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

[RMC]

I shall sleep easier tonight.

[RMC]

I have finally installed the middle and lower headrails. Making the two sets to fit and to be reasonably symmetric nearly drove me up the wall.

 

 

 

Putting the decorative wallnut strips over the headrails and the supports for the gratings also provided real problems.  The instructions specify 1x3mm strip.  I tried this but the strip proved to be too inflexible and too thick to give a neat result.  I have test-fitted  0.5x3mm strip (painted yellow) laid over with a 0.4x2.0mm styrene strip (painted blue).   Even so,  once  the headrails were in place it became necessary to further file away some of the metal so that the decorative strip would fit flush with the supports.  The use of the styrene was entirely necessary to preserve whatever good humour I have remaining after all this - which, according to my wife, turned out to be not all that much.  Fortunately I felt absolved from guilt in using it as I had kept in mind Arthur's comment about the benefits of age and treachery.

 

I have now touched up the bare metal and of course have to wait for the paint to dry before finishing the whole lot off.  I'll be glad to see the end of it.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 12, 2014 by RMC

[aliluke]

Driven to the wall or driven nuts...The results are fantastic. Hats off Bob. I'm going slightly mad with my little bits at the moment but I'll keep striving for fit and symmetry. There is no other way to do this craft in my opinion. Good stuff by you - I get mad too but in the morning it all feels alright.

[RMC]

Alstair: In the morning all sorts of things feel alright, but just not so often.

[jwvolz]

Very nice work on one of the toughest parts of any build. Excellent job Bob.

[amateur]

Very nice work on one of the toughest parts of any build. Excellent job Bob.

 

Although ratlines are also very good to get you against the wall

 

The results so far are very nice (understatement )

 

Jan

[mort stoll]

very nice. very very nice.

 

Mort

[RMC]

Puting the decorative strips over the headrails was a bit of a nightmare.  It's taken most of two days.  For those who may do it in the future I suggest fitting them one at a time. Each time,  dry-fit the top head rail so that it is flush with both the grating and the end of the strip.  I made the mistake of fitting all of the strips to the grating supports, then making a mess of the trimming the strips flush with the grating.  I cut a some of the strips fractionally too short so that there was a small, but obvious gap between the strip and the top head rail.  I had to redo the lot.  The decorative strip closest to the stem was particularly difficult to get right, and even now I'm not all that happy with it.  Had I had the foresight, I would have trimmed the front grating support far more before fitting it.  Doing it again does not bare thinking about

 

Here are the results.  It's almost six o'clock here on a cold winter's day and the sun is well and truely over the yardarm.  Cheers.

Edited June 15, 2014 by RMC

[aliluke]

Hi Bob

You are very hard on yourself. Your work is absolutely amazing. Your model looks so clean and crisp. Brilliant - have a tot you deserve it.

[RMC]

Thanks for the kind comment Alistair.  It looks as if a combimation of Australia and NZ Posts ended up with the Bermuda Triangle.  If you have any trouble with your transfers I still have the second sheet I bought.

[RMC]

Well the bow bits and pieces are all but finished. There is some minor touching up to do. 

 

I found that the side of the forward grating needed very thin pieces of strip to enable the top headrail to remain flush without pressure. The first couple of photos show this.

 

 

 

Here  the first headrail is being glued into place.

 

 

The catheads are dry-fitted at the moment as are the two posts (whatever they're called) that fit beside the bowsprit - also dry -fitted. While doing all of this, I couldn't resist dry-fitting the figurehead to see what it all looks like.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just realised that I haven't put the little crowns on the ends of the catheads - so there's another small job.  I noticed too, a couple of spelling mistakes in my last post, so with that confession, my concience is now clear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 17, 2014 by RMC

[RMC]

Thanks for your comments Arthur.

 

1 . Yes originally I had painted them yellow - so yes, personal preference -though I was a bit sorry in the end as I had painted the inside of the holes blue which looked quite good.  The main reason for the black was that there were irregularities in the tops of the laser-cut pieces in my kit, and the yellow highlighted them no matter what I did.

 

2. You're right about the sets of ease. Bugger. 

 

3. I nearly had heart failure when I first read your comment. However the timber heads (it took me some time to figure out what there were) are fortunately only dry-fitted at the moment. You have just saved me from making a large mistake.

 

Thanks again,

 

Bob

[AON]

......... timing is everything .........

