or should have been used for planking the transom below the gallery.

Also Hubert on his site Wooden Modeling for Dummies, describes how to make a simple rope coiner using some magnets and a couple of pieces of plastic from a jar cap.

http://www.shipmodeling.ca/aaplandusite.html

 

Enjoy!

[RMC]

Hi Jdieck

 

Thank you for the link and for taking the time to reply.

 

However I don't quite follow your point regarding the walnut. It is 3mm thick sheet on which are various laser cut parts, and is not really suitable for planking.

[RMC]

I have finished rigging the guns and have attached all the various hatches etc.

 

The barrels of the cannons do not have any provision for an 'eye' through which to thread rigging rope. I used the head of the eyelets supplied gluing them with CA gel. I now use the gel almost exclusively.

 

 

 

An intermediate stage in the rigging:

 

 

and finally, finished.

 

 

 

 

I have not yet fitted the assembly for the hammock netting.  It looks fairly fragile.  I am debating the next step, but at his stage I will probably do the poop deck, then finish off the upper deck bits and pieces, and hope I don't destroy anything in the process.

 

Incidentally, the hole provided for the mizzen mast in the poop deck base (part 32) is about 2mm too far to the stern.  The mast is very close indeed to the screen. With some rake of the mast it almost touches the screen at the top.The screen is also very close to the gunports immediately in front of it: so close it is difficult to rig the guns.  While this may all be historically accurate, setting the screen back about 2mm would make things a lot easier.  This would mean moving a bulkhead, so I guess that's not going to happen.

 

 

Edited January 29, 2015 by RMC

[Jdieck]

Hi Jdieck

 

Thank you for the link and for taking the time to reply.

 

However I don't quite follow your point regarding the walnut. It is 3mm thick sheet on which are various laser cut parts, and is not really suitable for planking.

My apologies, I got confused with the 3mm walnut strips provided.

Great work on rigging the cannons!

[RMC]

I have received most of the replacement rope from Syren. Some of the sizes were in short supply and I will order the balance when they are available.

 

The quality looks to be excellent and it was delivered promptly. Below are some photos of some of the different sizes - light and dark brown, rather than the black and light tan of the kit.

 

When I first bought the kit about 3 years ago, for some obscure reason I hung some of the black thread over the top of a door and then forgot about it. It was in a light room, but not in direct sunlight.  It has not aged well. It is now an uneven dark tan and extremely furry.  Perhaps beeswax would solve the problem.

 

Here are the different sizes of the brown. Unfortunately the packaging tends to obscure the thread inside.

 

I hope this gives a better idea of the quality. It was taken in sunlight.

 

Here is the light tan.

 

Edited January 31, 2015 by RMC

[RMC]

I have now glued on the poop deck base.  I'm hoping that nothing has been forgotten as putting it on is rather final.

 

I cut part 32 down the centre to make it easier to fit, though this may not have been necessary. I got a bit carried away in trimming  the sides of part 32 to fit, then had to add pieces of strip to fill the gaps I had created.

 

The having cutting the part, the next step is to attach the cross -member.  It needed to be trimmed on each end, and again I overdid it.  It is not really serious but will need to be rectified later.

 

Here is the deck dry-fitted

 

There is a small gap on either end of the support that will have to be disguised.

 

 

Checking that the masts are as they should be.  Adjusting the hole in the poop  for the Mizzen would be too difficult (it's far to close to the screen on the upper deck for comfort) after that deck is fitted.

 

Actually gluing the deck to its supports proved more difficult than I thought. The thing really didn't want to fully bend. I used clamps where possible and some lead sinkers to weigh it down. They are probably better used here than on my fishing efforts.

Edited February 1, 2015 by RMC

[RMC]

I have begun putting the decking on the poop deck. Something odd has happened in loading the photos. My editing program refuses to load about 3 photos for some reason.

 

First I ran a piece of strip centred on the deck base, then pencilled a line on either side of the strip to provide a guide.  This shows the guide.

 

 

I have also penciled onto the base, a grid in quarter plank lengths before gluing the planks in a three butt shift pattern. The (I hope temporarily ) lost photos show this in more detail.  Now to go and do battle with the computer.

 

Edited February 3, 2015 by RMC

[RMC]

I have exhumed the missing photos, though I have no idea what I have done.

