HMS Diana 1794 by Ray - FINISHED - Caldercraft - A 38 gun Heavy Frigate

[Ray]

Thanks for the comments guys the upper rails are a long way of but I have it in mind how to do them as Pegasus had similar rails.

Chistian I had not looked ahead to the channel positions but checked them out today in regaurd to the gun port positions and they are ok, I am nearly finished working on the main deck gun ports ( had to move the position of them full write up to follow ) And  I also checked the channels with them luck was with me and they are ok.

 

[Ray]

Gun ports

Next job mark out the main gun deck gun ports, on the face of it a simple task, the top of the second plank down is marked and is the top of the gun ports, start 65mm in from the stern and mark along that line with the template supplied stern to bow. WRONG this gave me a big problem the last two gun ports at the bow line up with two frames, these would need to be cut away to open up the port, which in turn means you would have to remove the deck beam supports, (see photo) this is a very poor design fault, I moved the gun ports to just miss the frames this puts the ports in the position shown on the overhead deck plan!! I then remarked the ports going back to the stern with a 32mm space between ports not the 30mm space on the template. I can only think what a good job I noticed this before I started cutting out the ports!!!!

The ports were then all cut out small holes drilled and then cut out and trimmed square with a file, note I covered the deck with masking tape to protect it when filing out the ports, the ports without lids were then trimmed out with1x6 timber the inner bulwarks and the framed ports painted.

I did not check first but after warning from Christian I checked the channels, when fitted they will be ok and the spaces that need to clear over the gun ports will be.

 

AS marked out with supplied template

 

Ports as remarked

 

Cutting out the ports

 

Ports all cut out

 

Ports cut out and lined

 

All ports without lids done

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mort stoll]

Hiu Ray,

Could have made a template from the plans to assist in cutting the gun ports?

 

Mort

[Ray]

Hi Mort

             I did look into using the plans but the spaces between the gun ports ranged betweem 29mm and 35mm hardly are two the same! so I just made sure the guns would be able to go through the two bow ports.I now have noted that in The Anatomy of Ships ports 1-7 & 8-14 have the same width between them and the width between 7 & 8 is wider about 35mm, to late to have this larger gap now, still I hope my log will help others from making the same mistakes as me.

[mort stoll]

Thanks Ray,

 

I am going to check my copy AOS Diana.

 

Keep up the great work,

Mort

[Ray]

Second Planking

 

I started planking from the top of the wale, this position was marked out as per the instructions measuring down from the main deck gun ports. I like to lay the second planks semi-wet to damp and fix with cyno gel; I find the cyno grabs damp timber much better than dry timber. One thing I will comment on is the quality of the planking the 1x4mm being the worst, it is nowhere as good as the planking supplied in the two Victory kits I have built, the edges are rough and splintery, and also show saw marks, four out of ten would be my best mark I could give the 1x5mm a little better, So before soaking I had to sand all the planking edges a bit of a pain. I went downwards with the 1x5mm for five rows,( the instruction say plank right down to the keel and plank upward last), I then went upwards with the 1x4mm only because I thought it was only a matter of time while working on the bottom I would break or damage the fore or quarter deck sides, this way their thickness would be doubled and be a lot less fragile. The planking as gone ok so far.

 

Jason

        At the end I have posted two pics with Diana along side Pegasus hope this gives you the size compassion.

 

Rough planking

 

 

 

First few planks on

 

Working upwards

 

 

Planked upwards to the top

 

Planking well under way

 

 

Diana and Pegasus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[st george]

Nice planking Ray  and great shot of the two together.

 

David

[mtaylor]

Ray,

The planking is very well done from what I can see.  Pity they can't put better wood in the kit.   I love those two last pictures. There's a real difference in ship sizes.

[Timothy Wood]

A very nice job Ray, I'm looking forward to seeing more of this.    

 

Tim

[ZyXuz]

very well done planking and gunports..

The Pegasus needs a company, make it quick!   

[Beef Wellington]

Ray, planking is looking great despite your challenges with the wood.  I've read from others similar concerns over the quality of the supplied wood in CC kits, I think I just got lucky with mine, but the tanganika did need each plank to get sanded to get a decent edge.  Its a shame because otherwise they seem to be high quality.  You also seem to be moving on at a cracking pace

 

Thanks for posting the side-by-side, amazing to see the size comparison between these two frigates.

[Ray]

Thanks for the comments guys, I Just have the last couple of planks to go on and the second planking will be done, I will update once I have sanded her down.

I have made quicker progress than normal as 12 weeks ago I had a total knee replacement so have not been able to play golf or go carp fishing, so I will probably slow down a bit soon, but it has been great to do the build as it takes your mind of the painful knee  (even at 2 o’clock in the morning).

Pegasus & Diana what a difference in size between Pegasus the littlest frigate (sloop) & Diana the largest frigate.

