HMS Agamemnon by Kusawa2000 (Mike Draper) - FINISHED - Caldercraft - Slightly modified version

[Kusawa2000]

Richard: I dont have a CD of how I did the gun carriages but I can write a longer post later today when I get home. I warn you though... its a real time sucker.. 🙂 But it is worth the effort.

 

As far as Richard Traut, I heard he has moved to the island and is enjoying life down there.. 

 

I didnt have any real problems with the measurements. You have to be really careful on where the channels and chainplates go on the hull. You have to make sure you arent blocking a gunport as well they line up with the mast and fighting top. I had to fiddle with that for a while before I got the right fit. The template for the gunports is a life saver.

 

As far as making gun carriages, I would first recommend you make a copy of the template at a printing shop and cut it out and then back it with masking tape to make it firm.. you will be relying on that quite a bit -cut the gunports out as well. I will send you a longer email tonite.. I hope I can explain it to you clearly enough

 

MIKE 

[Kusawa2000]

Richard: here is a quick and dirty on how I made the lower gun carriages. this is only the lower gun carriages.. the gun deck carriages below the spar deck are full gun carriages

 

1) First they arent full carriages. if  you look at the photo below I have constructed the upper part of the carriage but left the lower half flat without wheels.. there will be a reason I will explain in a minute

2) I used the lower deck Caldercraft had you install with the bulkheads -i figured if I installed one that was flush with the run of the hull and that I could use with wheeled gun carriages it would be a big headache.. what I did instead by leaving the bottom flat it allows me to adjust the height of the gun carriage by removing the wood on the bottom flat edge

3) When the carriages are constructed (i took a long piece of maple cut the upper tiered look of the gun carriage on a saw and then cut them off the long piece of wood like slicing cheese.

4) hung the paper template that I had copied and firmed up with masking tape.. clamped it to the hull and begun arranging the gun carriages according the where the hole was for the gunport. Once then were all done I would dry fit them in the gunports and then had the guns to the carriage to see if they had a proper run along the hull (you will need to buy full guns as the dummy guns are junk with you doing the full carriages) 

5) then I removed the gun carriages and guns and then begun planking the hull.(dont forget to number them so you know which gunport they  belong to 

6) once hte hull is complete I then laid the same taped template over the planked hull and penciled the gunports.. 

7) when all of the gunports were drawn I would then drill a hole in the centre of the gunport lid and start carving them out with a dremel and a sand bit and finish off with the file.. 

8 ) insert the carriage with tweezers through the cut gunports -glue them into place and dry fit the guns to make sure the run of the guns along the hull is still good.. you may need to fine tune one of the carriages by adding or taking away wood on the bottom of the carriages.

9) once the carriages are glued in.. keep the guns out of the carriage until you have painted the hull and gunports.. it just makes the job easier

 

The hardest part of this process was after planking the hull and then cutting the gunports.. make sure you use the same gunport template and have it lined up in hte same place you did when you were using it to build the carriages. Also... before you plank the hull paint all of the interior of the lower gundeck black.... with the carriages and full guns you can now see bulkheads and floors.. paint them black hides that.... 

 

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.. 

MIKE

[Retired guy]

Hi Mike,

This is great information thanks very much will be asking a few question when I get to this part, but one thing were did you buy the guns and what drawing did you have for the lower gun carriages which need to be made.

 

Regards

Richard

 

 

[Kusawa2000]

Richard: I did buy the guns (I cant remember from who but you could make them or kick around on this forum to find out who sells them). I used the full carriages as a template and added a extra length on the bottom to allow for adjustable height.. so take a existing side of the gun carriage that was supplied with the kit and add about 5 mm on the bottom to allow for adjustment of how the gunport will sit attached to the floor on the lower deck and sit nicely in the gunport.. i had one piece of wood with the tiered edges of the top of the gun carriage and just cut pieces off like slices of cheese....

 

MIKE

[Kusawa2000]

Everyone: I finally did it.. after the last couple of years (yes.. years...) I have finally got the standing rigging done on the Agamemnon. This project has gone way tooo long but now that I have the Winchelsea on the horizon Im putting the pedal to the medal on the Agamemnon.. I never thought I would get to this point after seeing the masts unrigged for so many years. And last night I cut the length on my first spar (lower foresail). A new chapter has started. I still have launches, anchors, stern lights and i suspect lots of other things still to do but i finally feel I see progress... Hope you enjoy the pics!!!!! 

 

Mike Draper

[Chuck]

That looks fantastic.  Glad to see you moving right along.   

[Bossman]

Mike, absolutely beautiful! It’s nice to see someone from the old days. You have made a very fine model. 
Mark Fairchild, “Bossman”

[Retired guy]

Hi Mike what an achievement she is looking brilliant you should take some pics outside as you did with the conni 😁👍

 

Regards

Richard

[Kusawa2000]

55 minutes ago, Chuck said:

That looks fantastic.  Glad to see you moving right along.   

Chuck: you have no idea how many times I have been tempted to lay the keep down on the Winchelsea and just work on it "for just one evening" but I got to keep the focus and get the Agamemnon on the "done" pile...

