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

[Sjors]

I'm glad to read that you have your new keel.....without warp !!!!!!!

Nice home coming after your vacation   

And now we are expecting a lot of updates with pictures !!!!!   

 

[aliluke]

Good one Jason and glad you have it sorted through replacement parts. Onwards and I'll keep watching.

[Ray]

Jason

Glad to hear the keel issue has been sorted. The much promised 74 would be my next period build if it was available ( I think I will be to old by the time it is) My next build is HMS Tanatside a Hunt Class Destroyer a ship on which my father served during the D day landings at Omaha beach.

[hollowneck]

Jason,

 

Yes, Nic at Bluejacket is all about keeping the high-quality kit market vibrant  - and his company, responsive. He is passionate about our hobby, that's for sure.

 

Indeed, I got the news that there will be a Bluejacket Morgan kit but it will be a large scale "tryworks" section; apparently, quite a few people recently voted on his Bluejacket "poll" for this project. Nic was my club's most recent President (CMMS - www.ctshipmodels.org). Nic is very much a "hands-on" leader and a real gentleman.

 

It appears you're solving the problems with the CC Diana keelformer; I wouldn't stress too much as straightening-out the keel with blocks placed between the bulkheads should handle everything. Also, once you get the first few planks handled, the small amount of remaining twist should be virtually eliminated. This was very disconcerting to me too (at first) on my build. The keel piece does absorb moisture and it's virtually impossible to get a straight run without some support pieces along the sheer.

 

I'm glad you got the replacement piece from Caldercraft. I'm not surprised, as I originally mentioned in my earlier post. Good Luck- looks good to me so far; the rabbet and bearding line should yield a decent, smooth run.

 

Ron

[mort stoll]

I voted foe an American 74.

 

Mort

[Beef Wellington]

Rabbet at the Bow

 

I really want to make sure that the lines will be as accurate as the kit will allow. Because the keel comes in piece, it was a little challenging to visualize how this would come together.  You will also notice that I have taken a rather drastic step of cutting off the stem - this will eventually be replaced with boxwood.  There are some shaper pieces that will be added in due course.

 

Drafted 3 lines onto the keel to allow any preliminary rabbets and shaping to be done before bulkheads are installed.  

• Outside line represents the outside shape of the hull, I took this shape from the rabbet profile in the AOTS book  by copying and enlarging to scale. This is not wildly different from the plans but it was important to me to get lines as accurate as possible recognizing the plans don't reconcile 100% to the pre-cut keel.  This also needed to tie in with the rabbet already established in the bottom of the keel.
• Inside line reflect my best estimate of the inside edge of the necessary rabbet based on the shape of the bulkheads (using the rear edge of the bulkhead as the guide)
• The middle dotted line is the best approximation I could determine on where the outside edge of the rabbet needed for the first planking should be.  Given the first planking is 1.5mm limewood, and the second planking 1mm thick, the dotted line represents the curve 2/5ths horizontally from and the outside rabbet edge and 3/5ths from the intererior rabbet line.  Its an approximation but hopefully close enough to make the planking gosmoothly and replicate the true hull shape as best I can.

 

Keel shaped based on previously drafted lines, relationship to the bulkheads can be seen.  These have not yet been shaped, but the forward edge will match the inner faring line.  This will all the fine tuned once bulkheads are installed.

 

[NMBROOK]

Fabulous attention to detail and accuracy Jason   You are quite obviously raising your benchmark even further with the experience gained from your previous builds.The 'stepped' rabbet to accommodate the double planking is a first as far as I know,but makes perfect sense .

 

Kind Regards

 

Nigel

Edited August 16, 2014 by NMBROOK

[Beef Wellington]

Fabulous attention to detail and accuracy Jason   You are quite obviously raising your benchmark even further with the experience gained from your previous builds.The 'stepped' rabbet to accommodate the double planking is a first as far as I know,but makes perfect sense .

 

Kind Regards

 

Nigel

 

Cheers Nigel, if it is a first, I hope I'm not heading over a cliff    Time will tell....

[NMBROOK]

I don't think you are Jason,I understand your reasoning

 

Kind Regards

 

Nigel

[drtrap]

Cheers Jason.

Wish you the best for your next in progress beauty.

I'm totally sure about the excellent final result.

 

Stergios

[Beef Wellington]

Preparing the bow

 

Had to do a bit of thinking on how I want to proceed with the bow as I couldn't get comfortable with the kit approach to attach the bowsprit.  This basically has the bowsprit sitting in small recess in the keel former, and although no-one has taken issue with this I wanted to revisit it.  Another problem also came to light s part of this process.  The rake of the bowsprit on the plans is less than that suggested in the AOTS book (~17deg on plans vs ~20deg in AOTS), doesn't seem much of a difference but its enough to cause the bowsprit to interfere with the figure head.  Further review highlighted another discrepancy, the AOTS book clearly shows the top of the bowsprit appearing through the top deck at the bow.  The bowsprit dimensions also appear a little odd on the plans, being made from 10mm dowel, but reduced to 6.5mm at the saddle, that doesn't seem to match the AOTS book either which shows the bowsprit thinning but only after the saddle and not the same degree.

