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

[RMC]

I have been looking at Len's beautiful Bellerophon again, noting the quality of the Caldercraft carronades.  The18lb carronades seem to be about the right size though they are 1:64 scale. The barrels are 22.6mm; the Amati barrels are21mm.

 

However I am having trouble submitting an order to Cornwall Model Boats.  Has anyone else had similar problems?

[RMC]

Thanks for taking the trouble Arthur. The problem has now been resolved.

[RMC]

The first of the midships netting has now been finished. It turned out to be quite difficult.  When, in effect, there were two layers of netting (ie, one on either side of the supports) the pattern of the netting made it very difficult to see where the it should be cut to enable it to go under the cross members of the supports. I had three goes at it before the result was acceptable.  I hope the experience will make the last of the netting a little easier.

 

Here are the steps in the process.

 

First the two end supports were glued.  There is a wooden rail running along the supports, so it is necessary to have all of the supports in line.

 

 

Then two of the middle supports were added, making sure the wooden rail fitted and was straight.

 

 

 

All of the supports glued:

 

 

With the netting.  The wooden rail is only dry-fitted.  A coat of polyurethane will finish it.

 

 

 

 

Actually, despite appearances I am really quite slim.

 

 

I ordered the carronades from Cornwall Model Boats last week and they just arrived - very good service.  I have has a quick look at them and they appear to be first rate. Here's what the package looks like together with the illustrated instructions.  The detail is most impressive. I will work on them when I am next away.

 

 

 

Edited April 7, 2015 by RMC

[RMC]

The hammock nettings and the other bits and pieces are now finished. Here is how it all turned out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have dry-fitted the ship's boats, and it is a very tight fit indeed. At this stage I am not sure just how to attach them permanently.

 

 

As you can see there is very little space.  The largest boat is a little higher than the other two which just gives enough room for the two smaller boats to fit under its sides.

 

 

 

 

 

Aside from putting together the carronades - I'll do that next weekend - I'm not sure what the next step will be.

 

 

Edited April 12, 2015 by RMC

[RMC]

Thanks Arthur.

I haven't had a chance to have a look at your suggestion in detail, but it looks the goods and I will certainly try it. This is one of the problems that has been worrying me for a while. I knew the spacing of  the boats  would be fairly tight but I guess the way my hammock netting and the hand-rail have worked out it's a bit too close for comfort.  I have thought about just going with the two larger boats, but this would be a last resort. My earlier error in the spacing of the supporting cross members is also a concern.

 

I have now had a look at Gil Middleton's gun port lids  (thanks). I have also made a mistake in the dimensions of the lower gun-ports(they are bigger (vertically) than they should be - though it is not (I hope) noticeable). I  wish I had decided to to have one side of the model with the gun ports closed -far too late now.  I have now made up the the lids for the lower gun ports for one side of the model (I haven't yet put on the eyelets on the undersides - it wouldn't have occurred to me had I not seen Gil's log) and am reasonably pleased with the result so far (pictures next week).

 

However putting the gun port lids on now is a concern. Those sticking out from the hull is an invitation to disaster - and I haven't often knocked back an invitation.

 

While away over the weekend I hope to work on the Caldercraft carronades which at least seem to be fairy straight forward.

Edited April 15, 2015 by RMC

[Mirabell61]

Bob,

 

a super build, fine Details and very clean and excact built.

Hammock nettings, ships boats and deck Fitting out give a good Impression of your high skill with this Project....

 

Nils

[Ponto]

This is a very impressive build....well done!!!

 

JP

[RMC]

Thanks Nils and JP for your kind comments.  It's always nice to get some encouragement.

 

Arthur. Thanks again for taking the time to help.  One thing that has occurred to me concerning the spacing between my boats.  I earlier noted that the largest boat was higher than the two smaller ones and that as a consequence they fit under the sides of the largest. If I make the the supports of the two boats a mill. or so lower than specified, this will give me slightly more room and should not be noticeable. I remember that in your log you mentioned that the supports provided in the kit were not very satisfactory and needed reworking anyway.

