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

[RMC]

While away I've had the chance to play with the Proxxon lathe.  It's a really lovely little machine. Below are some pictures of work-in-progress: the jib boom; the fore topmast and the main topmast. Unfortunately the photos don't show the detail very well. 

 

The octagonal sections have turned out quite acceptably.   In these cases I have first, made a square section, then turning  that square at 45 degrees, made another 'square' with the same dimension as the first which then trims off the edges of the original square so creating an octagon.  I check the width of each octagonal face by drawing a large circle on paper then drawing rays from the centre of the circle at 45 degrees.  I then draw circles of the required diameter of the mast I am working on, and measure the distance between where two rays intersect the circle.  This gives the width of the octagonal faces.

 

 

I have been worried about  making the square sections at each end of  the masts 'line up' so that the caps etc are properly aligned. My solution is to cut the square sections as accurately as I can (I  use a heavy craft knife, then a file), but very slightly larger than is specified.  I then clamp a piece of wood strip to the sides of the two sections lining them up to see if the two sides are parallel. If they are a little out of parallel, I have sufficient room to make any slight adjustment that may be needed.  It seems to work, though I envy BE's milling machine.

 

 

Edited July 10, 2013 by RMC

[st george]

Hi bob,

 

A nice finish you've achieved there mate.

[Blue Ensign]

Looking good Bob, I'm pleased you like the lathe, feel partly responsible for pushing you down that road.

 

Not hinting or anything  but the Proxxon Mill is great for squaring the heads out of dowel for the lower masts where the rest of the length is a slightly tapering round.

 

Not so relevant for the topmasts where starting with square stock is the better option.

 

Cheers,

 

B.E.

[RMC]

David: thanks for the encouragement.

 

BE: The temptation to buy the milling machine is difficult to resist. I presume the one you have is the Proxxon Micro mill MF 70.  This costs about $560 here plus shipping.  I wonder whether buying it is justified, given the amount of use I would make of it at the moment.  While I would love to do as good a job on my masts and yards as you are doing, I think it's a bit beyond me just now.

 

My longer term plan is to use the Vanguard as practice - doing as good a job as I can - and hoping that Chris Watton's Bellona will become available in a year or two.

[RMC]

I have finished painting the stripes. Masking over the different levels was rather a pain, but came out quite well with some minor touching up.  The Tamiya tape is indispensable.  The irregularities you see below the lowest stripe are below the 1mm timber  'boundary' and will be covered by the copper.

 

I will modify the stem so that it will enable the fitting of the figurehead. (See Arthur's (AEW) log.)  Then there are a few mor bits and pieces to do before I start the coppering.  I'm approaching that with some trepidation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here the roundhouse etc have been dry-fitted.

 

Edited July 14, 2013 by RMC

[RMC]

After some heart-stopping moments and some advice from Arthur (AEW) I have adjusted the stem to properly accommodate the figure head below the bowsprit.  This entailed making a 10mm cut in the notch of the stem, and making provision for the figurehead's cloak (which I also trimmed very slightly), so that it is 10mm lower than it would otherwise be.

 

This is the position of the figurehead with the unmodified stem.  He would have needed to suffer decapitation to fit under the bowsprit.

 

This shows the modification.

 

 

 

The painting of the figurehead is work-in-progress.

 

Here are the dimensions of the modification.

 

Edited July 15, 2013 by RMC

[ZyXuz]

nice fix RMC!

now the soldier sits comfortably..

[RMC]

Thanks for the comment Arthur. I didn't think of how the the head rails may be affected. I will play around with them to make sure everything fits.

 

Painting figureheads?  Fortunately I am quite short-sighted, with a reasonably steady hand, and some REALLY fine brushes.  Unfortunately, advice is  the best I can offer, but please don't let me stop you from sending cash anyway.  It would certainly be a nice touch.

 

Regards

Bob

Edited July 16, 2013 by RMC

[RMC]

I had the opportunity to practice with the Proxxon lathe.  It's really nice little machine and I am delighted with it. Over the weekend I completed the parts of the three topmasts where turning was necessary.  Without the lathe the job would have been very difficult indeed. Now come the hard parts where the masts are squared or octagonal. I am waiting for delivery of the extra lathe bed (as suggested by BE) and will work on the longer masts/spars when it arrives.