 

            

[RMC]

Hi Arthur

 

Just a clarification: in my first sentence in my last post I have mixed head rails and timber heads..  Anyway,  I just thought to have a look at the photos on the kit box again. The main headrails there seem to be painted black. Chis Watton (I presume) then seems to have run some of the decorative metal strip - painted yellow - along the bottom of the headrail.  It's all a bit difficult to see though.  In any event, the tops of his  main head rails are black.  Perhaps I painted mine black subliminary as a consequence, but really, the very top of my headrails when yellow just looked too rough - although perhaps a bit more patience would have helped.. 

 

The timber heads in the photo on the kit box are black too, and with the laser cut, the raw timber finish looked out of place given all of the other painted surfaces..

 

I'm reasonably happy with the result so far and I'm not sure that sanity (let alone temper) would survive another few days working  on the bow.

Edited June 18, 2014 by RMC

[RMC]

Arthur: thanks for the tip about the eyelets in the timberheads.  I went to the rigging diagrams to find them - and they would have been a bit of a pain to fit once the timber heads were on the model.  I found all of this to be the most difficult part of the model so far, though the decoration on the stern facia and galleries looks pretty daunting.

 

Question: I have been away for a few days where I had the chance to almost finish the masts.  I have painted the lower masts and while looking at the photo on the kit box, noted that most of the upper masts (aside from black trim) are done in stained wood.  I then went to the instructions (always a last resort) which also mention staining the wood on the upper masts, though they are not all that clear to me.  I have looked at yours and Len's and both of you seem to have painted the upper masts in the same way as the lower - they look really good.  I haven't decided what to do with them. Do you have any idea which is likely to be more historically accurate? Does it really matter?

 

Aside from that, I am hesitating fitting the catheads.  Things poking out the sides are an invitation to disaster.

[RMC]

Alistair: I'm having trouble with the messenger for some reason.  Anyway I'm glad the letters finally arrived.  I think I could have paddled over and delivered them more quickly.

[aliluke]

:D :D Yeah pretty wacky mail. But we are paying it forward - its one of the great things about this site. I'm still admiring your work in all regards - very neat stuff!

[RMC]

The stern railing and asociated bits is something I have been putting off.  Bending the railing to conform with the shape of the balcony was a real concern. It turned out to be not so hard.  I carved a piece of balsa to the shape of half of the balcony then bent half the railing to the shape of the balsa.  The railing was then turned around and the other half was bent in a similar manner.  Doing it in this way meant that the bends in two halves of the railing were at least identical, even if the overall curve curve was not quite right.  It turned out that a little more bend was required on both ends.  For this, where a greater bend was necessary I used a piece of dowell as support when I applied pressure to make the bend.

 

The bend in the railing has turned out to be virtually identical with the curve of the balcony.

 

 

 

 

I hope the next three photos will give an idea of the method.

 

 

 

 

Actually attaching the railing is likely to be not so straighfoward at all.  If you look closely at the third photo, the flat decorative part of the railing on the right side is about 0.5 mm out. This needed filing to enable it to fit between the main decoration and the column.The problem shows up with the small gap between the top of the flat railing and the window.  There is no such gap on the left side. It's just annoying as the problem could have been avoided with a bit of foresight. - always dry-fit.

 

More serious, the problem I and others have had with the plans concerning the height of the floor of the balcony and the stern facia  has come home to roost.  My solution to that problem was to make the stern facia (Pt117) about 1mm or so lower than the  bottom of the balcony - I then filled in the gap.  This all means that the curved part of the railing, to conform with the flat parts on either side will be about a mm or so too low when attached ot the balcony.  In fact you will be able to just see the edge of the balcony though the railing. I have dry fitted the railing and fortunately it doesn't appear  to be really noticeable.  I have now painted the edge black and hope that this will further disguise it.

 

 

Edited June 25, 2014 by RMC

[RMC]

Arthur: a couple of things I forgot to mention.

 

In the instructions (p.12) in the lower drawing (the complete stern window/railing etc) there are shown three lots of 514 decorative strips.  Those specified at the top and bottom of the railing have to be wrong.  The top and bottom of the railing are already 'decorative' and aside from this the 514 decorative strips simply don't fit.

 

As well the curved railing is a little too long.  I needed to trim about 1mm off each end to make it fit. I decided to fix the two flat pieces of railing first, and then the curved part.  I guess I will soon find out if this was a good decision.

 

Good luck.

[RMC]

The curved railing is now installed.  It has come out quite well considering.  The fit of the curve could be slightly better and with hindsight I could have taken off another 0.5mm off each end. There is a slight gap between the balcony and the railing at each end, but can't be seen and I can live with it.

