HM Bomb Vessel Granado by jwvolz - FINISHED - Caldercraft - 1:64

[jwvolz]

Well between vacation and a busy work schedule it has been a few weeks since I posted. In the meantime I managed to complete the outer hull planking below the wale. Using the Hobby Mill boxwood was such a pleasure. No walnut splintering, cracking and poor surface, and no size inconsistencies. I will NEVER use kit outer walnut planking again. 

 

Now its on to the topsides above the wale (which needs to be repainted due to some a few glue drips during planking...). 

 

Then I'll need to stock up on some spare #76 drill bits to get the treenails done on the outer hull. And yes, I'm going to cheat and not treenail below the waterline where you'll never even know if it's there or not! 

 

 

Edited August 19, 2014 by Joe V.

[Landlubber Mike]

Very nice Joe.  It sounds like it was a good decision to wait for Jeff's wood as opposed to working with the kit supplied strips.  I haven't worked with his boxwood yet, but his pear has been a perfect wood to work with.  

[jwvolz]

Thanks Mike and all the "likes".

 

Yes, it was a good (patient) decision on my part, and I'm glad I waited. 

[jwvolz]

I have gotten a lot done since the last update...

 

The topside planking is now complete and the treenails are finished as well. I also have completed the stern fascia and counter, including scribing the vents. Finally the waterline was marked and the bottom airbrushed, starting with a gray primer, followed by white and then finally Polly Scale Aged White, which has a nice "tallow look" to it. 

 

Now on to the quarterdeck. 

[egkb]

You are making me want to pick up a Granado Joe... and I haven't even finished my Ballahoo yet ! 

 

She looks amazing, great job with the Air-Brushing , is it worth me picking one up would you think ? (so that would be Granado & Air-Brush kit.. hmmm is it easy to rob a bank?? )

 

Cheers

 

Eamonn

Edited September 1, 2014 by egkb

[Timmo]

Nice work on the treenails, Joe

[jwvolz]

Thanks fellas.

 

Eamonn: I find the airbrush really useful for something like the heavy coverage of white on the bottom. White is a tough color to get to cover and doing that with a brush it can end up being very uneven. That being said, it wouldn't be my highest priority purchase, as I use it much more for plastic aircraft builds than on wooden ships.  

[egkb]

Thanks Joe.. I'll call off the Bank Job in that case.. Phew what a relief !      

 

Eamonn 

[jwvolz]

The quarterdeck bulkhead screens were permanently installed, and the trim work, hinges etc... completed. Quarterdeck planking and treenailing was done in the same fashion as the main deck. I also made the grating up as well.

 

On to the guns now so I can get the forecastle installed. One issue though; Caldercraft has shorted me one cannon. I have sent them THREE e-mails, which I know they received, because I got read receipts, but they have acknowledged nothing. I'm starting to get a little peeved, and wonder if anyone else has had to deal with their customer service. Expo would have fixed this weeks ago...

 

 

 

 

[GuntherMT]

Those quarterdeck screens look fantastic.  I assumed they were some sort of decal until I read back through the log and saw that you hand painted those on styrene.  Amazing to me since I can barely paint inside of thick lines on a good day!

[Landlubber Mike]

Very nice work Joe.  I really like the Polly Scale Aged White - I wish I had seen that paint color before using the Admiralty Paints "Dull White" on my Badger.

 

Sorry about your cannon dilemma.  Hope it gets resolved soon. 

[jwvolz]

I had some vacation time last week, so I got a fair amount done on the Granado. 

 

First, in preparation for installation of the forecastle deck I made up the cannon carriages and built up the two bow chasers completely. The ply edges of the carriages were painted with Model Masters "Skin Tone Shadow Tint", which was a near perfect match. I also made a groove in the carriages to depict their two-part nature. You can't see it well in the photos, but I made handles for the quoins from some very small brass belaying pins which I blackened.  I ended up painting the cannons themselves black and satin coating them, and feel they look better that way then my spotty blackening efforts. Rigging was fiddly as usual, but not too bad overall and there are only eight more to do after this !

 

I did have a minor screw-up here, in that I routed the breeching ropes over the cascable on one cannon, and under on the other. No biggie, since it will be very tough to see under there, but I'll need to pay better attention going forward!. 

 

I'll have some pictures of the work on the capping rails in a few days. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Landlubber Mike]

Looks great Joe, you're moving along quickly.  Cannons look fantastic!

[jwvolz]

No, I'm not working this fast... I'm catching up on the photos from my vacation week at home.

 

The forecastle was planked and treenailed in the same fashion as the other decks, and I again installed a small trim piece at the stern end to hide the ply sub-deck. The AOTS book does show this. 

