HMS Jason by Beef Wellington - Caldercraft - 1:64 - Artois-class frigate modified from HMS Diana 1794

[BANYAN]

Happy New Year t you too mate.

 

Very (VERY) nice work on those channels, brackets and guns Jason.  Those are very neatly executed brackets and look just right.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Beef Wellington]

OC, Carl, Rob, Thomas, Mike, Dave, Pat and all the likes...definitely helps keeping one moving forward!

 

Finally, have all the guns in position an the breeching ropes in place.  Amazingly time consuming, no more need be said, and glad its behind me.  I did allow myself the small concession of using a ringbolt for the less visible guns, and went with a ringbolt and ring for those visible in the waist area.  Despite the latter being more 'correct', the jury is still out on whether the results totally warrant it at this scale as the eyebolts only version seems acceptable to my eye (comparison photo below).   As usual, dilute PVA was used to help keep the breech ropes in position and to try give them a sense of weight.  Photos seem to call attention to all the little dings and dents that seem unavoidable and thankfully not really noticeable during normal viewing.

 

A very simple jig was used to help keep lengths consistent.  When using rings, I found that opening up a ringbolt using a small metal point and reclosing was easier, faster and predictable than opening up the ring itself.

 

[Blue Ensign]

Very nice work on those guns Jason, I got off lightly having only a dozen on my little Cutter.

Love the natural drape you’ve achieved on the breeching ropes , and impressed that you went with the proper hitch for the ring bolt seizing.

 

Your little jig for rope length will prove useful for me in the very near future.

 

B.E.

[BANYAN]

That is seriously nice work Jason; she is looking good with her 'teeth' added.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[jwvolz]

Excellent work Jason!

[SimonV]

 Stunning work Jason!

I really like your attention to details. Not to mention how good she looks fully armed !

[Gahm]

Wonderful work, Jason! And your attention to detail is amazing. It is a rare treat to see this kind of detail on the trunnion mountings!

 

Thomas

[Beef Wellington]

Thanks everyone for continued interest, kind comments.and likes...

 

Block Stropping:

I've started stropping blocks for the hauling tackles.  I'm opting for a double-single block combination, although I've read that doubles were only used on 32lb'ers.  What I think this really means is that the tackle consisted of 2 double blocks.  For a mid-range 18lb'er, a double-single seems appropriate and makes engineering sense.

 

This seems yet another painfully slow repetitive process!  With this progressing in the background, will be intersperse with other sundry items.  Whilst not too difficult once the approach has been proven, clumsiness never quite seems to diminish.  Overall, happy with the way these turned out which is really testament to the fantastic blocks that Syren produces.  The picture below is the result of 3 solid evenings work....sufficient for the waist guns.

1. Hooks were threaded with 0.3mm Syren line, and secured using 4 alternating overhand loops using tan Uni-thread (barely visible given its so close in color, but is what was also used for the breech rope seizing).  For the 1/8" double block, the strop was twisted through 90 degrees while securing to ensure the appropriate alignment with the block.
2. GS-Hypo was applied and left to dry before trimming off excess Uni-thread
3. Line held in position around the block and then secured with a simple overhand loop
4. Dilute PVA applied to the overhand loop and the stropping around the block.  Was very liberal with this as it is not visible when dry, and anything that provides additional security seems silly to ignore.
5. Trim excess stropping line once PVA has dried

 

Waist Beams:

First off, a correction needed to be made to the interior bulkhead to correct the position of the beam at the front of the main mast.  The position of these had been taken literally from the plans very early in the build and it was clear that they are not in the appropriate position relative to the mainmast.

 

Secondly, needed to finally decide how to deal with the supplied walnut beams.  These have a pretty rough grain and require a lot of cleanup to get nice smooth curves after removing from the sheet.  Following the scheme shown on the contemporary models (painted red with upper natural face of boxwood), thin strips of overwide boxwood strips were liberally glued to the top of the beam,  gradually sanded back and painted when flush.  The lamination is virtually undetectable, and it also helps ensure the walnut grain is minimised.  Filler can be used in any stubborn imperfections.  Although a bit of a cheat, I just couldn't face cutting my own from box, and quite honestly, I doubt I could get satisfactory results with tools at my disposal.

