HM Mortar Vessel Convulsion by jonny.amy - FINISHED - Caldercraft

[jonny.amy]

Hi Guys,

 

Just been doing some wind shopping online, and I'm thinking about buying a few 1/2 pounder swivels guns for Convulsion (max. 4 swivels), and thinking along the lines of adding a ships boat to the deck layout. What do you guys think? I'm thinking an 18' Jolly Boat would be the right size for the ship. Would I be correct? I'd use Caldercraft's Jolly Boat kit, but I'm not 100% sure on whether that would be the right size?

 

 

Any way, here are some photo's from the last few days effort. Please ignore the Pink Handbag in the background, apparently the dining room table / shipyard is an appropriate place for handbags and candles and roses.... What can I say, I just love playing dress up!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers guys, I'm off to stick my fingers together and glue Convulsion to my jeans.... both of these MAY have happened!

 

Jonny

[egkb]

Are you 'bedazzling' your jeans with a Convulsion accessory.. Hmmm I feel it may clash with the Pink Purse though.. personally I'd go with one or the other not both, but then again I'm more of an Autumn..     

 

She looks Terrific Mate (amazing height in those Mortor Vessels)

Re the Ships Boat, cut out a little paper template to the right size (of the Caldercraft boat) and see where it would best fit on Convulsions deck (either side of the Main Mast Aft looks good though you may want to shift the angle of the Pump Handles) what do you think?

 

All The Best

 

Eamonn

[jonny.amy]

Yes I do see you as an autumn type of person!! Haha

 

That's the plan for tonight, after finishing the top mast shroads, I'll cut out a cardboard template to see if it will fit. Although I have that funny feeling that it won't.

 

What are the thoughts on swivels? I'm not sure if a ship of this size would ever got close enough to another ship to use them? But it's worth thinking about.... Might have to leave it until I finish the rigging!

 

Cheers

[Canute]

The Grando, according to the AOTS by Goodwin, carried 1/2 lb antipersonnel swivels. Have to have something to protect the crew. Numbers range from 12 to 18. See page15 in that book. They had pedestals arrayed along the rails. The General Arrangement drawings show 4 each side of the quarterdeck and 4 arrayed around the forecastle. May want to beef up a few of your railings.

[egkb]

I'll go along with Ken on this Bud.. go for it !

 

Eamonn

[jonny.amy]

Hello everyone, just a quick photo update on the main mast rigging. I've had a real surge of energy and progress over the last 48 hours, and the standing rigging for the main mast is complete! Woohoo! I'm starting on the mizzen mast today, but have already managed to snap the mizzen crosstree in half, so I've had to glue it all together prior to painting!!

 

Anyway, here are the photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have also made a balsa template of the 14' Jolly Boat from Caldercraft, and I've tried fitting it on deck, and it would fit either side of the main mast, and in reality probably would have been stored on top of the Mortar bed whilst sailing. But I'll think a little more about it before buying it, and the swivel guns.

 

Just another thought, which ensign would a mortar vessel fly? It depends on the Admiral and Fleet, but does anybody know if the Mortar vessels were evenly distributed between the Red, Blue and White Fleets, or where they pigeon holed to one specific fleet and dispatched when necessary?

 

Cheers

[jonny.amy]

By the way, sorry about the orientation of these photos, I've done this via iPhone and completely forgot about that!

[jonny.amy]

Morning Everyone,

 

Just a quick photo update of this weekends progress...... I have completed the Mizzen Mast, and fitted all standing rigging for Main and Mizzen. I have also cut all the yards and gaffs to the right lengths, and are labled up, ready for sanding and shaping, painting, and eventually rigging. After this I will venture in to the unknown and start rigging the running rigging.

 

What I have noticed over the last 72 hours is that my eyesight is terrible in the low light. I'm considering gluing a pair of LED torches to my glasses...... Maybe not the smartest idea, but it would work!

