HMS Diana by Caldercraft

[HMSFly]

Thx all of you... I do my best..

Dear Tony...
Let the Con wait... and start with the Diana...
Together we have more fun...
The biggest problem I am currently experiencing is the inadequate instructions....

And the fear of making "modifications" that I will regret later... Such as the topic "False Keel" and tapering the whole...
Yes, I found the solution for the 20 & 21... but you have to pay attention as you continue to study....

For ex. the plank termination templates below.... here you clearly have to taper them before gluing but how much?
Try and error is not permitted...

 

[Tony H]

Thx all of you... I do my best..

Dear Tony...
Let the Con wait... and start with the Diana...
Together we have more fun...
The biggest problem I am currently experiencing is the inadequate instructions....

And the fear of making "modifications" that I will regret later... Such as the topic "False Keel" and tapering the whole...
Yes, I found the solution for the 20 & 21... but you have to pay attention as you continue to study....

For ex. the plank termination templates below.... here you clearly have to taper them before gluing but how much?
Try and error is not permitted...

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Marc I am truly tempted but I'm scared if I stop it now I won't want to start it again. My last model (Unicorn) was sitting 20 years unfinished before I complete it, I can't let that happen again.

Tony

 

[HMSFly]

Again an update, a very important one: tapering the Bulkheads.
In order to nicely taper the Bulkheads (first 4 in front, 4 latest in the back) I decided to temporally install the Gun deck and the Main deck.
Before doing this is made an exact copy of both decks by coping the size on two plywood plates... (0,8 mm thick). In case of.....
I noticed that you almost cannot install the gundeck without the risk to break it into 2 pieces....
So I cut the plywood in 2 half, which make it very easy to put them in place...and to plank it...piece of cake and can be done nicely without braking some parts...;

Additionally in temporally installed the main deck and next step is tapering the Bulkheads in the same curve as both the Gun and Main deck....

PS
Everything fits perfectly.....
Also the basswood arrived which will allow me to fill the gaps between the Bulkheads (No Balsa wood because I managed to purchase the basswood at a lower price..)...

 

[HMSFly]

PS
Yes, it's so warm today that I walked on bare feet

 

[HMSFly]

Gentlemen,
I would like to post a special remark:
While building the stern you need to place the stern lower fascia frames and the stern counter frames. The counter frames are intended to form a right angle with the stern lower fascia frames...see red circle.
If you don't pay attention and follow the order of the instruction manual, you will NOT succeed.
That's why I first did glue de lower fascia frames (blue circle) with defining the right angle (picture on the right) with the stern counter frames
And as you can see they are NOT horizontally placed...
As a result, the whole looks good and everything fits...without filing and tapering....

I started also with the assembly of the filling blocs, which will allow me to place the planking much easier...and as said I'm using basswood instead of Balsa...
The linden wood is stronger and offers added value if I need to use nails...

 

[HMSFly]

Time for an update...
To improve the strength of the whole, I planked the Gundeck with the 1x4 mm Maple strips (Three Butt Shift System)... then glued the support beams and painted it neatly white (you can see them through the gratings)...
The next step is to fill the space between the Bulkheads. This is highly recommended and will greatly simplify the 1st planking...especially the bow and stern...
It is a time-consuming job and involves sanding and more sanding...
I'm going to completely finish the stern with the fill blocks...and then the bow.

 

[Chestcutter]

Hi Marc
I am enjoying your progress. Looks superb.
I like how you neatly store spare wood strips in your workshop.
Can you share where you sourced the basswood from, it looks great perhaps better than balsa.
Michael.

 

[HMSFly]

Hi Marc
I am enjoying your progress. Looks superb.
I like how you neatly store spare wood strips in your workshop.
Can you share where you sourced the basswood from, it looks great perhaps better than balsa.
Michael.

Hello Michael,

I purchased the basswood from an Austrian store....

PS
Not the easiest job to fill to space between the Bulkheads....

 

[HMSFly]

I decided to make a second main deck... I used plywood of 1,5 mm thickness instead of the in the kit included 0,8 mm..
This is because I rotate and slide the hull a lot and also want to place it upside down: all this to make it easier to work as I am only halfway through filling... and so there is a high risk that I will damage the Bulkheads sooner or later (I'm going to break them). And to prevent this, I temporarily pinned the second main deck to the hull with 4 nails... and I now have a very sturdy whole...
Besides this, I can already form an idea to possibly make a support for the gun ports....wait and see.

The Stern almost finished with filling the "gaps"....

 

[AllanKP69]

Looks to be VERY neatly done. Looking at the area of the stern post and keel, there does not appear to be a rabbet. Are there to be additional pieces attached before planking to form a rabbet? If this sounds confusing, apologies. Hope the sketch below may be more helpful. I realize the kit construction is somewhat simplified which is a big help, but I was wondering about the rabbet so the edges and ends of planking do not stand proud of the keel and post.
Thanks
Allan

 

[HMSFly]

Dear Allen,

Off course you are right...
I still have to make the rabbet....will do this when I finished to fill to space between the Bulkheads....
See bleu line on the Hull...

Cheers

Marc

 

[HMSFly]

Stern finished.... now the Bow (again sanding and sanding).... a lot of work

 

[GrantTyler]

Good afternoon Marc. Lovely, patient work on the prep work. Setting up for an accurate hull. Very neat. I have pulled up my chair and look forward to this build. Awesome kit. Cheers Grant

 

[HMSFly]

Thx Grant!

