HMS Bounty by flipperphil - Billings Boats - scale 1/50

[flipperphil]

Hi all

 

Well, I decided to re-do this build log, the only thing is the first part will be missing owing to the fact that my old computer packed up working and I lost all the photos and log details of the early part of the build.  The old build log was only started after I had got the hull and deck planking done anyway and there was never any photos of this part of the build.  Various other parts of the build were completed before the mishap with the computer, so I hope you will all bear with me as I try to recreate this log as best I can.  

 

It all started nearly two and half years ago when the Bounty was given to me as a Christmas present.  The only other boat kit that I have built is a Bluenose II, so I am pretty green to model ship building.  As usual the build began with the bulk heads and false deck, this all went together without any trouble and the fit of all the parts was very good.  Once this was complete the carcass was made ready for the planking.  Once underway with the planking my problems began, having never planked this type of ship before, I had no idea about how to go about achieving what I was trying to accomplish.  In the end it all worked ok, other than where the planks were bent around the bow.  These ended up having a clinker affect, which needed a lot of sanding to get a nice smooth end result.  In doing this some of the planks became very thin around this area and so I decided to double plank it.  (The kit is a single plank construction).  The second planking was a lot easier owing to the planks being quite a bit thinner.  

 

Next was the deck planking, this went very well  and the finish looked good, to me anyway.  This was followed by the planksheer, this went on without encountering any problems.  This was followed by the gratings and companionways all made up from the kit parts and installed in their respective places.

 

At about this time I decided to deviate from the kit by adding a flag locker and binnacle.  These items were not supplied in the kit and so had to be made from scratch using odd pieces of ply and leftovers from the planking.  The steering wheel was made up using the kit parts supplied and fitted into its position.

 

Moving on, the knightheads, headrails and the catheads were completed and this brings us to the part of the build where I can show you the pictures of the work completed so far.

 

So here are a few for you to enjoy, more will follow when time permits.

 

Regards Phil

 

 

 

[flipperphil]

Well, in my haste to get this log going again I forgot to mention about the stern and its decorations.  This part of the build was done in conjunction with the second planking.  There was no ornamentation provided in the kit for this and so I decided to have a go at carving my own, this proved to be quite difficult to do, the finish isn't the greatest but at least it's better than nothing.  

 

Around this time I purchased the book Armed Transport Bounty by John McKay and this is what the stern and the rest of the build is based on.  The quarter galleries were made up from the kit parts, although these do not represent the shape as depicted in the book, I could not see an easy way of making new ones owing to the shape, so the kit ones were used.  I did try to carve the decorations on these, but they did not come out too well, so I obtained some brass decorations and adapted these to fit, which gave a much better look.

 

The rudder was made up and fitted at this stage, no problems here other than the hinges in the kit were plastic. so these were replaced with brass (much better).  The figurehead was supplied as a plywood silhouette which needed to be carved to get the details, this proved to be almost impossible so a new one was carved from some scrap wood.  This came out quite well and I just need to adjust the facial details to get a better look in the area.  The capstan was made up from the kit parts which looks ok.  Next came the cannons, the ones in the kit had plastic carriages, so these were replaced with wooden ones.  Next up was the windlass but more on that next time.  Hope you enjoy the pictures.

 

Regards Phil

 

[jarlaxle26]

Very nice detail!  Looking forward to seeing the remainder of your build log and the final product.  I am myself attempting a Billing Boats HMS Bounty 492, and am in the early stages, with hull staining and finishing.  

 

I too ran into some issues with planking, not so much the bending but the tapering of planks such that it would look somewhat natural.  Was considering painting below the water line to cover up some of these mistakes, but i just prefer the all-wood look.

 

I will be curious to see how you put it all together.  Do you not find the instructions horrendous?  Especially hard for me, with this being my first ever build (Actually bought in 2005, and started, but put in on the back burner for many years up until recently).

 

Thanks for starting this thread, your pics will be very helpful as i try to find out exactly where all the parts go, lol.

[Spiff]

Hi Phil

Looks nice - I would like to build the Bounty at some point - I started of with the Jolly boat.

How come there is such big colour difference between the planks on the hull? Will you paint it below the waterline?

[flipperphil]

Hi Jarlaxle 26

 

Thanks for looking in and it's good to hear from someone else who's building the Billings Bounty.  Yes, I did find the instructions somewhat lacking, but then again these kits are not really recommended for the beginner.  I think you will find that the further you get into your build the clearer things will become.  If I can be of any help to you then don't hesitate to ask, I will be only too pleased to help where I can.

