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

[BANYAN]

They look so much better than the kit parts Jason;  some nice joinery there.  

cheers

 

Pat

[mtaylor]

Nice work, Jason.  What an improvement.  I suspect you're well on your way to The Darkside here.... 

[Sjors]

Great work Jason!

 

Is there anything left of the kit that you are using?

 

Sjors

 

[hollowneck]

You are taking this good kit to a much higher level and it's looking great! Your craftsmanship "upgrades" are garnering a lot of well-deserved kudos, including mine.

 

Ron

[Beef Wellington]

Hi Chaps, we'll I am back after a little hiatus.   Ron, Mark, Pat, Bob and the likes - thanks for the kind words as always. 

 

Sjors - Its nice to have the option to use the kit part rather than nothing, its insurance 

 

I've landed a new job, which is some relief - even though I had time on my hands I couldn't enjoy building but did what I could when the mood took me.  I'm not sure how the scratch builders feel, but these cheeks and rails had me thinking I'd never get them done and asking myself if I'd bitten off more than I could chew.

 

First off, I had to decide how I wanted to terminate the rails.  This period seems to be a bit of a mix in styles, mixing more elaborate decoration with a hint of future frugality.  I decided to err on the side of ornamentation after studying some NMM models, which basically just meant a larger scroll on the hair bracket and lower cheek I tried to follow guidance in TFFM as much as I could, and I've shown the progress pics below.  This wasn't as hard as I thought and for a first effort I was pretty happy, but I'll leave final judgement to others.  I knew I'd be painting these, so I found myself occasionally putting a think coat of paint on to get a better sense for the contours which is difficult with the pale castello.  

 

Once the scrolls were done, I made a scraper for the contour and tried to add the profile.  I found this very tricky and found myself battling the curve, the changes in width and the slight grain, especially in the thinner sections.  First approach was to shape the cheek piece and the rail and then glue together (I did these off the model painting would be next to impossible once mounted).  This didn't work as well as hoped, the profiles didn't match and the edges had rounded, but some filler and rework did the job.  For the others, I glued the cheek piece and the bracket before profiling which seemed to work fine.  I used a touch of sepia wash to highlight the profile.  Near the scroll, there is barely a profile so paint is needed to give the effect.

 

Overall, I give myself a "C" on the profiling:  hopefully could do better next time but needed to move on or forever be stuck in hairbracket purgatory.  Next time () I think I'd try using pear rather than castello but didn't have any of the right dimension to hand to try.

Lastly, couldn't resist adding a little more detail than the kit offers and wanted to add both a Filling piece and Trailboard.  Looking at contemporary Artois models, the filling piece is quite substantial and adds a distinctive look.  First off, I tried making a 1mm thick version bent to the hull shape - too thin.  I next tried a 2mm think version, but again felt it was too thin.  Tried 3mm, but it was impossible to bend, so went with a 5mm castello sheet and shaped as needed.  This was quite a bit of work as none of the sides are at 90deg, and the hull curvature needs to be accounted for, luckily this doesn't need to be perfect as the interior faces will be hidden by the  cheeks.  The trailboard was relatively simple but again took a while to get the appropriate shape.  Once complete these should go together like a jigsaw puzzle.....

And the finished result.  These will not be glued until I have the port side pieces finalized, but they fit together just fine.  Overall, I found this tricky and time consuming, but educational.  Without detailed plans there was a lot to consider to get the alignment looking right to my eye, for example, the lower cheek scroll terminating at the foot of the figurehead, the hair bracket scroll aligning with the rounded top of the lacing piece.

Finally, recognition for all those failures forever consigned to the wastebasket of progress....

[cog]

Great work on cheeks, perseverance pays ...

[robdurant]

Wow. Those pieces fit together beautifully! Thanks for sharing how you went about making them. I hope to follow in your footsteps.

[Barbossa]

Hi Jason, fantastic work

Tackling these rails, you proved to be far more persistant than I was.

I made it easy for myself and just glued a blue paper strip upon them, ahem....

[JesseLee]

Wow, impressive work!