 

 

Since taking the following photos I have glazed the windows with Kristal Klear.  The KK does a really good job and is fairly easy to work with once you get the knack - highly recommended.

 

Edited June 26, 2014 by RMC

[RMC]

I will be away for a few days and may get a chance to work on the masts.  I have a question.  The instructions (lower p.11) say to paint black 'the area in between the bottom of the bibbs up to the lower mast cap black'.   There is no mention of 'bibbs' in the parts list and what appear to me are the bibbs (eg part 156 - a shape that looks a bit like a painter's easel) are specified as hounds in that list. "Hounds" then are described  as the "conical shaped area" on topgallant mast(s).  Can anyone tell me what is going on?

[aliluke]

Can't answer your question Bob but stepping back a bit...You have certainly nailed that stern; colour, painting, detail and fabrication. Absolutely brilliant work - Bravo (worth much more than a Like!). Looking forward to seeing it the right way up - I struggle to do head stands in front of my computer screen...

[RMC]

Alistair: thanks for the encouragement - it's appreciated.

 

The model is the right way up now and I have just hung the rudder (though I will take it off for safety).  (I'll post some photos when I get back.)  I am going to give model railway dummy rivets a try on the rudder straps as drilling a total of about 100 holes in the rudder and hull certainly does not appeal.

[RMC]

Arthur: thanks for that.

[RMC]

Here are photos of the model right way up.

 

 

 

 

I have just finished  the straps for the rudder.  Rather than use the kits parts, as suggested in the instructions, I used cartridge paper, though I wonder whether it has been a really good idea. I decided not to use as many 'rivets' to save drilling more holes than a swiss cheese as the potential for damage is high.  I filled the holes with copper wire from some spare eyelets (a tiny bit of gel CA at the bottom) , then snipped off the wire almost flush with the surface of the rudder. The wire standing proud of the surface together with a tiny bit of gel CA which came to the surface 'made' the rivets.  It worked moderately well.  Here they are before painting.

 

 

This shows the eyelets before my snipper got at them.

 

 

 

Their painting is now complete - photos awaiting the paint to dry. The copper Humbrol paint is quite hard to work with.  It needs to be constantly stirred, tends to be gluggy when applied, and the brush needs to be cleaned often.  Moreover the finish is very bright and does not  match well the rest of the copper.  I am hoping that the brightness will be toned down when I spray a couple of coats of the Tamiya PS 55 flat.

 

Incidentally the PS 55 is fairly easy to damage and I would probably not use it again in this application.

Edited July 6, 2014 by RMC

[aliluke]

Beautiful work Bob - the stern looks fantastic - just spot on.

 

One wee note - which you can choose to ignore - the rudder hinges should be in copper and not represented as iron. Visually, I actually like the iron representation that you have gone with but it would produce a catalytic reaction leading to quick decay and they, the hinges, were coppered or in copper to prevent this. I think Dirk, (Dubz) discusses this in his Syren log.

[RMC]

Alistair: I have painted them copper.  The paint ,as I mentioned above, is a bit of a pain. I would have preferred not to copper them as I quite liked the look of the'iron'. - but authenticity  is everything .... well.  within reason.  That's why I went for fewer rivets and not as many heart-stopping moments.

Edited July 6, 2014 by RMC

[aliluke]

Bob- More fool me I should have read your text more carefully. It is all looking brilliant.

[Blue Ensign]

Stern looks beautiful Bob, well done.

 

B.E.

[RMC]

The rudder is finished and painted. I'm not all that happy with it.  Even after spraying wiith the PS 55 it still looks too bright and obtrusive.  At least in the process I was able to repair the slight damage to the clear coat over the copper bottom. I guess all the decoration near the rudder will tend to draw the eye away from it - at least that's what I'm hoping. As I was typing this I realised  that I have some copper strip that would have been ideal.

 

 

In the meantime I have started the decoration of the side galleries.  Here there are a few mildly annoying problems.

 

1.The layout of my brass assembly differs from the plans.  As a consequence I went close to carelessly putting one of the pillars in the wrong spot. Moral: dry fit them all before gluing.

2.According to the specifications there should be 4 of Part 377. There are 3.  It doesn't matter as the length each each one is more than sufficient for the purpose with quite a lot left over (you have to cut them off) - unless there is another application that I have overlooked. 

3.There is not enough room to fit decoration 434.  If 436 is to be applied in front of the forward pillar, if it is painted yellow (as I have) it will more or less disappear from sight.  I'll think about painting it black or leaving it off altogether.

 

Here are a couple of progress photos.

 

Edited July 7, 2014 by RMC