 

In the meantime here are some pictures of the figurehead, though I see now that the pictures are larger, there is still a bit of touching up to do. As well, I belatedly discovered that the hole for his sword is not deep enough which is a nuisance.  A suggestion/reminder for those who have not so far began painting their figurehead; give it a good wash with something like acetone to help the paint adhere. Unfortunately I forgot.  A tip given to me by a (portrait) painter is to dip brushes in linseed oil and wipe off  after washing them in mineral turpentine.  They become even cleaner and it preserves the bushes really well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 23, 2013 by RMC

[RMC]

Sorry Arthur, I have a quick touch-up job at the Sistine Chapel that takes priority - but I'll get back to you....

[st george]

Very nice figurehead Bob

[RMC]

David: thanks for the encouragement.

 

I was unhappy with the 'repair' to the cap for the foremast that I messed up earlier.

 

I have made another that has turned out quite well.  I may do the same for the remaining caps which all have two holes, instead of one circular, one square.  I have rounded the cap's corners as advised by BE.

 

The job was a bit fiddly, but for those who are interested, this is one way to  do it.

 

The cap is supposed to be in two pieces, with the overall dimensions being L24xB6xD5mm.

 

I took two pieces of 6x6mm walnut about 50mm long and glued them together with CA, leaving a gap in the centre of about 30mm without glue. I then sanded the resulting piece to the correct (5mm) depth, then drilled a 6mm hole in the centre of the two pieces for the topmast.  Both of the glued ends were chopped off leaving the 'glueless' 24mm in the centre and thus, the two separate halves of the cap.  The notches for square holes were then cut in each half.

 

 

 

Here the two halves are held together by tape and dry-fitted to the foremast.

 

 

 

Edited July 25, 2013 by RMC

[Blue Ensign]

Looks good Bob

 

B.E.

[RMC]

Arthur: I have looked at the remaining caps supplied with the kit, and not surprisingly have the same faults as the foremast cap. I think I will redo them as well.

 

Today I finally gave the painted hull a coat of Estapol (polyurethane) to protect it.  It is mid-winter here and the temperature in the only space I have for spraying paint all over the place is an unheated workroom under the house. Estapol needs to be applied and dried at 10 deg C or warmer.  The early mornings have been around 8 Deg C for the last couple of weeks, so it has been quite frustrating waiting for a warmer couple of days.

 

The Estapol has given a really good finish to the paintwork, and I can start the coppering this week; something I have been putting off anyway.

 

Concurrently I am working on the masts and looking at BE's work as a guide to how it should be done.

[RMC]

I have  painted and finished the wolding for the foremast. I am reasonably happy with it, though BE has really set the standard. 

 

I will be going to the UK for a couple of weeks in about 10 days and hope to see the Victory in Plymouth.

I'll certainly steer clear of the cricket.

 

 

 

Edited August 5, 2013 by RMC

[Blue Ensign]

Neat job on the mast Bob, but I think you will be disappointed if you go to Plymouth to see Victory

 

Enjoy your trip

 

B.E.

[amateur]

Plymouth, Portsmouth,

It's all on the Channel coast, and starts with a P.

He's coming from Aussieland, on his map England is just a mere dot

 

Jan

[RMC]

Arthur: it's Humbrol matt74 - linin (I have no idea what the 'linin' signifies).

 

BE: Jan's right - any P will do - they're all so close together.

[RMC]

Rather than start coppering, I have decided to work on the masts in the time before I go away. Here is my method of 'squaring' the 12mm dowel for the main mast.

 

1. Determine the lengths of the sides of the square (in this case 8.5mm).

 

2. For the relevant part of the mast, run 2 pieces of masking tape parallel to each other and 8.5mm apart (this is a 'straight' distance (ie, a chord of the circle), not a measurement around the circumference of the circle (I use a compass to mark the distance).

 

3. Make cuts with a small saw across the curved part of the mast berween the two pieces of masking tape.

 

4. Cut out the the small 'rectangular' pieces of wood created by the saw cuts.

 

5. File the resulting rough surface smooth - the edges of which just touch  the masking tape - creating a smooth surface 8.5 mm wide.

 

 

 

6. Repeat for the other 3 sides and (surprise - at least to me) it results in a nice square section.

 

 

I have tried to show that it IS square in the following picture but it may not be all that obvious.

 

 

It came out surprisingly well, but I still lust after BE's milling machine (maybe after a new set of golf clubs).

