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

[Mslatta]

Very nice build. I bought Diana a couple of year ago and finally took it off the shelf. when going through the box I must of got the one that was started on a Friday and finished on a Monday. Parts were missing and it didn't even a blocks in the kit. My question is how many sheets of drawing are there? I got 6 (1-6) in the kit. Its seems there should be more. The scale is out, says 1:64 but some are much larger. Can I get some input on this matter before I got to the company.

 

Marty

[Vane]

Diana was one of the first kits in the Nelson series. Its a nice kit but Caldercraft evolved over time and instructions and plans are quite limited. Unfortunately, its has not been upgraded since it release in the 90s. 

 

Check out my buildlog if you want to compare the box contents.

Edited December 24, 2022 by Vane

[Mslatta]

Thanks

[Beef Wellington]

Final shaping of the hull, installation of tafferal and plansheer:

Happy New Year everyone!  Lots of work over the holidays has finally resulted in what I consider to be a major milestone, namely the final shaping of the hull, installation of tafferal and plansheer.  Before I could proceed, had to finally deal with some cannon dislocations that I had been putting off for a while - two of the rear cannons has become loose, the carriages were still firmly fixed luckily, but the barrels had broken away.  Thank goodness for those long thin CA tubes that allowed these to be re-glued through the gunport...panic over.

 

Once the volutes had been installed and the gunports were cut out and finished (photos below show the aft and fore positioning), it was possible to install the remainder of the quarterdeck drift which was installed parallel to the main wale.  This then allowed the final shape of the upper hull to be determined, once again parallel to the main wale.  The topside of the bulwarks should be horizontal, and I found that the easiest way to do this was to use a long enough file that would reach from one side to the other, fine tuning one side at a time. 

The upper edge of the tafferal was also tweaked to ensure it was parallel the keel (even on the original NMM drawings, it was not possible to determine whether this should be parallel to the sheer of the quarterdeck or keel.  After making a template, the tafferal was cut out of a pear sheet, and pre-bent on a template previously made when originally making the stern fascia - this needs to be made from 3 pieces.  This seemed the most reliable way to get this done given the compound curves, and the pear wood was soaked and steamed on the former before being left to dry for 24hrs to ensure it was fully dried.  Once the main section had been installed, the two small sections over the quarter galleries needed to be made.  To do this, a separate former was made up to introduce the different curvature - these pieces are small, and proved to be quite challenging to shape (The second photo illustrates this step, but shows a 'reject').  Painting the edge highlight also proved 'challenging' to say the least.

 

It was also realized that the rear edge of the hull planking needed to be extended further aft - this is needed to account for the counter timbers which of course are not present in the POB kit.  I debated doing this, but felt it would be necessary to ensure the tafferal fife rail can terminate properly and not be left hanging in space.  The tops of the counter timbers will not be added until the tafferal fife rail is installed down the road as I suspect this will be a magnet for damage.

Not much more to be said, here are some overall shots of the finalized stern and quarter gallery area.  I am satisfied with the way this turned out, but as anyone who has built this kit can testify, getting the positioning and sizing of all these elements 'right; is a challenge.  Overall, it has been an exercise in constant compromize and adjustment between the original plan dimensions, the AOTS diagrams (which are not all consistent or fully representative of 3D reality) and the kit dimensions.  I will likely need to reduce the dimensions shown on the plans of the decorative upper finishing fretwork that will be installed on top of the quarter gallery roof by 1mm or so to avoid it protruding above the stern fascia - another decision for down the road.

Gunports were tested with anticipated armament, in this case Vanguard 9lb carriages and Syren barrels.  Had I been only using these, I'm sure I would have used the Vanguard barrels as well, but I wanted to keep the use of brass barrels for consistency...

...and finally some overall shots of where things stand, the lights are only temporarily installed for now.

 

Edited January 8, 2023 by Beef Wellington

[DavidEN]

She looks beautiful Jason.

Regards,
David

[clogger]

Stunning!

[dunnock]

Beautiful work Jason

[drtrap]

Absolutely nice work Jason!

[egkb]

That is flippin' wonderful Mate !!

 

Eamonn

[Seahawk1313]

Your build is coming along wonderful, looks great - Hal 

[Gahm]

Wonderful work, Jason! . . . although your captain looks a bit cranky 😊

 

Thomas

[BANYAN]

Sorry Jason, I have not checked in the kit builds for a while and missed your updates.  She is looking superb; lovely work indeed.