 

I have decided that while I will make provision for the boats, I will delay putting them on permanently as long as possible. Like the open gun port lids, they are one more thing for something to catch on.

[RMC]

I have begun putting the hinges on the gun port lids. I have made a jig similar to  Arthur's to enable their consistent positioning. As well, I added a piece of strip (seen nailed below) to assist spacing of the scuttles. When they are placed in a pair of tweezers, the tweezers held against the strip provides consistent spacing for the scuttle from the top of the lid. (I hope this all makes sense.)

 

 

 

In attaching the hinges, I fitted an eyelet through the hole in the hinge (see photo above). Applied gel CA to the hinge; placed the eyelet into the hole I had drilled in the lid, then slid the hinge down onto the lid. To my pleasant surprise, it resulted in perfect positioning of the hinge, without spreading glue everywhere.

 

 

 

Here are some  of the finished articles.

 

 

 

 

 

Since taking these photos I have done some minor touching up.

 

Over a miserable, rainy and windy weekend some progress was made on the carronades. They have proved to be a little more demanding than I expected. The quality is very good, but with one disappointment. There is no eye on the barrel through which to put the breaching rope. I have glued small eyes onto the barrels in the same way as I did for the cannons.  Once the rope is passed through them, I hope it will disguise any shortcomings and the result will be acceptable.

 

 

Edited April 20, 2015 by RMC

[RMC]

Warning.

 

In doing the upper gun port lids I have just made an unpleasant discovery. The instruction manual (p.28) specifies part 337 for the hinges. It should be 338. I have done 6 ports with the wrong ones and now have to retrieve the hinges without damaging them.

 

I should have counted beforehand and checked the parts list!

Edited April 21, 2015 by RMC

[RMC]

Substituting the Caldercraft carronades turned out to be not one of my best ideas.  Things were going along nicely until I dry fitted one to the stern-most 'gunport' under the side railing. It didn't fit; it was too high. (The others were fine.)  After much playing around, and a certain amount  of muttering about plots against me, there were only two alternatives. Use the Amati all-metal carronades with their drawbacks; or use the slightly smaller Amati barrels on the Caldercraft bases with some adjustments where necessary.  After more muttering, I opted for the latter, though with some trepidation.  This required drilling 1mm holes in the bottom of the barrels to accommodate the Caldercraft method of mounting them.

 

The first photo shows the relative sizes of the barrels.

 

 

Here is one of the holes drilled.  At this stage no touching up had been done, nor in any of the subsequent photos.

 

 

The Caldercraft mounting.

 

 

The composite dry fitted.  For the last port on each side the bases of the carronades also had the be sanded back to further lower the carronade to give easy clearance.  None of this is noticeable. In all it has turned out quite well, though a bit heart-stopping, and I think the result has been worth it.  But I certainly wouldn't recommend it, and none of this would have been necessary for the other two ports.

Edited April 26, 2015 by RMC

[RMC]

The carronades have been far more time-consuming and awkward than I anticipated. I have now completed the hardware, and now have to do the rigging. Having looked at carronade rigging all over the website, it now appears there are as many ways of rigging them as there are members. I have decided to go with the 'full' rigging shown in the instructions. While it may not indeed be 'full', it seems to be a reasonable and fairly elegant compromise.

 

This is how I have done the breaching ropes. I have made up a jig to enable the rigging to be more or less done off the model. Among other things, it enables the ropes to be of consistent length.  I will rig the blocks etc in the same way. The remaing difficulty is the get the various eyelets into the holes drilled into the bulwarks. The is very little room and for the forward-most carronades on each side, there is no bulwark to drill into. I guess I will have to attach the rigging to eyelets set into the deck near the bulwarks.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 3, 2015 by RMC

[RMC]

Good grief!  It all looks like a dogs breakfast.

 

So much for elegance.