 

So, considering all this I decided to allow the bowsprit to be seated more securely through the hull (as per the original) and tweaked to alignment to ensure it clears the figurehead.  Not sure exactly how I'll do this but should have some options now.

 

Bow arrangement with the slot for the bowsprit

 

Hole drilled in forward bulkhead and bow shapers adjusted to allow bowsprit to feed through

 

Bowsprit arrangement being examined by Captain Stirling, balsa wood bow filler also installed but not yet fully shaped.

 

....and also, planked the false deck with maple simulating planking per the AOTS.  This will not really be seen that much but it was a good chance to see how the maple would turn out.  I didn't like the supplied Tanganika at all, it looks paler than I've seen before, which is fine, but has a lot of brown 'flecks' in it that look really out of scale and a little odd.

 

Edited August 31, 2014 by Beef Wellington

[jim_smits]

Hi Jason

 

Looks like you've made a really solid start to your Diana. Can't believe I've missed this build so far.

 

Will unashamedly be making notes as I will move onto Diana, eventually, once my Snake and Ballahoo are completed.

 

Jim

[mobbsie]

How on earth did this log pass me by, mind if I pull up a chair and follow along Jason.

 

Your making good progress mate and I'm sure the bow will come together nicely, if anybody can do it you can.

 

Be Good

 

mobbsie

[riverboat]

Hi Jason....  nice build you've got going, glad to see you have every thing straightened out to your liking.

I'll be look'n in on your progress from time to time.

Frank

[Beef Wellington]

Jim, Mobbsie and Frank...welcome aboard!  Always appreciate more people looking over my shoulder.

 

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

 

Wish I could take pictures of 'thinking' and 'fiddling' because I'd have more progress.  Wanted to get caught up on a few things before I lose sight of them.

 

The stern and counter:

Heres a current state photo of the stern.  I built up the rearmost bulkhead by laminating some additional waste ply to the forward face to hopefully give me a bit more surface area to play with and glue planks to when I get there, same is true for the shaper pieces attached to the keel former.  You can see how I'm hoping then sandwich in a replacement section in boxwood for the exposed sternpost.  Some additional scrap was used to provide some additional strength here as well as the stern is hanging of a relatively thin extension until I get this installed.  The starboard side has had only rough shaping, I'm still working on the port side.  It was apparent that the rabbet for the first planking needed to be extended further up than indicated in the plans.

 

I have decided to leave the troublesome transom profiles (26 & 27) off until last possible moment, and use the gunport positions to help determine the vertical position of the quarter galleries and the stern fascia.

 

 

Interior of foremost frames:

The kit indicates that interior planking on the upper deck should terminate at bulkhead 4.  I wanted to bring this as far forward as possible to give me some options as I may want to add some additional detail in this area (forward bitts, manger etc).  However, the upper deck forward frames are thicker than required so I had to reduce their thickness at the upper deck level to be consistent with the other frames.  The was a bear to do, and wish I had done this before the frames were installed, you can see where I've inadvertently disfigured other parts of the bulkheads.

 

 

The other thing to note is the additional ply added to frame 3.  The plans indicate that gunport 1 sits right over the 3rd frame, which is just plain poor design by Caldercraft.  To hopefully give me some options to cut gun port in the correct place, I built up the rear so to maintain structural stability in the event I cut through the original bulkhead.  Hopefully with planking in place this should be enough

 

 

Decking:

Have started the upper deck planking.  I replaced the supplied tanganyika decking material with maple which seems a pretty cost effective alternative to holly on such a large ship.  Edges were still quite jagged, and rather than sanding each strip individually I used a small jig to line multiple strips and sand all together to get a smoother edge.  Definitely quicker!  You can see the comparison of the maple against the supplied tanganyika which has lots of brown stripes and flecks - didn't like it.

 

Edited September 15, 2014 by Beef Wellington

[Landlubber Mike]

Really nice work Jason.  What a pain about the third bulkhead.  Is it necessary?  It seems that is where the hull curves in towards the stem, so maybe it is critical at that spot.  Could you maybe remove it after you have the first/second layers of the outside hull planking on (sorta like the other extensions that typically are removed from the bulwarks once the exterior hull planking is on the ship)?

 

I really like the look of the maple.  The tanganyika in my Badger kit was prone to splintering and a number of the pieces were warped, but I had just enough good pieces to finish the deck.  I'm switching to maple for my Pegasus though - it looks like a very nice wood.