 

cheers

 

Pat

Edited January 13, 2023 by BANYAN

[AJohnson]

Fabulous looking build Jason!

[mugje]

Can I start over with my own build? Man this is beautiful!!

[TBlack]

Very crisp!

[Sjors]

Still busy, still beautiful !!

[westwood]

I have only just discovered this wonderful work.
I'm reading from the beginning and bookmarking it.
Very inspiring Jason.
Such precise clean work, attention to detail...
Just wonderful and I look forward to the continuing.

 

And I would still like to ask what colour red are you using?

Thanks

 

[Vladimir_Wairoa]

Flawless Job, this is  class. Thank you .

[Beef Wellington]

Thanks for the very kind words and likes everyone - sadly no further progress (or even pent-up progress).

 

@westwood The colour is 'red ochre' from the Admiralty paints series sold by Caldercraft.

[Mike_H]

As ever a model of patience, with a result that oozes class.  Beautiful to see.

[Beef Wellington]

Headworks (Part 1):

 

The shipyard has not been very active recently, partly due to lack of time, but also trepidation of the fact that I can no longer delay work on the headworks - something that has caused some anxiety if I'm honest given that this is another aspect of the model that is so important to the overall look of the ship (...and especially considering that the TFFM devotes 17 pages to this!).  I had completed the main rail back in 2018 (Yikes!) which are detailed here (Post #513) for reference. 

I tried to follow the guidance and approach described in the TFFM as this will all need to be scratch to replicate the original plans as closely as possible, but did probably simplify some steps.  With the final profile of the bow having been finalized, the position of these can be determined.  This was done by eye in the absence of any definitive measurement, ensuring that the head of the mainrail is perpendicular to the keel and vertical when viewed from the bow.  These were drilled and pinned to hold in position for now.   Together with the standard, the 4 head timbers were rough cut and sized to their respective position, the outer face being cut to the angle formed by the head rail.  The curvature of the head timbers was estimated from the AOTS diagrams, but left a little oversized at this stage (the interior profile has also been ignored for the present and will be cut to final shape later).  The main consideration was to ensure that the position of the bottom of the main rail was determined, and this was done by multiple fine tunings and a sanding stick.

The position and fitting of the lower rail proved to be the more challenging aspect.  The TFFM indicates that it should be straight when viewed from above, and the plan profiles suggest that it should be position midway between the main rail and the upper cheek..  On top of that, it needs to clear the interior hawse hole, and will also need to taper in profile at the bow.  The seats of ease on the Artois class are outboard, and will also clear the lower rail.  I do not know the thickness of this piece, but estimated it should be 2mm thick which seems consistent with the proportions shown and described in TFFM for the Swan class.

 

I started by drawing my own simple scale mini-plan using the measurements of the hawse hole, position of head timbers and length of the lower rail.  This allowed the depth of the slots to be determined on each head timber, at the point mid way between the bottom of the main rail and top of the upper cheek (This will also determine the required final curvature of the head timbers to ensure that the lower rail sits neatly behind the covering boards which will need to be added in the future,

Once these had been roughly determined and cut into the head timbers, the theory and application was proved using some of the kit supplied white metal decorative strips which are very easily bent.  (The kit indicates that these should actually be used for the lower rail which seems to be a very reasonable compromise, but think Jason deserves to appropriately proportioned and profiled wood rail).  The curvature of this metal rail can then be used to determine the curvature of the top of the lower rail that will be cut from wood.  (Note:  The forward head timber has been ignored for now, I will need to recut this piece so it extends higher over the standard, as it is, its not think enough to accommodate the lower rail).  The white metal strip is also very useful because it allows the length of the lower rail to be determined.

A cut first approximation of the lower rail was then cut from some boxwood sheet and temporarily placed in position to again prove the approach.  This proved to be successful, and I was happy with the general profile that resulted.  This looks overly bulky to my eye even though the dimension are appropriate, but I suspect that this will be corrected once it has been profiled.  The next step will be to cut and profile the actual pieces.  This also shows that I will likely need to adjust the hawse bolster to allow the lower rail, and the yet to be fitted eking rail (see last picture, the lower rail does not clear the top of the bolster. Even though there is still much to do in this area, I'm feeling more optimistic with this complex area.

 

 

Edited March 19, 2023 by Beef Wellington

[Kevin]

Jason that is absolutely stunning work

[hamilton]

Looks great Jason!