Edited May 4, 2015 by RMC

[RMC]

The carronade saga is continuing. This is certainly one part of the build that I have not enjoyed, though most of the problems are self-inflicted.  I have rigged two carronades  and the others now should be straight-forward, though I have thought that before. I regret drilling holes in the bulkwarks to receive the  the eyelets for the rigging,  It would have been far easier to simply put eyelets into the deck. For the forward-most carronade there is no choice but to do so. For the sake of consistency, I will do the starboard-side guns the same way as the port.

 

The guns are rigged so that they are partially run out. If they were fully run out the rigging would not 'drape' realistically, and the two blocks on either side of each gun would have been uncomfortably close together. The ropes are not coiled and I'm not sure at this stage how to do the coiling. Suggestions are very welcome.

 

The following photos give some idea of progress, such as it is. There is still some minor touching up to do.

 

 

 

This is the forward-most carronade.  It is dry-fitted here and only the breeching rope is fitted. The photo shows the eyelets for the rope in the deck rather than the bulwark (well there really isn't one).

Edited May 13, 2015 by RMC

[AON]

I would wet my brush with water, dip it into a bottle of acrylic matt medium and then brush it onto the line (rope).  Finally coil up the line as I wanted it displayed and lay it down onto waxed paper to dry.  Once dry a dab of clear drying glue on the underside will hold it to the deck .... remove the waxed paper first of course    

[RMC]

Thanks very much for that Alan. I have been wondering how all of that may be done. The waxed paper trick would certainly not have occurred to me. However I don't know what Acrylic matt medium (what?) is.  Would dilute PVA do the same job? If not I guess I'll find the acrylic.

 

Just out of curiosity, where in Niagara do you come from? I lived in Ontario off and on for about 3 or 4 years (London and Kingston) - but I think I'm over Canadian winters In fact I'm over Australian winters too.

[AON]

I learned about it at the sail  and flag making workshops through Admiralty Models

It can be purchased at any hobby painting shop

Just wet your brush dab the tip into the jar and brush it over the coil... then let it dry.

It dries clear.

If you don't like how it looks, wet it again and reshape.

When you are happy dabs of clear drying glue on the underside will lock it in shape to the deck.

 

I live in Welland and work in Saint Catharines about 20 minute drive between them and Niagara Falls... where I worked for 32 years

AH!!! London and Kingston.... I'm much further south... we never ever get any snow down here.

(Excuse me... my nose is growing again)

Edited May 13, 2015 by AON

[RMC]

Alan - I have ordered the acrylic matt medium, so I'll see how it goes.

 

I have seen the falls frozen over - so I should hope your nose grows.

[RMC]

I have finished rigging the carronades on the left side.My efforts on the rope coils turned out to to be disappointing, but at least they're probably adequate. I'm certainly not doing them again. I had mixed results from the acrylic matt. I had hoped it would make the thread behave in a respectable manner, rather than going in every direction but the one I wanted.  Bad luck. It eventually stuck to the underlying paper quite well, but I had obviously applied too much. Once off the paper there was a residual which was obvious and very difficult to remove. I tried a second time, diluting the matt and using a wet paint brush to guide the thread into loops.  Once that was dry I used dilute PVA glue to attach the coils to the deck.

 

Whatever is the knack/skill required to make good coils I something I certainly lack.

 

Here are the results of a very large part of a day - not that I'm bitter.

 

 

Edited May 19, 2015 by RMC

[AON]

I feel bad that you did not get the results you hoped for.

 

If they are not glued down yet please try re-wetting them (water and matt) and re-shaping.

They can be soaked right through and it will not harm them as they dry clear.

 

You can do this as often and as tight as you feel necessary.

 

Practise on a piece of scrap.

 

I'll PM you a photo.

Edited May 19, 2015 by AON

[RMC]

Alan - please don't feel in any way 'bad'. The matt stuff does the job.  I should have experimented a bit more before I started. Unfortunately the thread supplied simply refused to go anywhere I wanted it to go, and every time I tried to guide it, whatever I used as a guide stuck to the thread. I guess you live and learn. I'll try the soaking with water and matt to see what happens. Having already stuck the coils to the deck with PVA may cause problems though.