Edited August 6, 2013 by RMC

[RMC]

I have just made two unpleasant  discoveries regarding the fore- and main masts.

 

1. The rings for the boarding pikes do not fit over the lowest wolding on the foremast.  I will have to take it off and redo the wolding after the upper ing is fitted.  I suggest anyone who has not begun the masts keep this in mind.

 

2. Worse, the 12mm dowel for the main mast is very slightly over size. I did known this but as the difference in size was (I thought) trivial  I simply gave it a final sanding and proceeded to put 3 coats of paint on it  - before I realised there may be a problem (in fact two problems).  Naturally ignoring the oversize has come back to bite me: the rings do not fit.  Again, make sure the rings will fit after painting. In the case of the main mast at least, the rings do not need to go over the wolding.

 

Turning the main mast to the correct specification is going to be a bit of a problem as it is already shaped at the top: ie a square section. One solution is to turn the mast to the correct dimension to the point where the upper ring fits, and leave the rest of the mast as is.  The difference should be disguised as it will be covered by the boarding pikes.  Anyway, I'll see how that goes before further panicking.

Edited August 10, 2013 by RMC

[freewheelinguy]

Bob,

 

Somebody didn't read their Manual instructions (10 lashes) (Masts - section 8 on page 8). 

I am guilty of not reading these instructions, as well, therefore would have probably made the same mistake.

Very grateful for the heads up.

 

PS after writing this I noticed that you sent this warning out on our build logs also (me, Arthur, and Mitsuaki).  That was an especially thoughtful thing to do for us, therefore I'm rescinding the 10 lashes.

Edited August 10, 2013 by freewheelinguy

[RMC]

Len:  I had thought of taking the 5th.  But I thought an early guilty plea may bring clemency.  I can only stand so much pain.

 

Bob

[RMC]

I have just begun  the gun port lids - have cut them out and began their painting - as a quick job before going away tomorrow. 

 

Parts 64 and 65 - the backing for the lids - are not long enough to take account of the material lost in the process of cutting the segments into their correct lengths.  It's rather annoying, but there is sufficient scrap ply to make up the shortfall.

 

Once the lids were cut to size I lined up all the lids on masking tape (no gaps between them) and painted their fronts black all in one go.  It worked a treat and has given them all a really good finish. I will do the same with the red specified for the back of the lids.

 

Here are the lower lids lined up ready for painting.

 

and here , after 3 coats of paint.  A 4th coat  was added after this picture was taken. A couple of coats of Estapol matt will fininish them off nicely.

 

Back in about 3 weeks to begin the coppering - something I am dreading.

Edited August 13, 2013 by RMC

[RMC]

Arthur:  lucky you on receiving two lengths of dowel - not that I'm bitter.

 

The cross-sections certainly make no sense at all.  Aside from anything else, if you compare the corresponding cross-sections for the foremast and the main mast, they are identical.

 

The caps for the foremast and the main mast provided in the kit are both in two parts and I have just followed their example (it also makes it easier to make a nice, clean, square hole).  I had assumed the two piece setup would make it easier to fit the topmasts - but now that I look, the cap for the mizzen is a single piece....

 

The blocks (T) are a complete mystery to me too.  The master master is Blue Ensign (BE) and he may be able to help.

 

On the preceding page there are some pictures of my (almost) complete foremast - with cheeks, but so far, no hounds.  I ignored the cross-sections on the plan. I made the flat portions of the mast to receive the cheeks by tracing the outline of the cheeks on the mast, then used the same method  of making saw cuts to the appropriate depths, chiselling out the cuts and filing the rough to finish. (The tops of the cheeks have the same measurement are the square section of the masts above them (8mm in the case of the foremast)). The method is the same as I have shown in creating  the square sections of the mast. If a closer picture of the fitted cheeks would help you, let me know.

 

I have delayed fitting the hounds as I would like to get an idea of the the rake (if any) of the masts - as the crosstrees have to be parallel to the waterline.

 

Finally, I cannot see why the square sections at the bottom of the topmasts are completed with a square section of 5x1mm walnut.  Why not simply square the dowel to the appropriate dimension?  I suspect all of this is part of a cunning plan to drive us all mad.  As far as I am concerned, so far it's working a treat, though my wife has just suggested (somewhat unkindly I think), that I already had a good start.