 

Anyway, here are the photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let me know what you think guys, I happy with my progress so far.

 

I'm estimating another 4 to 6 weeks until completion of the kit (but I could be wrong), and I've made the decision that I'll buy and build the 14' Jolly Boat, fit a White Ensign to the ship, fit six or eight 0.5 pounder swivel guns along the length of the ship, and am considering fitting another two carronades either side of the main mast.

This may put my completion date back, but who cares.... it's a joy to work on!

 

Cheers

Jonny

[Canute]

Looking good, Jon. Keep after it.

 

As far as adding light, you almost can't have too much, especially as we get older. When I went into the AF at age 20 or so, I was Hawk-eye, 20/10 or so. Twenty some odd years later, I flunked the vision part of a flight physical. I needed glasses! The more light, the easier it is for the eyes to adapt.

 

Nowadays, I wear glasses and work under 2 pretty bright lights, one with a magnifying lens built in. That setup helped me when my train club built an N scale diorama for the local county historical museum. I could build laser cut, double hung wood windows with sashes and panes. They were 6 mm by 11 mm. I swore off working in that scale, with that level of detail, after that.

[egkb]

She is Brilliant Mate.. Great job on the rigging and your decision to add those extra bits will only make her better!

 

I totally agree with Ken's comment above.. get yourself some decent lights.. I picked up 2 of those LED with Magnifier jobs (the led's go all around the magnifier) in Lidl a few weeks ago for about €35 each (usual price for same produce elsewhere €65.. they are the business)

 

Stay Well Bud

 

Eamonn

[jonny.amy]

Hi guys,

 

A brief update on last nights build in the "boatyard" (new term for the dining room table). The Admiral was out seeing her mother last night, so I used this opportunity to make some sawdust and remove the excess material on the yards, crossjacks, gaffs and booms.

 

I've paired all the spars down to the required thinknesses, and glued each cleat to the spar. Lots of sticky finger fun (sounds dirty)! Finally painting 3 out of the 8 spars matt black as required. The plans call for 1mm brass wire to be used for the footrope supports, but I've run out of the kit-supplied wire. So on the main yard, I tried using a 0.5mm DIA plastic "wire" to replace this, but I found that although with a little coaxing from a lighter and CA glue, it was far too brittle for this. So it's back to the drawing board on this one. I may have to bite the bullet and buy some more 1mm DIA wire?

 

Ken - I sit in front of a PC screen all day as part of my job, and I noticed after 5 years or so, that I couldn't see a damn thing after 45 minutes looking at the screen. And ever since then I've needed glasses to work with. As I'm now going down the rigging route with Convulsion, I've found I need to wear them more but still the light in my light is poor at night. Lucy has no problem doing her Cross Stitch (don't laugh, we're both old farts at heart), but I really struggle to see. I'll look in to a solution tonight.

 

Eamonn - Thanks for the tip, I'll check out Lidl too..... But next time please use real money, not any of that Euro Zone play money! Haha

 

Cheers

Jonny

[Canute]

Jonny, any model train shops near you? They may have some brass wire in stock. We have an outfit called Detail Associates (DA) that makes round brass wire. If my ciphering is correct, 1mm equals .040 inches and  DA carries that size. They go all the way down to .006 inch wire.There are other brands, too. Maybe try a local hardware store, too.

Staring at the screen like that does a number on your eyes. Back when PCs were new (mid 80's), we had monochrome amber screens. I had to do data entry for my unit's weapons scores. If I spent more than a half hour doing that, I'd get bleary eyed. The other Weapons officer wore his sunglasses to do entries, it bothered his eyes so much. The CO thought we were daft, but our inspection results were always top notch, so he humored us.

[jonny.amy]

Ken, I'm not sure if there are any model train shops near me. It's something I can do a quick internet search on though.