 

Arthur - thanks for your thoughts. I have seen the superb coils on your build and wondered how you did it.  My concern is to keep the coiling on both sides consistent - whatever it looks like.

[RMC]

Arthur: the acrylic is showing reluctance to soften (though it may be the PVA ausing the problem).  I have now decided to leave the coils done, as is. Upon (mature?) reflection, they look reasonably acceptable. The thought of stuffing them up trying for perfection doesn't bear thinking about. At least I have learned a few things.  Moreover, once the main rigging and all the other bits and pieces are finally done, any shortcomings in the rigging of the carronades is unlikely to draw the eye. (Nothing like a bit of ex post rationalization. )

[RMC]

I have finally finished rigging the carronades. For the last three I used Arthur's suggestion wetting the thread with water (in fact I nearly drowned it). I first ran a very wet paint brush up and down the thread, then, with the brush, wet the deck where the thread was to be laid. I then shaped the coil in the wetted area. It worked a treat. I shaped the new coils so that they are consistent the first set which I decided to leave alone.

 

The following photo  shows some of the coils shaped, wetted and held down by a couple of eyelets. They were left overnight to dry, then dilute PVA was carefully applied to the thread and left to dry.  Joy.

 

 

The results:

 

 

 

I ordered and have ordered and have just received Alexey Domanov's Serving Machine 2.0. (My wife rather unkindly asked why I need a serving machine as I already have one. ) At this stage I'm not quite sure what to do with it, but for those who may be interested here it is.  It comes supplied with an instruction video and while I can see the video, the sound so far seems to be missing.

 

 

 

The last photo shows a large and a small gear wheel, neither of which are mentioned in any of the instructions, the use of which is rather a mystery to me. I guess I will have to ask on Alexey's website. The machine appears of excellent quality and the service provided is by Alexey is first-rate.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 22, 2015 by RMC

[Aleksei Domanov]

Thank you, Bob, for your kind words.

 

Wheels are for making stay mouse

http://shipworkshop.com/products/options/mouse

 

Sorry, I still haven't made video but for the fist time pics should be enough.

 

There is no sound in my videos, only subtitles.

 

You Vanguard is very good! And I'm sure she will get superb rigging!

 

cheers,

Alexey

[RMC]

Now that the carronades are finally finished, the gun lid problem looms. I have been putting it off as long as possible. I have not only to drill holes in the paintwork, but do a bit of woodwork on the hull. The latter is because I didn't have the foresight to think about how the lids would eventually have to be fitted over a two or three problem gun ports.  There, wooden molding either prevents the doors being fitted ( the first photo) or the wales partially impede their fitting (second and third photos).

 

I would STRONGLY recommend drilling holes, and (dry) fitting lids BEFORE painting when any mistakes may easily be rectified.

 

 

This photo shows some touching up I missed.. The following two photos show the wale impeding fitting the lids. Unless I can come up with an alternative, I will have to trim a bit to the wale and then hope the touching up will not be noticeable. The yellow paint does not cover well alas (the hull needed up to five coats)

 

 

I have now cut back the molding on either side of the middle gun port on the top deck without damage and, since the photo was taken, satisfactorily touched it up. I used a very sharp craft knife to gradually trim away the unwanted part of the molding, though the process was rather stressful. The other side has still to be done.

 

 

 

I now have to decide how much above the gun ports to drill the holes necessary to attach  the hinges (about 1mm?). I have tentatively made a jig to assist spacing the holes. My plan is to mark with a fine pencil through the holes onto Tamiya tape stuck above each port.  I will mark each pencil mark with a pin, and then drill a pilot hole with a very fine bit. (Of course I have had cunning plans before - which have turned out to be not so cunning after the fact..)