 

Jesse

 

 

 

 

[BETAQDAVE]

Jason......Don't worry so much about such minor imperfections.  After all, the original ship wasn't built by master finish carpenters with power tools and the materials available today.  It was all done by hand and the joints were not perfect, thus the caulking of the joints!  Any such minor imperfections on your model only add to the illusion of realism, which is part of the reason we build our models in the first place.  Your model is quite an impressive piece of art by most anyone's standards! 

[BANYAN]

That's really good work Jason, you can be justifiably proud of your efforts.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[JesseLee]

Dave makes a good point. We as modelers try to make everything so perfect when the real thing is much cruder, rustic, etc.

 

Jason your work is Museum quality even with things you feel aren't quite good enough. I'll bet your model looks better than the real thing did! Always impressed with your work!

 

Jesse

[Mirabell61]

Jason,

a beautiful ship your Diana, the coppering looks very nice..

 

Nils

 

[Beef Wellington]

Carl, Rob, Christian, Niles and the likes - thanks for your kind words, encouragement and patience on this slow voyage...

 

Jesse, Dave - Of course you are right, but no matter how many times I tell myself that it doesn't help...I probably have one of those personality disorders along the lines of "well he did it, so why can't I?"   And yes, its gets me into trouble with those fixes around the house that I maybe shouldn't be tackling.. 

 

Anyway a little update as I really can do no more to the bow at this point, which means I need to get back to the stern...then I remembered that that was basically the reason for me taking a break and starting work on the bow...There are a couple of questions at the end.

 

Once the cheeks and the rails were done, I needed to tackle hawse holes and the bolsters.  These had me really thinking, but first step was once again to shape from some thick stock, only this time I had to take it even slower as pretty much the entire interior face needed to fit tightly against the hull because any errors would be really obvious once the holes were cut.  The balsa filler blocks were also removed (Interestingly, you can see the outline of the recess that I had put in a long while ago to try to introduce a void behind the expected hole placement to look a little more authentic...seemed a good idea at the time but they would have been in slightly the wrong place)

 

The holes themselves are ~6mm in diameter, and taking a drill bit of that size was clearly out of the question.  The hole centers were estimated and I drilled with a 2mm bit in a hand drill.  This was large enough to get a round microfile in to gradually enlarge and then use a larger round file.  Once the holes were approx. 4-5mm and still quite rough, some tapered dowel was used with sandpaper around to again gradually enlarge until they were approximately the right size.  All the time doing this, the bolsters were held in place with fingers so everything would align - I didn't want to commit to gluing in place just yet.

Once again, I knew I'd be making my own out of castello, but continuing the trend I think the kit supplied parts are way undersized.

One other item to take care of is the Gamming knee, the kit supplied part was generally oversized, but it was necessary to cut a new piece because the back of the knee was undersized.  Not sure how much of this will be visible, but it fun to make.  The hole is for the mainstay collar, some alteration will likely be needed on the head timbers but that is for another day.  This is not attached yet.

And the final results...these pieces seem to really bring out the face of the ship and to my eye really add some character.

 

Some questions:

1. The bulwark are considerably thinner than they would be in scale, and although the photo makes it more obvious, this is apparent if you look for it.  Also, I know that the hawse holes were lined in lead, but I'm not seeing this as a feature standing out to me looking at models, in many it seems these were just painted ochre...would welcome other's thoughts and suggestions here.  I'm leaning toward a 'lead like' grey just on the inside of the bulwark but not extending over the bolster.
2. For fellow Diana kit builders.  I placed the waste rail on the starboard bow side only as it seems to me that this could cause problems with the fitment of the bow grating against the hull - anyone have any experiences on this?

 

 

 

[Gahm]

Wonderful work, Jason! 

 

Thomas

[rafine]

Really nicely done Jason.

 

Bob

[egkb]

Beautiful Mate !! Simple as that .

 

Eamonn

[BANYAN]

Superb workmanship Jason, the head of this beauty is a joy to behold.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[mtaylor]

The result is well worth the effort you're putting into this, Jason.  Looks super nice.

[Beef Wellington]

Thomas, Bob, Eamonn, Pat and Mark (nice to have you back!) - thanks for the comments guys and the likes, I very much appreciate your interest.