 

Mike Draper

 

[Kusawa2000]

1 hour ago, Retired guy said:

Hi Mike what an achievement she is looking brilliant you should take some pics outside as you did with the conni 😁👍

 

Regards

Richard

RIchard: Plan to as soon as it stops snowing! 🙂 

 

Mike Draper

[Kusawa2000]

Everyone: While Im busy building yards for the Agamemnon I realized I havent posted pics of my stern gallery so here are a few. I noticed I need to go over the gallery with a few touch ups but you get the idea! The yards have been a slower process than I originally thought. oh well.. progress is being made.. slowly! 

 

Enjoy

 

Mike Draper

[Chuck]

Looks great Mike.   You are getting close.  The home stretch....hows that running rigging coming along?

[Bossman]

Lovely ship Mike. Superb craftsmanship. 

[ccoyle]

Fabulous work, Mike!

[Kusawa2000]

1 hour ago, Chuck said:

Looks great Mike.   You are getting close.  The home stretch....hows that running rigging coming along?

Chuck: I have the standing rigging all done. Once I get the yards made, I can then start on the running rigging.. there is light at the end of the tunnel! As per usual, the Winchelsea is calling 🙂 

[Retired guy]

Brilliant Mike 👍 has it stop snowing

 

Stay safe

 

Regards

Richard

[Kusawa2000]

10 hours ago, Retired guy said:

Brilliant Mike 👍 has it stop snowing

 

Stay safe

 

Regards

Richard

nope.. we got 2 inches last night.. winter hasnt left us yet... going snowmobiling this weekend! 🙂 

 

MIKE

[Kusawa2000]

Everyone: Just a quick update.. I have finally finished building the yards on the Agamemnon.. I dont know if everyone knows but Im planning to rig her with sails. So... in preparation for that small exercise (yah.. right.... ) I am making paper templates to use to get the shape and dimension. The Caldercraft plans dont contain any sail plans so using a few sources and lots of measuring I think I have done a pretty good approx of the sail. Dry fitting them onto the yard and mast helps me ensure they the measurements match how they look on the ship. She is finally starting to come together.. 

 

Mike 

[GrandpaPhil]

Sails make a model look awesome.  They can be a lot of work, but are absolutely worth it.

I’m looking forward to seeing this!

 

[garyshipwright]

Good Job Mike. She is looking great. Gary

[Kusawa2000]

19 hours ago, garyshipwright said:

Good Job Mike. She is looking great. Gary

Thanks Gary... finally getting some progress under my feet. Im stoked on getting sails on her

 

MIKE

[Kusawa2000]

Everyone: Got the paper foretop Sail on the Agamemnon. Keen on getting these paper templates done so I can then get the real ones rigged on her. 

 

Enjoy

 

MIKE

[SaskieinSoCal]

This is so impressive Mike. I've just started the 2nd planking on my Aggie. Hope mine ends up half as good as yours did. The sails are going to be impressive.

 

Trent

[Kusawa2000]

8 hours ago, SaskieinSoCal said:

This is so impressive Mike. I've just started the 2nd planking on my Aggie. Hope mine ends up half as good as yours did. The sails are going to be impressive.

 

Trent

Trent: Thanks for the cudos.. This has been a long, long, long project.. I have done quite a few modifications that just seem to delay the completion date but it has been worth it. Now, Im just making a push to get her finished. It will be good to get her finally finished...

 

MIKE

[Kusawa2000]

On 5/6/2020 at 9:45 AM, SaskieinSoCal said:

This is so impressive Mike. I've just started the 2nd planking on my Aggie. Hope mine ends up half as good as yours did. The sails are going to be impressive.

 

Trent

Hey Trent: If you have any questions regarding let me know.. She is a beautiful ship and you have a fun time ahead of ya!

 

MIKE

[SaskieinSoCal]

Looking forward to seeing your final-final product and learning along the way. Heading out tomorrow for the 26 hour drive north. We're not quite heading as far as Whitehorse, but closer. It will be good to be back north of 49 again. All the best and thank you again for the template.

 

Trent

[Kusawa2000]

On 5/7/2020 at 1:51 PM, SaskieinSoCal said:

Looking forward to seeing your final-final product and learning along the way. Heading out tomorrow for the 26 hour drive north. We're not quite heading as far as Whitehorse, but closer. It will be good to be back north of 49 again. All the best and thank you again for the template.

 

Trent

Have a good trip.. make sure you have all your paperwork in order for the border.. they are still limiting traffic to Canadians, americans going to Alaska and essential traffic. I dont think you will have a problem but things are still not as it was.. I will be posting more pics in a couple of days. 

 

MIKE

[Chuck]

More pics?  You should be getting so close close now.  I think you will miss working on it.

[Kusawa2000]

44 minutes ago, Chuck said:

More pics?  You should be getting so close close now.  I think you will miss working on it.

Chuck: I am close.... sooo close... Here is a pic of the paper templates that I made for the sails that I am planning to rig on my Agamemnon. The sails are made by a good friend of mine Wendy Thompson and are on their way to my mail box. I figure I have my time off from XMAS is spoken for with rigging these sails when they arrive. Everything else is done (except for some flags!) so as soon as the sails arrive its full steam ahead..  

 

And.. no.. I have been working on this ship way tooo long.. Need to get it on the "don" pile.. and start on the Winnie... 

 

MIKE

[Chuck]

Boy that looks huge.  Its looking really great.