I think your ciphering of dimensions is correct, but I've been bought up on the "new money" metric system so I'd have to check! The local DIy store sells soft fuse wire, which is more than likely too thin (0.2mm to 0.5mm), but will do the job. I was also thinking about doing the footropes on the yards in wire as well. That way, they'll keep their shape nicely. It's a little bit of a cheat, but it should look good.

 

Hahaha, I know that feeling! I worked in a Structural Engineering Drawing Office (Offshore Oil & Gas Industry - Lifeboat retrofitting on rigs) with a group of 25 or 30 designers and engineers (all blokes, all late 30's to 50's), and the first time I walked in wearing glasses, my boss stood next to my desk and shouted out "Who is this Specky Tw@t sat in Jon's chair?!". They were only teasing me, but I had the last laugh when my boss had to borrow my glasses to read notes on a drawing!!

[jonny.amy]

Morning Chaps,

 

Progress was slow last night as I ended up working later than I wanted to, but I still managed to get the wire from my local DIY store to build and rig the footrope partners (the main vertical supports). I'll hopefully be home at a reasonable time tonight so I can start adding rigging blocks and finish painting the yards.

 

Here are the photo's of the Main Yard, and the 0.5mm 15A fuse wire, all ready for block and tackle.

 

 

 

 

 

I've had the realisation about the ships boat, and the swivel guns, that my monthly budget won't stretch that far on pay day, as I have to pay my excess on my private medical care, buy plane tickets for our summer holiday, and most importantly buy the Admiral an anniversary present..... She wants a handbag or purse, and the cheapest Ted Baker handbag (of course, other fashion designers are available) is £129.00, and that's not even the style she likes..... God help me! Trawling through eBay hasn't helped much either because all the bags are either used, or are too cheaply price to be real!!  

I might just have to buy her a model kit instead!!!! On the plus side, I have a feeling that I might be getting HM Cutter Sherbourne as a present... finger crossed!!

 

Cheers

Jonny

[jonny.amy]

Morning Everyone,

 

Unfortunately I had to work very late last night, which meant I didn't get home until 9pm (or there abouts), so I didn't get any blocks tied on to the yards. But my efforts last night have meant I can duck out earlier today, so I should be able to get going on the block and tackle arrangements tonight. All I managed to do last night was touch up the paint work on all the yards, so it should be plain siling tonight!

 

I've never got this far on a model ship (President was such an awful quality kit that I wouldn't be able to get this far), so are there any tips or pointers anyone can give me so I can rig the yards properly?

 

Cheers

Jonny

[egkb]

You are waaay ahead of me mate so no help from over here !!   

 

Eamonn

[jonny.amy]

I'm going to have a think about it later on today, but in theory if I rig all the blocks with the running rigging, and then elevate each yard(tension taken up on the running rigging) I can then secure the throat parrel (I think that's the right terminology) of the yard to mast.

 

My main concern I guess is making sure the yards aren't fixed too high up the rig....

[jonny.amy]

After 3 or 4 months of carefully building Convulsion, with minor mistakes and accidents (all patched up nicely), the worst thing has happened to me and Convulsion today.

 

So, I put convulsion down so I could do the washing up after dinner.... And when I came back to pick up where I left off, Convulsion slipped out my hand and landed BOWSPRIT DOWN on the dining room chair. As you can imagine, the bowsprit snapped in two and lots of swearing commenced.

 

In a quick ditch effort to fix it, I glued it back in place. But after 30 minutes drying time, it was still very flimsy. So I came up with a solution to fix it. I've glued some excess 1mm THK walnut to the top and bottom of the bowsprit, and glued that to the bowsprit partner (the block between both spars), and then lashed the walnut strips in place with some excess 1mm DIA black thread. It's far from pretty, I'm pretty f*cked off, and it's forever going to bug the hell out of me, but it is fixed. The show must go on!

 

I'll post photos tomorrow.

 

Cheers

[egkb]

Sorry to hear that.. is there no way to replace the broken bits and re do the section?

 

Eamonn

 

I can imagine you to be well pee'd off !