 

 

Sub-Deck alterations:

Increasing the thickness of the beams also has the benefit that the top of the beams are flush with the sub-deck.  Hoping this means that the gang boards can now be planked with the sub-deck providing a solid base, but remaining invisible from normal viewing angles.  Slots were cut into the sub-deck to accommodate the laminated top surface.  Picture hopefully self explanatory.

 

In position, the next required adjustment is revealed.  The waist opening in the sub-deck has perfectly parallel sides.  After studying various deck plans, it appears more appropriate for the gangboards to follow the line of hull (i.e. planks are constant width throughout their length).  The approximate width of the gang boards were estimated from the AOTS plans and transferred to the deck.  The hashed area indicates what will need to be remove.  In actuality, more will be removed to set it back from the actual edge of the planking proper.

 

Back to stropping more blocks....

 

Edited February 3, 2019 by Beef Wellington

[harlequin]

magnificent.

 

[BANYAN]

Good start there Jason; your officer appears to be keeping a watchful eye to ensure these do not go 'adrift'

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Old Collingwood]

Super work  jason.

 

OC.

[Beef Wellington]

Thanks everyone for the very kind words and likes....we've reached another "phone a friend" moment to assist with my indecision:

 

Hauling Tackle rethink:

A previously described, looking to assemble hauling tackles off the ship.  Initially planned to use 0.3mm Syren line for the block stropping and 0.2mm for the tackle fall to get a little size contrast.  While initially happy with the result, after making some of these up and staring at them I can't help but feel the 0.2mm is undersized.  A tackle was made up with 0.3mm line to experiment, this is a little harder to work with the frapping but think a suitably repeatable processes is possible after experimentation.  Once made, they are very easy to hook into place, and seem to sit nicely even without dilute PVA.

 

So, which size do you think looks most appropriate?  While still a little undecided, I'm now leaning toward the 0.3mm, and suspect 0.25mm (if available) would be spot on!

 

After rigging the tackles and mounted in the serving machine, the frapping then becomes more manageable.  The final turn is simply fed through the previous turn and is held in place by friction quite securely.

 

 

The comparisons:  The 0.2mm tackle fall below:

 

The comparisons:  The 0.3mm tackle fall below (the line has not been trimmed yet)

 

And side by side (0.3mm on the left, 0.2mm on the right)

Edited February 10, 2019 by Beef Wellington

[Blue Ensign]

My eye is drawn to the 0.3mm line Jason, it looks to have nicer definition.

I like the look of frapped side tackles, keeps everything neat and a nice sag is easily achieved.

 

B.E.

[JpR62]

Wonderful job on this gun Jason ! I also prefer the 0.3mm line version that fits better with the breeching ropes.

Thank You for sharing your beautiful work.

[BANYAN]

Very nice work Jason, I prefer the 0.3mm as well.

 

Just noticed how nice the trunnion capping pieces are on the carriages.  Did you make these?  If not where did you get them?

 

cheers

 

Pat

[rafine]

Beautifully done Jason.

 

Bob

[Gahm]

I would go for the 0.3 tackle. Fantastic work, Jason!

 

Thomas

[Beef Wellington]

Thanks all for the speedy replies.  Going to go down the 0.3mm route.   After making the post I realized that it was the time already invested that was giving me pause.  After hearing your opinions, the demons have been purged.

 

Pat - The cap squares are the PE parts provided in the kit, they seem to work quite well.  These were rather fiddly to introduce the curvature, and I wasn't able to quite get the hard angle it ideally should because of  the thickness. but think they are passable at viewing distance.

[Beef Wellington]

Hi all,

 

Well finally been able to get some things done that tangibly move things forward.  The area around the mainmast is one of the more interesting and complex areas to get situated.  All of these items were scratchbuilt, which of course resulted in the usual re-does as the geometry is critical to get right as the pump axel and cranks need to align with minimal tolerances.