[mort stoll]

Spectacular. Your work never ceases to amaze me. 

 

Mort

[DaveBaxt]

There are some fantastic work on those wood profiles.Jason and just wondering if you made those yourself and if so what did you make them from? I have noticed that Cornwall ship models sell brass profiles under Caldercraft fittings and quite reasonable for 1mtr lengths and wonder if I could use them. However i am unsure  if these are the correct sizes.

https://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/acatalog/caldercraft_83302.html#SID=507

Great looking Ship and some very fine detail. Look forward to your progress. Thank you Best regards Dave

[Beef Wellington]

Kevin, Hamilton, Mort - thanks for overly kind words and the likes.  Hopefully have another progress update soon.

 

Dave - all the moldings are made from wood strip of various dimensions.  I had ordered a long time ago some of the brass strips you reference but never used them, the brass just seemed very hard to work with, so I made the decision to make my own because it was a technique I wanted to get to grips with given the large number of molded profiles that may be needed.  There are more professional techniques involving heating and cooling to harden, soften and harden again which probably allow a little more control, but I unashamedly just use razor blades and a cutting disc on my dremel.  For me its a bit more art than science, and many reworks are sometimes needed because until you see the profile cut onto the wood, you don't know if it looks right or not.  Getting comfortable with the result on a spare or offcut first is recommended!

Edited April 20, 2023 by Beef Wellington

[DaveBaxt]

I take my hat off to you Sir. Amazing workmanship.This is something I would like to try on my Diana but fear I might end up using the brass profiles from CSM but will definately give the wood a try but notsure it is within my skill level. What wood are you using Jason and sorry if you have already mentioned this somewhere as my memory fails me. I look forward to watching your progress.Best regards Dave

Edited April 21, 2023 by DaveBaxt

[DaveBaxt]

Sorry for more questions but what are all those single edge razor blades made from and how  do you cut the shapes out of the blades.Thank you for your helpand patience Dave

[Beef Wellington]

Headworks (Part 2):

 

@DaveBaxt - the diamond cutting wheel is similar to this, easily cuts into the razor blades (545 Dremel | Tools | DigiKey ) with suitable eye protection!  Sure there are many other similar items and prices from other retailers.  The razor blades were bought in bulk...similar to these Multi Purpose Razor Blades (Pack of 100) (double-glazing-parts-spares.co.uk).  Also, have provided a little more detail in update below...The wood used is either pear or castello box depending on what I have on hand, these woods are great for this.  I would suggest you have nothing to lose, and much to gain by giving it a go....think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how simple it is with a little practice.

 

Much fiddling, fettling and fine tuning has been going on with the headworks, but this should bring me up to date.  Think the back of this challenging task has been broken as I will likely be needing to spend much of any available time on unrelated projects.

 

Once the shape of the head timbers had been finalized, the covering boards could be added.  These are identified as being 1" in TFFM, so these were cut from 0.5mm pear sheet to approximately the correct dimension.  TFFM suggests shaping these and attaching once the lower rail is in place, but am going to try and simplify because I'm not sure how successfully I'd be able to do this.  Photos below show work very much in progress.

Once finalized, the time head timbers can be finished.  A scraper was made specifically for the purpose to scribe the profile, with a long inner face than usual to act as a guide on both the fore and aft sides, and to account for the very different angle the face presents.  A light coat of blue paint was applied to the outer face of the covering board to aid the eye in seeing the results of introducing the profile.  Unfortunately, the only photo I had of this was of horrible quality, so apologies in advance but you get the idea.  The scraper detail and a more final version is also shown below with paint applied.

The lower rail was profiled by temporarily attaching to some spare sheet and again a custom scraper.  Finding one that followed approximately the desired profile and looked acceptable took quite a few attempts.

With all the key components really only requiring the some final finishing, it was time to cross fingers for another dry-fit - it gives confidence knowing that any additional tweaks can be easily addressed before glued to applied.  The covering boards introduce a 'ledge' for the main rail to sit on, something that the simplified approach to shaping the head timbers did not include but seems prototypical.  Some slight alignment issues apparent in the photos below should disappear when finally secured in place with glue.  Next up is clearly some touch up after seeing these pictures on the PC!

 

Edited April 23, 2023 by Beef Wellington

[DaveBaxt]

Once again a big thank you Jason. Best regards Dave