 

Regards Phil

[flipperphil]

Hi Spiff

 

Nice of you to look in on my build, the reason there is a colour difference in the planking is because I did a second planking which meant I had to buy new planks.  So to keep the cost of this down, I purchased walnut planks for above the water line and lime planks for below as these were cheaper and I was thinking of coppering below the water line anyway.  In the end I painted below the water line white as I did not think it was worth the expense of buying the copper plates.  If you do decide to build the Bounty, it would be nice if you could start a log on this forum, I would love to see it.

 

Regards Phil

[flipperphil]

Moving on to the windlass, I made this up from the kit parts, but it just didn't look right.  So I decided to alter this using the diagrams in the ATS book as a guide.  The first job was to remove a section from the middle and replace this with a piece of dowel.  Around this was placed 1mm x 1mm strips to represent the pawl rim, then the rest of the drum was filed  down to a more respectable thickness.  The shape of the carrick bitts was altered next and two new posts (not included in the kit) were made from scraps.  This was then all glued together and two metal straps were made from brass to hold the drum onto the carricks and posts.  Small cleats were made and added, all this was then stained and varnished, ready to be glued into place on the deck.

 

The mizzen topsail sheet bits were made from scratch and placed in there correct position on deck, either side of the mizzen mask, not as shown on the Billings drawings.  The fore brace bitts were made using the kit parts, rings were added and then stained, varnished and left ready to install at a later date.  Various metal rings were installed on the deck in their relative positions as per the diagrams in the ATS book.  

 

Regards Phil

 

[flipperphil]

Next came the ship's boat, this was supplied as a block of balsa wood which needed to be shaped into the correct profile.  Once this was done the plans showed 1.8mm x 7mm planks to go around the outside of the shaped balsa block.  I chose to do this using 3mm x 0.5mm thick planks.  This was done twice and the planks were allowed to overlap each other to give a pleasing clinker affect and a much better scale appearance.  Once this was done the balsa block was removed from inside the planked shell.  Next the frames were cut and glued into position, followed by the floor boards.  Thwarts were made and glued into position along with the windlass.  The coxswain's seat was next up followed by the rudder.  The top half of the boat was stained and the bottom painted white.  Various other small pieces were made and glued into position.  Just some oars to make and maybe the masks and sails at a later date.  

 

Next was all the pin rails, these I made up using parts from the kit, but I did change the pins for wooden ones instead of the brass ones supplied.  I also added supports to the rails and repositioned them as shown in the ATS book.

 

Regards Phil

 

[Salty Sea Dog]

Hi flipperphil! This is really cool!! I especially like your detail painting, the deck details and the little boat. Did you use some sort of masking to paint the curved stripes on the head rails or was that done free hand? Very nice!

[flipperphil]

Hi Salty Sea Dog

 

Sorry for the delay in this reply, I don't get too much spare time to go on the computer. 

 

Thanks for looking in and the kind words.  The stripes on the head rails were painted free hand as was everything else.

 

Regards Phil

[popeye the sailor]

howdy Phil......good to see your build back again!  I look forward in seeing more of your progress.

[GTM]

wow!, wel done, i really like your build project so far!

i think i will need to copy some of the techniques you used for the ship's boat 

[flipperphil]

Moving on, the hull was painted white.  I did think about weathering this, but after some trial attempts on scrap wood I decided against this as I could not make the weathering look realistic.  I did add a piece of very thin strip wood where the white met the stained wood at the water line in an attempt to get a better finish here.  Once this was done and I was satisfied I moved on to the channel chains and chain dead eyes.  I did not use the kit supplied chain plates as these would have been wrong, so I made up the chains from brass rod which was blackened.  Unfortunately these got scuffed when they were being assembled, so had to be touched up with black paint once fitted to the hull.  Rings were also added to the channels where appropriate.  

 

One of the anchors was made up, again I did not use the plastic ones supplied in the kit but purchased metal ones from Caldercraft instead, these looked much better.  All that was needed was the bands around the stock to be made from brass strip and the pins added and I had a nice looking anchor.  I still have the other one to make.  

 

I also made a rudder shroud from a piece of t-shirt and a collar for this made from brass.  Once fitted the rudder still moved at this point, but once it was painted it did stiffen up some what, but this is a static model so it want be moving anyway.  The pawl bitt post was next, complete with its bell, again the one in the kit wasn't used because it was the one that was fitted to the Bethia and part of this was removed when it became the Bounty and so one was made from scratch.  This was then stained and fitted into place.

 

Regard Phil

 

[Shipyard sid]

Hello Phil

Ah!! Memories, My first ever build , I remember fretting out the bulkheads and our dog chewing off the figure head. It looks a really good build and excellent photos throughout. Keep enjoying your build, and I will enjoy following your log. Thanks DAVID

[flipperphil]

Hi Popeye

 

It's good to hear from you again.  It want be long now and I'll be up to date with this log and able to move on with the new progress pics that are waiting in the wings.