 

Capstan and aft coamings now glued into position, the deck beam needs to be modified to allow the capstan to be positioned appropriately.

 

Little bit of rework on the pumps, the simulated leather washer I had previously painted kept jumping out at me and was a little too 'in your face'.  Stripped this off and went with what seems to be a more traditional modeling approach to use layer of wood to simulate the gasket and plug. Here they are in final position.

 

The main jeer bitts were then positioned first once the pumps were in place to finalise the dimensions of the middle pump brakes.  The kit supplies some PE for these, but knew that these would never be satisfactory and have been planning to make my own.  The supplied wire is around 0.8mm, so 1mm square styrene sections were drilled and cut to give a little more of an authentic look to the winches.  To say this process is delicate and frustrating is an understatement - once drilled, the there is barely any structural strength to the styrene around the hole.  The aft winches were made in one piece which allowed them to be aligned relatively easily and secured using thin CA which worked quite well.  Once glued, the styrene was then gently filed to give a hint of the actual shape.

 

Rhodings were made out of boxwood and painted, to my eye this gave a little better scale look.  The stanchions had been made previously, and notches cut into the deck beam to allow these to be secured.

 

The stanchions were finalized and installed...making the second curved bracing element to be the same as the first took a lot longer than expected.

 

The layout of the main topsail sheet bitts dictates that the winches need to made separately reflecting actual practice.  These longer winches proved much more challenging than the shorter ones, and many were attempted before 2 acceptable ones were completed.

 

Elm tree pumps were shaped from boxwood stock, and the PE fittings came from an extra set I found left over from my Snake build.  These were fun items to make up, but will not be finally fixed just yet as they are very delicate.

 

Overall shots with everything in place shows just how crowed this area really is.  Overall, very happy with how this ultimately turned out.  The main topsheet bitts align underneath the deck beam at the forward end of the quarterdeck.

 

Overlaying scaled copy from AOTS, one can get a good sense for the reason for the scuttles in the quarterdeck which would have been necessary to be able to remove the various pump shafts.  I'm considering modding the quarterdeck to allow these scuttles to be left open to allow the pump mechanisms to be better seen.

 

Edited July 5, 2019 by Beef Wellington

[BANYAN]

Very nice BW; extremely well executed workmanship.  I like your idea of leaving the scuttles open as that is some nice detail to view (if not obscured by the rigging etc when you add it?)

Edited July 6, 2019 by BANYAN

[cog]

Very crisp details. You have been busy like a background process running on a server.

[Kevin]

lovely to see an update from you, stunning work

[JpR62]

Wonderful work. Always a pleasure to follow the progress of the project. Inspiring and motivating ! Thank you

[Beef Wellington]

Thanks Pat, Carl, Kevin, Jean-Paul and 'the likes' for not forgetting me! 

 

Update on a modification made right back at the start of the build.  I had initially planned to add a bowsprit step to achieve 2 things: a little more 'interest' on for the upper deck for those peeking through gun ports and a more robust engineering solution to the attachment of the bowsprit.  Both of these are still valid, but a third reason has also just become apparent to make me very glad I decided to mod this.  Bottom line, I can't quite see myself moving forward and rigging 'Jason' at this point, which would still be a long way off if past progress is any indication.  However, I would like to leave that option open for the future, and this allows me keep moving forward without making any sort of final decision.

 

Some angled 'wedges' were added to the first deck frame to match the angle of the bowsprit step which was then glued into place.  A pin was then inserted at the center position of the bowsprit position.  Maybe went overboard on securing this, but don' think you can be too careful, it was pinned at the bottom, PVA glue secured to the beam, and then pinned into the beam.  While positioning all this it was important to keep checking the clearance over the figurehead, I'd worked through this already when making the original modification and luckily no further complications arose.