Edited September 4, 2013 by RMC

[RMC]

Arthur: it's amazing what 3 weeks or so away will do - I did realise that the topmast would not fit though without the two-piece cap, but it had slipped my mind.  Jet lag of course, though age may have something to do with it.

 

I won't have much time to play with it until some time next week (I have some heavy duty gardening to do), but will try to make sense of it when I get a chance.

[RMC]

I have just lost a couple of paragraphs.  Presumably they are in the ether somewhere.  It's VERY annoying.

 

I have finally received the extra bed for my Proxxon lathe. It increases the length of the bed from 250 to 500mm, though the full 500mm is not really usable.

 

With it, I have rectified the problem with the over-diameter main mast (see above).  I reduced the diameter below the top boarding pike ring by a little less than 1mm.  That ring now fits snuggly up to a very small step in the diameter of the mast.  The difference in the two diameters above and below the ring is obscured by the ring itself, and will be completely unnoticeable once the pikes are in place.

 

The length of the mast is 455mm and this, I suggest, is the extreme length that could be handled by the extended bed - and only because of the thickness of the dowel (12mm), the use of the slowest speed of the lathe, and the work area being close to the chuck (which gave the dowel good support).  For most purposes about 320mm would see it out.

 

At the moment my camera has been pirated by a certain member of my family and I won't have it back for a couple of weeks.

 

If anyone is interested in the lathe setup, or what the mast now looks like, I will post a few photos when the camera returns.

Edited September 13, 2013 by RMC

[RMC]

I have finally started coppering.   So far it has gone well - which of course is likely to be an invitation to future disaster. 

 

I have followed Mitsuaki's method of overlapping the plates where stealers are necessary.  The results are very good indeed.  Incidentally I have followed the orientation of the plates according to the kit instructions.  I contacted Chris Watton regarding the issue, and he was adamant that the line of 'rivets' should be at the bottom and the verticals should face the front.

 

Wherever possible I have applied the plates in strips rather than individually - using gel CA. Acetone takes off any unwanted glue easily. Laying the plates over the transition from the curved part of the hull to the stem has turned out to be the most difficult. Getting the correct curvatures to the plates is essential.  Here is the procedure I used.

 

First,  the transition plates were trimmed to approximate curvature (one on the hull; one on the stem), so that when the plates were bent, there was a slight overlap of each plate between the curved part of the hull and the flat of the stem.

 

Second, CA was applied to a part of each plate that did not need to be bent. 

 

Third, the partially glued plates were stuck on to the appropriate places. The first one on the hull; the second on the stem. Partially sticking them on meant that when doing the bending, the plate would not move, and the bending could be done 'on site' with accuracy.  I used the sharp end of a bamboo meat skewer to apply pressure to make the bends - worked a treat.  Once both plates were bent to the correct curvature (the plate on the stem to very slightly overlap the plate on the hull), ordinary thin CA was applied so that it would seep under the unglued parts of both plates, securing them both.  Any unwanted CA on the plates was cleaned off with acetone.  The result (so) far has been a nice, cleanly defined curve.

 

Describing the procedure has proved more difficult than I thought.  I hope it makes sense and is helpful.  All going well I will retrieve my camera my camera next week and will try to illustrate the description.

Edited September 28, 2013 by RMC

[RMC]

Arthur: it is quite difficult to see just what is happening on the Cutty Sark photo.  It does seem to me that the line of plates XIX does have  the ' Watton orientation', but the rest of it looks like a bit of a dog's breakfast.  I suspect that whoever did the rivets did it whichever way seemed to do the job. You just can't get good help these days ....

Edited September 28, 2013 by RMC

[RMC]

Agreed.

[RMC]

I have made fair progress on the coppering.  As I earlier wrote, wherever possible I have attached a strip of plates rather than singles.  I was concerned however, that the strips would be damaged in the process of breaking. The following method worked quite well. The strips were broken off using two pieces of balsa: one on top of the set of plates; the other applying pressure to the strip to be broken off.

 

 

Here are some pictures of progress.

 

 

Like Mitsuaki, I have overlapped the plates where stealers are necessary.  This shows some trimmed plates that were later overlapped by a full strip of seven plates.

 

I have concentrated on the bow which I have found so far to be far more difficult than the stern.

 

 

The apparent gap shown in the photograph below between one of the plates on the hull and the corresponding plate on the stem is just a reflection.  Photographing the shiny plates without reflections turned out to be a bit difficult.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 7, 2013 by RMC