 

 

Hi Theo

 

Thanks for looking in and the kind words.  Feel free to copy what ever you like.

 

 

Hi David

 

Thanks for looking in.  I hope I don't have the same problem with my dog.  I don't think they'd be much left of anything if he got hold of it.

 

 

Regards Phil

 

 

[popeye the sailor]

of course I'm here phil.......I'm drawn to that wood grain you got going  ....especially the ship's boat you made....... very nice indeed!  I'm also gald you put in some pictures of the bottom hull paint......that came out real nice as well.   yea,  it's a pain........but it will bring you up to speed......I finished putting in the Gothenborg about a week or so ago........now I can't wait to get back to her  I have to order some deadeyes for her....once I do that,  I'll be ready to continue.

 

I'll be keeping an eye out for your progress

[flipperphil]

Cheers Popeye

[flipperphil]

The Elm tree pumps were next, there wasn't any supplied in the kit, so I purchased a pair from Caldercraft, once made up they looked pretty good but I decided to clad around the dowel rod that they were made from with 0.5mm x 2mm planks and added a metal band around the top from brass.  The small piece of dowel for the outlet was drilled out to make it look hollow, the pumps were then stained and all the brass parts painted black.

 

The rigging for the steering from the ship's wheel to the tiler arm came next, this was done following the drawings in the A.O.T.S book.  

 

Moving on to the cannons, these were fully rigged and coils were made on the ends of the ropes to lay on the deck.  

 

A new chimney was made, the one in the kit was totally the wrong shape.  This was made from brass sheet which was cut to shape and rolled into a cone then soldered along the seam.  Two cones were made, one large, one small, the ends were mitred and then these were soldered together, forming the chimney, this was then painted black.

 

This just left all the parts to be fixed in position on the deck in their relative places.

 

This ship's boat needs to be tied down, but I haven't worked out how to do this yet, any suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

This brings us right up to date with this build, any posts from now on will not have been viewed before.

 

Regards Phil

 

[klimi]

hi Phil, such a nice model   the details looks very naturaly

[Shipyard sid]

Hello Phil

Super build Phil, brilliant work on the deck. I love the deck finish. Keep enjoying it. DAVID

[popeye the sailor]

great work on your ship.....the cannon rigging is especially nice.   the deck is very well fitted out....great work!

[johannesludo5]

HI sir VERY nice work on yours model and good pictures thanks JOHN

[flipperphil]

Klimi, David, Popeye and John

 

Thanks for looking in and the kind words, they really help in keeping me motivated with this build.  I am now two years in and probably at my pace still got a year or more to go.  I'm also finding it hard not to start another build.  I've got one waiting in the wings already.  Still a lot to do on this build, so I must keep my hands out of the box until much later in the year or next.  Oh well, I'll get there eventually.

 

Phil

[flipperphil]

With all the deck fittings now in place except the swivel guns, which I've decided to leave until later, probably when most of the rigging is done, I'm now moving on to the bowsprit and masts.  Starting with the bowsprit, using the dowel rods from the kit, the bowsprit was measured for length and then cut and sanded to shape.  Once I'd got the circumference right, I added the collar and gammoning cleats, these were made from 2mm x 1mm walnut strip.  Each one was filed into shape and then cut from the strip ready to be glued into place on the bowsprit.  Once these were all done the cap was fixed into place after the correct angle was achieved.  Two blocks were then added, one either side just behind the cap, complete with the sheaves.  This just left the saddle which was also glued into place.  The jib boom came next, again this was cut to length and shaped, a sheave was added to the tip.  All these details were taken from the A.O.T.S book.

 

Regards Phil

 

[Shipyard sid]

Hello Phil

As good as ever. Have I missed this somewhere on your log or are you putting the sails on ??? DAVID

[st george]

Hi Phil,

 

I like the painted hull and think your Bounty is coming on great.

 

David

[popeye the sailor]

the bow spirit and boom is going to look great when they are assembled ,  sanded,  and painted.   nicely done!

[Nirvana]

Phil, you have done an amazing job. I like the details. I have AL's version of hmav Bounty and the same book. Mr McKay reveal so many other details not shown in the diagrams.

[john46]

Phil,

 

A great build and very nice details. It's a pleasure to read your log.

 

Regards,

John

[flipperphil]

Hi Shipyard Sid

 

Thanks for the good words.  As for the sails, Billings do supply the material to make these, so 'yes' I will be adding sails.  Not sure at the moment whether to do full sails or furled sails.  Either way it's going to be a lot of work making them, so I may enlist the help of the admiral, it's probably good to keep her on side anyway.  

 

Regards Phil