 

 

A hole can then simply be drilled into the end of the bowsprit, and once the aft end is appropriately angled, this sits very snuggly and securely even without glue.  The benefit is that this is removable and replaceable even with the fo'c'sl deck in place.  I've made up a 'stub' that will probably be used for now, and also a dowel that can be made into a bowsprit should I also go in that direction.  The fore bits are also now glued in position with a few other details which will likely be lost when the fo'c'sl goes on, but its fun to experiment.

 

In other news, there was some months ago an addition to the Wellington family, her name is Mazie, and shes a loveable 14 week old 'Whoodle' (Wheaton terrier/poodle mix).  While she has many particular skills, dockyard assistance is not currently one of them...

Edited July 15, 2019 by Beef Wellington

[Mirabell61]

Well build Jason,

love that model....

 

Nils

[mort stoll]

great job. very very impressive.

 

mort

[Beef Wellington]

Thanks everyone, need to record a few things before moving on too much further:

 

Tackles:

Boy, these blighters take time.  I will definitely not be fully rigging each gun, but will look to rig those fall into possibly the 'noticeable in the background' category.  Here's the method I found works best for me.  Apologies for the photos, an iPhone is really not the best at trying to photograph tiny objects suspended in the air.

 

A hook was threaded with 0.3mm Syren line and some overhand knots tied to seize this securely.  Drop of GS Hypo cement to keep secure before trimming excess.  The long ends are then placed around the block and loose overhand knot tied.

 

 

A length of line for the tackle fall is then inserted into the loop and then threaded back through itself as for a false splice.

 

Pulling the overhand know tight around the block, and simultaneously tightening the false splice secures the knot around the block.  Another small drop of GS Hypo cement on the false splice helps keep this secure, and placing the end of the stropping line into 'helping hands' helps keep the knot tight while the cement dries.

 

Slightly weighting the tackle fall line (in this case with tweezers) allows the alignment if the block to be tweaked before the cement sets fully.  Thin thread can then be seized around the splice to secure it, I find alternating overhand knots gives a pretty secure and easy result.  Once more, another drop of GS Hypo on the seizing helps ensure this doesn't unravel once trimmed.

 

 

Once completed, I use some dilute PVA glue on the stropping prior to trimming off any excess as some additional insurance as it is a frustrating experience for these to break when frapping.  The tackle falls were then fed through the previously stropped double blocks, and then frapped on the service machine as per a previous post.  The last turn was secured simply by feeding back through the prior turn and pulling taught.  The completed tackle can then be placed where needed and some dilute PVA applied again to the whole tackle - special attention was paid to ensuring the tackle fed through the frapping was secured with glue.  The entire tackle can then be removed once dry and the excess line trimmed.  Its a simple matter to hook these back into position.  Et voila!

 

 

Stove:

The stove has also been given a little more TLC and is now glued into position.  Handles for the boilers were added, as well as rails which were made from brass rod.  The rails were the treated with some JAX 'Brown' to darken it a little a keep it in keeping with the colour of the copper still.  As described in a previous post, I've followed TFFM simulating wooden battens under the custom base plate rather than simulating tiles, they would not been seen in any event once the main riding bitts are in place.  Temporarily putting the fo'c'sl deck in place shows that much of this will be obscured even if the various gratings are made removeable which I plan to do.

 

 

In closing, a quick summary of the 3D printed stove.  With a little work I'm happy with the way this turned out.  Comparison to the kit supplied version shows the dimensions to be a little more authentic, and the detailing is much more pleasing than the approximations on the supplied white metal parts.  To be fair, no work was done to pretty this up, but I'd certainly recommend this as a simple 'upgrade'.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 26, 2019 by Beef Wellington

[BANYAN]

Spectacular work Jason; very nicely presented tackle and the stoves are a work of art!

 

cheers

 

Pat

[mort stoll]

great job. a quick thought. why not cut away part of quarter deck and fore castle? don't plank them entirely, partially. it's a pity to cover/hide such nice work. you can even go as far as not mounting any boats mid ship.  build them and mount them on the display base along side or being towed astern.

 

any way keep up the great work.

 

mort

[Ferit]

Wonderful, clean and sharp as always...