 

Unfortunately, the pencil marks have not shown up well in the photo. In looking at it now, I think I have the holes marked a little too high - maybe down 0.5mm or so would be better.

 

 

IF all these plans are realized, at this stage I will only actually fit the lids to the ports covered by the channels.  I will leave the remainder to be attached as late as possible. Lots of lids sticking out are an invitation to disaster. I wish again I had chosen closed gun ports.

Edited May 28, 2015 by RMC

[RMC]

Drilling the holes for the gun port lids on the left side went surprisingly well, though with the usual quota of small dramas.  With one exception, I was able to get away with not having to cut into the hull, though it was a close run thing.  The exception is shown below where the molding is cut away completely to provide for the lid. I used a very sharp chisel-shaped craft knife, making a shallow cut where required, then cutting a wedge up to the cut, then repeating until the required depth was reached.

 

 

 

My idea of using a piece of wood strip with two holes as a jig to mark the holes for the lid hinges of course didn't work.  However a variation on the theme did. Marking a piece of Tamiya tape with the width of the gun port and the position of the required holes worked well. I marked the hull though the holes on the tape with a fine pin. These marks were then used as guides for the drill bit.

 

 

Here is how it has all worked out. At this stage, all of the lids are just dry-fitted. There is still much work on them to be done.  When finally fitted there will be some minor touching up to be done, and some small adjustments  to be made in  positioning and in the angle of the lids to the hull. Regarding the angle, having looked at lids all over the internet, setting them a little above the horizontal seems to be a good compromise (roughly where they are in the photos). I have yet to decide if I will fit eyelets to the bottom of the lids.  It seems a bit like overkill with so many other bits and pieces going on around them.  But then .....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 31, 2015 by RMC

[Timmo]

Nice work

[RMC]

Thanks for the comment Timmo, and to others for the likes.

 

I was too optimistic regarding the amount of wood work I have to do to fit the  gun port lids. Once I started drilling holes for the lanyards it became apparent that some trimming would be necessary of the moldings above a few of the ports. Again I strongly advise those who are not up to the painting stage, to dry fit the gun port lids, and to drill all the required holes BEFORE painting.  Fortunately there have been no disasters so far, but the process is quite risky.

 

I have found that heat-shrink tubing that is used in electrical work does a really nice job in finishing off the holes for the lanyards. It starts at 1.5 mm in diameter and is supposed the shrink to 0.8mm. Using my wife's hair dryer (god knows what it does to her hair) I have been able to get it down to ).76mm which is certainly not noticeably different to the 0.7 recommended in the instructions.

 

I had hoped to have a few photos of progress, but odd things are happening to the program I use to bring the photos under 2 megs.

[RMC]

I have now dry-fitted the channels. The main reason for fitting them is to see how, or if the channels impede the opening of the gun port lids; and for some, of course they do.  The lanyards that support the lids above the port hinges provide the real difficulty.

 

The following photos try to show how closely the protruding channels will be to the open lids - in effect they will determine the angle of the lids when they are open. Unfortunately despite my efforts to properly light the underside of the channels,  I didn't have much success, though I hope the photos give some idea of how close they are to some of the gun ports.

 

I strongly suggest at least dry-fitting the channels before finally rigging the gun port lids.

 

 

Here, the problem is with the two rear ports at the top.

 

Here, the middle two ports.

 

 

Here, the second and third ports.

 

 

 

None of the problems are insurmountable; they just make things rather awkward. The following gives an idea of how the channels will look, though again the pictures have not turned out as well as I had hoped.

 

 

 

Edited June 11, 2015 by RMC

[RMC]

Bettina: 14 likes?  Your keyboard must have stuck.

 

Hi Arthur: I see you're online.  I hope you find my recent post useful when you get around todoing your open gun -port lids..  If it would further help I'll try to take some better photos of the potential channel/lanyard/gun port problem.  It may be that I have put the molding on a mill or two too low so it may not be a problem for you.

Edited June 11, 2015 by RMC