 

When attempting to install the forecastle capping rails it appeared my bulwark curve is off a bit at the bow and the CNC cut parts, not being edge bendable, were not going to fit. Luckily my symmetry is good, because I had the same issue on both sides.    I cut new ones from a piece of cherry I had and am pleased with the result. I don't think I'm going to try to carve/route out the knighthead and timberhead locating holes, but merely trim those items back flush with the rail and pin them when I get to installing. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Timmo]

It's hard to get that curve completely as suggested in the kit Joe. I had the same issue on my capping rail but to a lesser degree and they just needed a Good sand to get them following the right line. The moulded strip I added helped fill it out also.

That foc'sle edge strip looks great next to the treenailed planks. Very crisp

[jwvolz]

Thanks for the validation on that Wayne. It was going to be real close fit-wise, even with sanding, and it wasn't difficult making the replacements. 

[jonny.amy]

Hi Joe V.

 

The Granado is an incredibly intising kit, and your example is the cleanest kit build I've seen so far!

 

I've decided purely on your work here, that my next build will be Granado. The quality of the kit (although with a few quirks) looks great, and is significantly better in quality than the Sergal HMS President kit I'm currently building. Thanks for helping me make my mind up about my next build!

 

I will be following closely...

 

Cheers,

Jon

[Beef Wellington]

Very nice decking Joe, and great job on the capping rails.  It would make much more sense for the kits to supply the capping rails oversize so they can be then trimmed to the correct shape.

[jwvolz]

Jon: Thank you for the kind words. It is a really nice kit of a little bit different subject, and I've been very pleased with it so far, other than the outer walnut planking. 

 

Jason: Thanks, as well. It does come a bit over-sized, and the main capping rail seems OK in that regard. I must have just not gotten the curve quite right at the bow, and worried about keeping the pre-cut slots for the timberheads and knightheads centered over the bulwarks. There was just no way to keep it all centered, so I felt this was a better solution. 

 

Thanks everyone else for all the "likes". 

[jwvolz]

The capping rails have been installed (CNC-cut parts) without issue and now the sheer rail strip is next. Caldercraft supplies profiled brass for this but I choose to use boxwood. A groove was scribed into a 1.5x3 mm strip and deepened with a needle file. The center was then painted blue and a razor blade used to scrape the flat surface clean of excess paint, which gives a nice sharp edge. These were then installed per the plans. A little filler was used to lend with the capping rail and the area above the sheer rail at the bow was painted blue. The trim along the forecastle capping rail will be next. 

 

 

[maggsl_01]

Hey Joe,

 

you are doing a great job - I like what I see. I have never done a Caldercraft kit before, but I want to build the famous Endeavour by this company. It looks like the quality of the materials and the instructions is very good.

 

Go on and please us with your craftsmanship.

 

Cheerio

 

Max

[Timmo]

Nice work on that moulding Joe. The boxwood and blue is a good combination.

[jwvolz]

You know I stole that idea from you of course Wayne...   

 

You have some great techniques in your build, and it's been a great source of ideas. Thank you. 

[jwvolz]

Got the forecastle capping rail trim molding installed. This is something not even called out for in the instructions, however it is there in the AOTS book. This is a narrower molding than the sheer rail, so I ripped a 1x4mm piece of boxwood lengthwise to about 2.5mm wide, and carefully scribed the recess into that. This one I painted black, which is how it appears on the AOTS cover, though it is so small it is hard to tell. The finishing piece on the end was done with a 4mm strip laid on an angle an cut oversized, and finally trimmed to shape and scribed in place. Railing were all touched up and given a final coat of paint, and the quarterdeck timberheads were installed and painted. 

 

Pretty happy with how the trim work came out. 

[riverboat]

beautiful ship Joe.... very  nice work!

Frank

[aliluke]

That is looking great Joe. Working the strakes to that extent is well worth the effort. Fantastic work.

[Timmo]

Very nice indeed

[jwvolz]

Thank you Frank, Alistair, Wayne and all of the likes, much appreciated. 

[FredSC]

Joe,  Apparently obvious to many, but what did you use for filler blocks and how did you shape them?  I've heard that scroll saws are used, which I don't have.  My Grenado will be a slow go.

[jwvolz]

Fred,

The filler blocks are balsa. They are very easy to shape with a rough file and then sandpaper, you won't need a scroll saw. Just cut them a bit oversize and finish them back to the proper dimensions. To cut them out initially you can use a jeweler's saw. 

 

Best of luck with your Granado build. Start yourself a build log so we can all follow along.