 

The upper counter and the proof of the pudding...

 

Finally plucked up the courage to attach the stern fascia, really have done about as much on this as I can before fitting, and any final adjustments should be done in place to get a proper feel for the various lines and angles and how this will fit with the side galleries (esp. out edge and gunports).  Epoxy was used for maximum strength, so it better be right.  It all went pretty painlessly as the placement had already been determined.

 

Then comes the upper counter...this should simply fit between the edge of the upper counter and the stern fascia.  I have been planning to use a single piece of 1mm pear for this (I think the kit instructions indicate for this to be planked) and I didn't relax for the whole weekend while I worked on this part.  Philosophically, it is what   it is at this point as I had done everything I could think of to ensure this fitted well. 

 

After making a template for the upper counter and leaving material to allow for fine tuning, the lower edge of the stern fascia (where the upper counter rail will go), was chamfered back to receive the upper counter and ensure the correct angle to the vertical along its length.

 

The edge of the upper counter was then gradually chamfered to meet this angle.  I found using a razor blade scraper a very effective way to do this as it kept a nice flat profile and allow the angle with the stern fascia to be followed easily.  I had painted the upper counter prior to this process to give a better feel for the shape during this process.  (The lower edge was simply masked so the lower counter rail can be glued more easily as I prefer to use PVA glue).  The profile at the end shows how this fitted together.

 

Only one potential problem remained.  The face with the join needs to be the same width as the upper counter rail (3mm) which required many, small adjustments.  See photo below for how the various rails will be positioned.

This is not glued yet, but the overall I was very happy with the way this turned out, and 2 small pegs are all that's needed to keep it in position.  Before this is attached I need to figure out how to apply the name, at this point I'm leaning toward painting this.  I've been playing with some templates made in Powerpoint to just get a sense for size and alignment.  This is Time New Roman, 50pt font with y-rotation of 340% and 100% perspective adjustment.  I now feel I have proper ship under construction.

 

As always, suggestions welcome!

 

 

[cog]

A belated congratulations Jason. Hope you have had a memorable day.

Jason's stern is coming out rather nicely. Those rails will hide the joins rather well

[Sailor1234567890]

Looking great. Have you decided on the shape of the nameplate on the transom? I find those little tabs either end are not quite right for the ship. Something rounded and shorter? Maybe something with some curlycues in it? Not sure but the long squared off ends don't quite look right to me. The font however looks pretty good considering it's Times New Roman and hadn't been invented when this ship would have been built. 

[BANYAN]

Nice neat work mate; that stern is coming together (pun intended) very well indeed and is a testament to your approach to this build.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Beef Wellington]

@ Carl - indeed I did Carl, thanks for the good wishes 

 

@ Sailor - Thanks for stopping by.  I'm not going to go with a nameplate, simply ochre letters painted on the upper counter (what you see is simply some masking tape holding on some paper to get a sense for scale and proportions).  The question of font is interesting, I think Times New Roman was invented sometime in the 1930s, but it seems a reasonable approximation for a serif font available in Microsoft products looking similar to fonts used in 1790s (looking at among other things the "Culloden" ship name on the MSW background).  Of course, if my attempt at painting comes anything close to this I'll be happy.

[Landlubber Mike]

Wow Jason, just catching up with your log.  Very nice work!

[md1400cs]

Jason, 

 

As is always the case - always a pleasure catching up with your superb work. Well done indeed.

 

Cheers,

[mtaylor]

Jason is looking good, Jason.  Well done on the counter which is a tricky little bit of wood to say the least.  I like the lettering.  Clean, simple, something that could have been hand painted by a shipyard or the crew while at sea.  I don't recall reading if there was an "name painter" in the yard, but certainly not on shipboard.

[Gahm]

Wonderful work, Jason! A pleasure to watch!

 

Thomas

[Timmo]

That name looks great Jason and the cheeks and other stem work is fantastic. Well done.

[Blue Ensign]

Beautiful work Jason, the headworks shots so clearly show the purity of your work.

A wonderful build.

 

B.E.