Hello all,

A very busy few weeks in the shipyard constructing the guard rails. Reasonably straight forward and repetitive once you get going. However, a significant amount of time was required doing dry fits. Especially for the die-cut pieces of railing for the two quarter deck sections.

For the main deck it was a toss-up between having the top rail straight, or a downward curve. I opted for the latter and used a combination of rubber bands, balsa blocks and pins to achieve what I was happy with.

Some slight deviation with the end pieces of the balustrades. I ended up rounding the ends to a curve to align the top railing with the deck. Otherwise the upper railing would have been jutting outwards and it just didn’t look right. To help with the dry fitting, I used some sewing clamps available from the local haberdashery. These are nice and small and great for attaching the curved balustrade to the gun port rings.

For the upper quarterdeck bulwarks, I applied a layer of sapele strips to the outer faces. This was to ensure a finished texture similar to that previously applied to the hull. Some additional features are applied to the upper quarterdeck in the way of 4mm trim around the outer edges and 3x3mm supports to the bulwarks. This was to help stabilise the base of the railing as I thought it was a bit flimsy and unsteady without them. A bit tricky trying to measure the spacing before attaching the upper railing, but the end result was pretty close in line with the gun wale strips.

So, that’s it for constructing guard rails for the time being. Now it’s time to assembly grates and finish of the rectangular openings in the desks.

Until next time.
Regards, Adam

Very nice, WTG. A very tidy build.


Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)

Looks amazing Adam, you're truly doing a fab job with her and its a pleasure to follow.....

Regards

Alan

Hello all,

A few months has passed since my last post, but work continues in between work and other domestic commitments.

Gratings for the forecastle and Quarterdeck are complete. Lego bricks to the rescue to make sure all is square during assembly. Added rows on the outboard sides for cannon balls, as done previously for the grates on the main deck. A slight deviation from the instructions for the upper Quarterdeck hatch that calls for a hatch cover. I thought that this looked out of place so I installed another grated hatch and cannon balls to keep the theme going. Omitted the eyelets and rings on the hull. Absolutely no idea what these are used for and could not find any future use for them in the instructions.

The rudder was a bit fiddly to install, but slow and steady. Added an extension to the top of the rudder as it was a bit short. A good pair of pliers with smooth jaws and a photo etch bender are necessities for bending the rudder hinges.

I attempted to blacken the hinges with the patina that I used for stained glass work and this turned out to be an epic fail. On my test piece all I managed to do was eat away the coatings on the hinges. Than after a few days they started to corrode. So, command decision was to leave the brass finish as is. This matches in with the gold finish around the gallery, so all is not lost.

Whilst the ship was upside down, I figured that this was an ideal time to do a bit of fast forward to Issue 132 to install the ring around the rudder. The ring that comes in the template is way too small (as can be seen in the photo). So used the supplied template to make a larger one. It just so happened that the OD of the supplied ring was just the right size for the ID of the new ring. Painted the ring gold and the inner circle of the hull black and all is good.

The gun port hatches at the stern were fairly straight forward. I used two ply of the sapele strip for the hatches to give a bit more depth. Hatch hinges remained ala natural.

So, that’s about it for now. Up next is the completion of decorations on the gallery.

Until next time, happy building.

Regards, Adam

Looking amazing Adam, a beautiful build to date.... .. Very well done...

Regards

Alan