 

This shows a complete three butt shift.

 

Below is one 'row' of the three butt shift taken to the stern. I had forgotten to put in a margin plank at the stern, and consequently had to cut off the four end planks to make provision for it - which was a bit nerve-wracking. The margin plank in the photo is only dry-fitted. On looking at it, it seems a bit wide (though consistent with the plan), but it's a bit late to change.

 

 

I shall now do 'rows' alternately on either side of the centre line to gradually plank the entire deck.  This allows any adjustment to be made to the width of each 'row' (the planking timber varies slightly in width), so that exactly the same number of planks are on each side of the centre line, butting up to the margin planks on each side.

Edited February 4, 2015 by RMC

[RMC]

Good progress has been made on planking the poop deck.  The following photos show the completion of the starboard side and fitting the margin planks to that side.  The margin planks require quite a bit of time and care, and so far I am happy with the results.

 

These shows the steps in fitting the margin planks. Before cutting the notches in the margin planks, on the underside at the point where the notch will be cut I put some gel CA, to prevent the very thin strip from splitting.

 

 

This is the first plank completed.

 

 

 

The second plank completed.

 

 

 

How the planking looks before the margin is fitted and glued (white PVA applied with a hypodermic syringe for all planks).

 

 

Edited February 12, 2015 by RMC

[RMC]

The planking of the poop deck is finally complete. Some of the filler used to represent the tree nails when sanded back shows up on the photos for some reason, but fortunately it cannot be seen when looked at 'in the flesh".  I fact rather than sanding back with glass paper, in the main I have used a fairly blunt Stanley Knife blade to scrape back the deck planks.  I gives a very  good even result.

 

 

 

 

I have finished most of the deck furniture and will put things together over the next day or so.

Edited February 23, 2015 by RMC

[RMC]

I am back to shipbuilding after a two week break - played very moderate golf on some beautiful courses on the far south coast of New South Wales.  Highly recommended.

 

Aside from that, finishing the poop is taking far longer than I expected.  There are some quite tricky little bits. Positioning the small timber heads in the opening shown below without spreading glue all over the place is one example.

 

As well I couldn't  find a part number for them (still can't) and thought that were the same size as all the others and needed to be trimmed to fit. I stumbled across the correct ones while looking for something else. As well the part number shown in the diagram for the capping of the side rails was transposed (reads 59; should read 95) caused a bit of grumbling.

 

 

Putting on the capping was fairly straightforward, but needed care. I cut the gaps for the gun ports on the model.  Here, having the holes for the railing supports about 1mm further apart would have made things a bit easier. The following photos show how I went about it.  First the gaps in the caps were marked with Tamiya tape. 

 

 

The markings were cut using a very fine hand saw.

 

 

 

Once all the gaps had been cut, I moved to the stern fascia knees.  Getting them to be vertical was another of the tricky things. I used  Tamiya tape as a guide.  Gel CA was dotted along the bottom of each one, but no glue on the rear. The gel allows a little time for adjustment, so that once each knee is properly aligned stem to stern,, it can be adjusted to the vertical.  Having no glue on the rear allows adjustment without spreading glue all over the stern fascia.

 

 

 

 

Here is progress to date.

 

 

Edited March 12, 2015 by RMC

[RMC]

I have finished the first of the poop railings. It proved quite time-consuming and again, a rather fiddly job.  I had been putting it off as making a mess of it would have been very obvious and spoiled the whole model. It looks as if it will come out acceptably - I am now waiting for the PVA glue I have used on the top of the railing to properly set.

 

I decided to do all of it in stages.  First, the rear support was glued (parts 116 and 201 (see above)) as an anchor and a guide for the rest of the supports. Then support 115 and 110 were added. Care was need to make sure the supports were vertical - hence the piece of balsa supporting the railing.  PVA glue was used as small adjustments need to be made.  Once these were accurately glued, the remaining supports to the right of part 115 were then glued using Gel CA. Incidentally, when viewed from the side, the supports may appear to be 'wonky' . In fact this is exactly how they look in the plans.  They provide three gun ports for the carronades.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once I got to this stage I had a minor disaster.  I dropped the remaining supports (127 - 130), so that when I retrieved them, I couldn't easily tell which was which. It took an hour or so and the use of a slightly expanded vocabulary to sort it out.  For the next railing I will be more careful in labeling them. I used the bulldog clips to hold the supports so that I could paint their edges easily - note the numbering, something I didn't do the first time.