 

[HMSFly]

I spent the last week with filling in the space between some Bulkheads. I did not do this randomly, but in function of the placement of the first planking. After all, I am going to divide the strips into three to 4 pieces and then attach them to the Hull (instead of 1 piece over the entire length of the Hull).
So it was a matter of already making a plan how and where I should attach the strips....
PS
I painted some blocks white to be able to see the imperfections even better...
And now the Diana puzzle:
Next step should be the planking of the inner wall of the Gun deck.
In the manual they refer to the use of strips of 1.5 x 5 mm limewood. But they delivered only limewood strips of 1,5 x 6 mm....
On sheet 1 they have drawn 7 strips of 1.5 x 5 mm...
In practice there is space for a maximum of 6 strips and in the middle +- 5.....??????
However, the plans have been drawn in full size....
I didn't make a mistake during the assembly, so I have to figure out how they would have arrived at those 7 (unless the drawing is not accurate...)...

Anyway, I'm now going to see if I can make a frame for the gun ports..

 

[AllanKP69]

Regarding the breadth of the spirketting and quickstuff I would not worry too much as it is the lower deck and will not be seen if you plank the upper deck. With the exception of the spirketting, the old contracts do not give an exact breadth of the quickstuff. For the Diana, the contract calls for two strakes of spirketting totaling 24 inches broad then the balance with the quickstuff. The quickstuff breadth is not given so it is pretty much up to the shipyard (you) The spirketting is 4.5" thick (1.8mm at scale 1:64) and the quickstuff above it is 3" thick. (1.2mm at 1:64) At this scale I for one would not worry about it too much as long as the spirketting is slightly thicker than the quickstuff. Similar situation for the upper deck with two strakes spirketting 4" thick (1.6mm) and the quickstuff above it 3" thick (1.,2mm) This difference in thickness will be noticeable. There are some excellent builds here at SoS that show this difference and it is quite evident. The first 14 pages of the contract can be found on the RMG Collections site with all dimensions if you are interested in the actual dimensions of various parts. (Why they left out the last 10 or 12 pages is a mystery.) The photo below is from post #2575 of Dockattner's Kingfisher build log here at SoS. You can easily see the thicker strakes of spirketting under the ports. I realize not everyone finds these kinds of things to be that important, but I thought you might find it interesting, if not useful.
Allan

 

[Tony H]

I spent the last week with filling in the space between some Bulkheads. I did not do this randomly, but in function of the placement of the first planking. After all, I am going to divide the strips into three to 4 pieces and then attach them to the Hull (instead of 1 piece over the entire length of the Hull).
So it was a matter of already making a plan how and where I should attach the strips....
PS
I painted some blocks white to be able to see the imperfections even better...
And now the Diana puzzle:
Next step should be the planking of the inner wall of the Gun deck.
In the manual they refer to the use of strips of 1.5 x 5 mm limewood. But they delivered only limewood strips of 1,5 x 6 mm....
On sheet 1 they have drawn 7 strips of 1.5 x 5 mm...
In practice there is space for a maximum of 6 strips and in the middle +- 5.....??????
However, the plans have been drawn in full size....
I didn't make a mistake during the assembly, so I have to figure out how they would have arrived at those 7 (unless the drawing is not accurate...)...

Anyway, I'm now going to see if I can make a frame for the gun ports..

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Hi Marc
Great to see your progress it's very interesting to see in detail what I'll be doing in the future. It looks like I'll be spending a lot of time studying the drawings and instructions.
Tony

 

[HMSFly]

Dear Allan,

I am very grateful for your feedback. And I gratefully take advantage of it.
You are of course right that the thickness and number of planks are not important as they cannot be seen under the main deck.

I do wonder why they draw 7 planks knowing that this is not possible. And then with the comment that the drawings on the Sheets correspond 1:1 to the dimensions of the kit?
During the construction of the Constitution, I often had to conclude in a later construction phase that the details in the previous plans were important. So I've become very cautious.

And as said details do matter.

Cheers

Marc

 

[AllanKP69]

I do wonder why they draw 7 planks knowing that this is not possible. And then with the comment that the drawings on the Sheets correspond 1:1 to the dimensions of the kit?

Hello HMSFly
Great question you have raised. To go further I wonder why they don't do thorough research in general. If any of us can find the contemporary drawings and contracts on our own, surely a professional staff of designers can do the same. I get that with so many things in kits, they are a business and must keep in mind the costs so it might be as simple as not being able to spend time (time is money) doing enough research to get things right.

Regarding Diana while all the pages of the contract are not available on the RMG site, for those wanting to build an Artois class ship such as Diana but have not downloaded it, it might still be helpful.

https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/o...EK*MTcyMjQ1MjMyMi4xLjAuMTcyMjQ1MjMyMi4wLjAuMA..

Allan

 

[HMSFly]

And now the Gun Ports:
Be aware that the dimensions on sheet 1 are the inner space (13 x 11 mm). The Gun Ports should be 16 mm long and 14 mm wide. Because you have to install a frame using strips of 1 x 6 mm on the inside to fill the gaps between external and internal wall strips...See picture off the Hull!

Having said this: I am going to install a 3mm thick Plywood plate between the Bulkheads...
As shown in the photo, I then paste the drawing with the gunports and draw the opening of the gunports...knowing that I still have to adjust the dimensions. In my opinion, this offers many advantages: it is easy to indicate the correct position of the Gunports and before gluing the plywood, I can more easily mill or cut the Gun Port openings....

Your opinions ?????

Marc