 

 

[jaerschen]

Hello Ray,

 

your planking is looking very nice and the Pegasus also.

What scale are the both ships?

[Ray]

Hi Juergen

                  Both Pegasus and Diana are 1:64 scale and show the differance in size between the largest frigate and the smallest all be it Pegasus is a sloop but is fully rigged.

I really like your HMS Leopard and have ordered the book, I would love to build a 50 gun 4th rate, my main concern would be the ornate carving I do not think I could do in justice, if  I did try the build I would have to do the carvings first.

[Ray]

The second planking is completed sanded, filled, and sanded again and lastly finished off with wire wool, I have also lined the gun ports with lids, all the gun ports have been painted. One thing I did do was to add a 1mm strip to the bottom of the keel as to my eyes the distance between the planking and the keel bottom looked to narrow.

 

Bow planking

 

Stern post and stealers

 

second planking completed

 

First sanding

 

Filler aplied

 

Lined gun ports

 

Extra wood added to allow easier lining of bow gun port

 

After final sanding

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jaerschen]

She's looking very nice after final sanding Ray.

The book from Rif Winfield of 50th is good investment. My main concern is also the ornate carving, but that will go off all right.

[Ray]

The main wale

                       The main wale planking was done next; again the timber needed dressing before it could be used, as the edges were very rough. After all the planks were fixed I taped over the top thinner plank so as to protect it, and to maintain the difference when rubbing down the rest of the wale. The wale was rubbed down and filled and top plank uncovered and the whole wale painted black.

The whole of the hull including the wale was given a coat of 50/50 satin water based varnish and water, I use this as a sealer, I find both paint and the copper tiles adhere to it very well (I did a test strip to make sure).

 

First plank on

 

Ready to fill and paint

 

Narrow top wale plank

 

Wale in progress and lined gun ports

 

Masked up and painted

 

Wale completed and 50% water-varnish sealer on

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tigerdvr]

Enjoying learning from your efforts, Diana is on our wish list.

Thanks

[mtaylor]

Sharp looking wales, Ray. 

[realworkingsailor]

Very nice planking.

 

Andy

[Timmo]

That's looking great Ray.

[ZyXuz]

neat n nice

well done!

[Ray]

Firstly thanks for the comments guys

 

I will now depart from the build instructions and copper plate the hull and build up the transom and stern gallery. Before I start the plating I have added the batten to where the copper plating will finish, I used 1mm square plastic and painted it black. I will do the copper plating next, as it requires the hull to be upside down or on its side most of the time whilst the plating is being added, so I my opinion now is the best time to do it, plus I want to get it out of the way, I will do a bit of tiling and a bit of transom building, my reasoning is doing both at the same time will break up the copper plating.

 

Batten on and painted

 

 

 

 

 

[st george]

Hi Ray, your Diana is looking good. I agree with you that now would seem the logical time to do the copper plating.

[Beef Wellington]

Ray, you're way more experience than me, but I definitely agree with your approach.  I don't know why CC put the coppering so far into the build instructions, it just seems to make it that much harder to manage and like you I liked to have the freedom to work on the hull without worrying about breaking anything delicate.  I love the way she is looking already, the planking, wood tone and the black look very nice indeed!

[jaerschen]

Your Wales are looking very well Ray.

 I believe also that's a good time for the copper plates

[Ray]

Copper plating the hull.

                                  Firstly I decided to go with the copper plates supplied with the kit although I much preferred the look of the ones used on Pegasus, the cost would have been over £100 to update them too much for me.  I started from the edge of the keel and fixed a row of tiles left over from Pegasus on the edge, I then came down 3 Rows before running a gore line, I did it by eye and feel and looking back at Pegasus to get the same sort of effect, as there does not seem to be a definitive way of doing this. One advantage I have found with these plates are they fix very well, maybe it is the dimples on the fixing side holding the cyno better than a plain flat surface, they also cut well and dress down fairly easily with a file or sanding wheel, when you need to make up the triangular stealers.

 

First few tiles on

 

Gore line marked out

 

Gore line tiled

 

About a quarter done

 

 

First side nearly done

 

 

 

 

 

[mtaylor]

Excellent coppering, Ray.  Just curious on why you picked where you did for the gore line?  I've never coppered and this is a curiousity to me.

[jaerschen]

Congrats Ray, very well done the coppering.

I'd like to do it also at the Leopard and this is a good manual for me.

[Navis Factorem]

Hi Ray,

 

I have just about finished construction of the Amati Bounty and am now seriously thinking about what to do next.

 

A late 18C frigate is looking good and I have been thinking about the mamoli Surprise with a bit of scratch improvement but your Diana build is a real inspiration. Tempting.

 

Another factor is the size of the finished model. The Diana is pretty big, maybe too big.

 

Decisions, decisions!

 

Cheers,

 

David.