 

Finally, here are all the supports in place. Make sure to check the heights of the supports as small adjusts may be needed.

 

 

 

The top railing being glued.  The clips are very useful, though I am a bit worried they may mark the railing. I should have put a strip of thin balsa on top of the rail to act as a cushion. Next time...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 15, 2015 by RMC

[RMC]

It's finally beginning to look like a ship. Both railings on the poop have been added, though the belaying pin railings on one side are yet to be done.  These are proving to be quite difficult. Pins are supposed to be drilled into the rail and then into the side railing as supports. Drilling into the side railing is a bit of a nightmare as the railings are so thin and access to the drill is limited.  Moreover, little pressure can be applied to the drill as the railing and its supports are fairly fragile.

 

 

 

 

The quarter deck barricade assembly has been added, together with a few other bits and pieces.

 

 

 

So this is how it looks at the moment.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 18, 2015 by RMC

[aliluke]

Hi RMC

I'm so far out of the loop here on this site.Work has interfered with my entire life and as much as it draws me, I haven't touched my model for months now.

 

I really like what I see on your Vanguard. It looks brilliant and, as you say, it looks like a real ship. Keep it up - you inspire me to pick up the tools again....

[RMC]

Hi Alistair

I had wondered about your absence.  Fortunately for me, work is now past tense. From your note it seems as if things have been difficult for you. I hope they are better now.  If you come to Sydney sometime there's always a good NZ sav. blanc in our frig to ease the way.

 

All the best

 

Bob

[Keith_W]

Thanks for the update RMC, she's beautiful. This ship is on my bucket list (I have a very big bucket) but i'm not sure if I should even attempt it given that yours is likely to be the definitive Vanguard build

Edited March 18, 2015 by KeithW

[RMC]

Thanks very much Keith. I don't know about definitive - have a look at Arthur's (AEW) Vanguard - and others.  But give it a go - there's plenty of help here if you need it.  Anyway, it's just fun .. so it really doesn't matter as long as you enjoy it.

 

Best wishes

 

Bob

[RMC]

The quarter deck barricade assembly is attached (though the hammock netting is yet to be done) and the poop is now finished.

 Here is the barricade.

 

 

and work on the poop deck hammock netting assembly.

 

 

I decided to appropriate a couple of Arthur's Ideas , though with some trepidation regarding the hammock netting.  If I made a mess of it, at least I could get rid of it without too much pain. Fortunately it turned out acceptably, though I am not all that happy with the finish on the ends. It was quite a fiddly job and redoing it is definitely not an option.  Cutting the netting turned out to be straightforward. I borrowed some sort of cutting wheel gizmo from my wife who uses it for quilting, and it worked beautifully.

 

The gizmo.

 

 

One side threaded.

 

 

Below is another of Arthur's ideas - adding to the buckets small pieces of dowel painted as sand. Incidentally I drilled the holes provided for the bucket hooks on the model.  I had not thought beforehand to drill them off the model where it would have been far, far easier.

 

 

 

Now there are only three more sets of hammock nettings to go ...

 

[RMC]

Arthur: the cheque's in the mail ....

 

And there are five more sets of nettings. Aaagh!

[RMC]

Fortunately I didn't sign the cheque -  just in case it went astray .

[RMC]

The quarter deck barricade is now finished.  The netting supports provide a bit more strength to the barricade which is comparatively fragile.

 

The netting I think, improves the model significantly. Including it would not have occurred to me had I not seen Arthur's log. It certainly shows how useful the site is and how helpful members are.

 

 

 

Edited March 28, 2015 by RMC

[RMC]

The quarter deck is finally finished. Here is a solution to what turned out to be a problem in cutting the netting material so that the holes are all in line. My first attempts at needle and thread here suggests that sewing is a much overrated hobby.  The netting was simply trimmed above the thread.

 

 

Here are the quarter deck hammock nettings complete.

 

 

 

 

The two hammock nettings still to do on the sides promise to be far more difficult.

Edited March 31, 2015 by RMC