[Canute]

Jonny, sorry to hear that.    Hope you're happy with the fix, but I have a teensy suspicion this "faux pas" will fester and you'll be replacing that bowsprit.

[jonny.amy]

Hi Guys,

 

Eventually I will end up replacing the bowsprit. Or I will devise a method of drilling out the existing bowsprit piece and fitting a new one, but for now I'm just going to keep calm and carry on. It's a war wound for Convulsion, and until I can think of a way to fix properly, that's the way it will stay!

 

Cheers for the kind words and sympathy!!

Jonny

[Canute]

Nihil illigitimus carborundum! Don't let the bas**rds grind you down. (With apologies to Virgil and all those other old Romans )

[Beef Wellington]

Jonny, maybe some photos would help come up with some additional ideas.  I'd recommend fixing it now before you do anything else, the worst thing would be to 'fix it' and continue and then have it fail again right at completion when there will be far more wasted work and possibility of larger extent of damage.  A stitch in time saves nine....just my initial reaction. 

[jonny.amy]

Hi Guys,

 

Photos of the incident:

 

 

 

 

 

Like I've said, this is far from an elegant fix, but it will do for now. If I can get some quality 3mm DIA dowel tomorrow then I will attempt a fix. But I'll have to be 100% sure I can make it good before trying anything. I'm sorry I don't have a photo of the broken bowsprit as I acted immediately once the break happened. I have drawn up a sketch on the plans to show my fix.

 

Cheers for the feedback

[fnick]

Hi Jonny

 

First of all just want to say you live in a nice part of the world!

 

Secondly you're doing a great job of this model. I also agree with Jason. I would fix it now. Otherwise I can garantee you one thing: it WILL bug you knowing you could have done a better fix. Trust me. I was in the same situation with Le Mirage. Made a booboo, thought I'd leave it as it was. However changed my mind and fixed the problem and I was really glad I did.

 

But I'll have to be 100% sure I can make it good before trying anything

You did a pretty good job of the bowsprit before the accident so no reason why you can't do it again!

 

Well that's my two pennies worth anyway... Good luck whatever you choose to do.

 

Nick

[jonny.amy]

Hi Nick, thanks for the responce!

 

I grew up in Southampton, sailing on the Solent and in the Channel, but moved away from the area a few months back to be closer to work.

 

I also agree with Jason, it's my intention to fix it properly, but I spent Saturday morning trawling through my local model shops and found nothing! None of the shops had suitable 3mm DIA dowel. I'll contact Jokita today and hopefully they can supply me with some?

 

I've had a think about how to do it, and I'm going to cut out the repair, cut off the existing bowsprit, and drill through the existing boken bowsprit section to make a plug at the bowsprit partner. Then it should be as easy as slotting in a nex bowsprit. Fingers crossed it will be a fairly straight forward fix, but when it happened, I didn't think about a long term fix.

 

Until the ball is rolling with Jokita, I'll have to put the build on hold. I'll be contacting them shortly. Hopefully I can have replacement bowsprit in by friday!

 

Cheers,

Jonny

[jonny.amy]

Update.....

 

I have emailed Jokita asking for a replacement dowel, am now waiting on a responce. Fingers crossed I'll heare back from them shortly.

 

Cheers

Jonny

[Canute]

Hang in there. Time plan and plot your other work on the bomb.

[jhearl]

Could you not just make the bowsprit from some scrap square stock? It's not hard to shape a round spar from square and then you wouldn't have to wait/hope that you'll get a replacement piece.

 

Cheers -

John

[jonny.amy]

Hi John,

 

I could do that, but the model shops near me don't sell square stock in anything other than balsa, so I think I'd had to wait for Jokita to get back to me. O could try my local DIY shop to see if they've got any square stock, but I doubt they would have anything under 5 x 5mm. And if that's the case I taking off tonnes of scarp. Also I'd have to build or buy a lathe...

 

Cheers

Jonny