[jwvolz]

Jason,

 

My Granando kit came with Maple for the deck planking and I was quite pleased with how it turned out. Certainly better than the Tanganyika. 

 

Love the jig idea. 

[Beef Wellington]

Really nice work Jason.  What a pain about the third bulkhead.  Is it necessary?  It seems that is where the hull curves in towards the stem, so maybe it is critical at that spot.  Could you maybe remove it after you have the first/second layers of the outside hull planking on (sorta like the other extensions that typically are removed from the bulwarks once the exterior hull planking is on the ship)?

 

Mike - unfortunately yes, the 3rd bulkhead is needed.  The interior bulwarks need to be planked (there is no ply 'template') and the bulkheads provide structural support for that as well as the exterior planking.  Doubly important because the gun ports are cut through this planking - I'll cross that bridge when I get there!

[Ray]

Hi Jason I as noted in my log,I moved the gun port to clear the frame as they lined up from the side view, but then found it line up ok ish  from the over head plan, better to move the port than lose the support of the bulkhead, one of the trials of this kit.

I used maple for all the decking and it looks fine, I cannot understand why kit makes supply Tanganyika for decking it just is the wrong colour.

Regards Ray

[mtaylor]

Excellent planning and thinking ahead, Jason.   The maple looks a lot better and I like that sanding jig.

[Beef Wellington]

Ray - your log continues to be an essential reference and I appreciate the luxury of being able to follow in your footsteps.

 

Mark - I'm in Ray's debt as he has traveled down this path and helped identify the possible problem areas.

 

I realized I forgot to ask a key question in my earlier update post -  I was hoping to follow the AOTS Diana book as closely as possible, and my question relates to how reliable are the deck planking diagrams?  The reason for asking is that they seem to indicate planking terminating as follows, rather than what I believed to be the ubiquitous  but shift pattern.  That being said, they clearly show which beams this planking terminated at so doesn't seem to be random - I checked this with the AOTS Pandora which indicates the same pattern.  Thoughts anyone?

 

Planking pattern per AOTS Diana and Pandora

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vs.

 

Commonly referred to butt shift pattern

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Edited September 16, 2014 by Beef Wellington

[Beef Wellington]

Small progress, I've at least committed to the approach I'll take on the deck planking.  Nothing too exciting, but I will install a margin plank which I haven't done before,even though this will barely (if at all) be seen.  I've decided to try planking off the ship to make this a little easier.  Worst case, it will be good practice for the quarterdeck and forecastle, but I do hope to leave the option open to leave some of the fo'csle gratings off so a little more can be seen.  I've used the placement of the deck beams per AOTS to determine where the planks terminate.  The margin plank curve was estimated from laying a plank along the interior bulwark and tracing the shape on the false deck. 

 

Still early days, but no major hiccups yet...

 

Edited September 25, 2014 by Beef Wellington

[aliluke]

Looking very good Jason. But I wonder why you do this off the model? That is why do you not install the false deck and plank in place? Just intrigued by your approach...

[Beef Wellington]

Cheers Alistair - honestly I went back a forth on this for a while, the instructions mention both methods.  I'm hoping that planking off the ship will give me just a bit more elbow room to deal with some of the fiddly details (i.e. the margin plank which I'm still figuring out) which I think would be a real pain to do on the ship due to interference from the frames and 1/2 deck beams.  I don't think that the planked deck should be too much of a problem to glue in place once complete as its still reasonably flexible.  I'll definitely plank the quarterdeck and forecastle on the ship when I get there as there should be so much less in the way.

[Beef Wellington]

Decided I really needed to post  few pics to show I'm still here.  With the weather turning, and the end of the soccer/football season approaching (I coach my son and daughters teams) I can finally foresee more time in the shipyard in the evenings.  I had spent a lot of time trying to figure out the deck arrangement, picture are pretty self explanatory and work obviously still in progress.  Margin planks are not glued yet, but I did cut my first scarf joint.  As mentioned previously, estimating the line of the margin plank required the future shape of the interior bulwark once planked to be estimated - I won't know that I've been successful until its too late.

 

Unfortunately, at lot of this will not be seen once the quarter deck and forecastle are in place, but its good practice and building my confidence to tackle the more visible top decks.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 24, 2014 by Beef Wellington

[ASAT]

Very nice Jason, that margin plank looks great - howmany attempts did it take to achieve it? Seems like I have to always do the nice stuff multiple times

 

Lou

[Blue Ensign]

Fine job on the planking Jason, great work

 

B.E.

[jim_smits]

Looks cracking Jason.

 

I remember how much 'fun' I had with the margin on my Ballahoo....

[Sjors]

Great job on the planking Jason !!!!!

 

No treenails this time ???????

 

Sjors

[jwvolz]

Very nice clean work Jason. Maybe I missed it somewhere, what wood are you using for your deck planks?