HMS Enterprise 1774 midship cross-section in 1/160

[Dubz Modelling World]

Next were the gunport sills. Kinda work that is not my favourite. I have this bit of an obsession with removing laser marks, and I always try to get rid of them really thoroughly. You shouldn’t always do that. It’s not a big deal, but I’d advise following the instructions exactly and only removing the laser marks from the surface – unfortunately, you can’t get them off the bulb completely anyway with the pear wood. That made it a bit tricky for me to get the positions of the sills exactly right, and I actually would have liked a template for this part

I need to have a look now; I actually wanted to leave one side partly open, but unfortunately I didn't manage it very well ...

Another template to mark were exactly planking is needed I like all these jigs and templates very much!

cheers

Dirk

 

[Dubz Modelling World]

Thanks for the likes

This is really a very nice kit and fun to build.

I finished the gunports. I decided not to let one side open, I didn't like the quality of my work with the sills. I should have been more careful with the gunports; they ended up looking different on one side because I was in too much of a rush. Anyway, can’t change it.

Just a tip: I prefer doing the planks in one piece, even across the gunports, to ensure that the overall curve is clean and smooth. You can split them in sections if you like, but it might be visually noticeable.

More images

cheers

Dirk

 

[RichardG]

Outstanding Dirk. Those strakes are perfect.

 

[Dubz Modelling World]

Thank you very much Richard

 

[dockattner]

Clean work, Dirk. Are you 'softening' the edges on the planks? That's a nice approach on a model this small.

 

[Dubz Modelling World]

Thank you Paul. Yes indeed and I don't sand the whole planking after so that the chamfers are still there.

 

[Peter Voogt]

Thanks for the likes

This is really a very nice kit and fun to build.

I finished the gunports. I decided not to let one side open, I didn't like the quality of my work with the sills. I should have been more careful with the gunports; they ended up looking different on one side because I was in too much of a rush. Anyway, can’t change it.

Just a tip: I prefer doing the planks in one piece, even across the gunports, to ensure that the overall curve is clean and smooth. You can split them in sections if you like, but it might be visually noticeable.

More images

cheers

Dirk

Very nice and inspirational, Dirk. Can’t wait to start ……. But have to.
Regards, Peter

 

[Dubz Modelling World]

Thank you Peter and the likes

Once the gunports were finished, all the spacers were removed.

The inner hull was then sanded down cleanly. It proved to be absolutely the right decision to remove most of the laser char from the inner frames right at the start. I can only strongly recommend this, especially to anyone building the pear wood version – otherwise, it seems to me impossible to get it done properly later on, even so, I had to remove a little too much material in some places.

The following pictures also clearly show another nice and helpful jig for aligning the keelson neatly.

I didn’t glue the three-part keelson in place straight away, but fitted it into the hull bit by bit; this makes it easier to adjust the parts, although this was only marginally necessary.

Next came the mainmast step, which was assembled from three laminated parts and finally adjusted. Unfortunately, this also reveals a disadvantage compared to the boxwood versions: the colour of the pear wood varies, and you can immediately see that this part, which should be a solid single piece, consists of three parts. Boxwood is simply more consistent in colour. As a minor criticism, I would like to point out that the manufacturer could be more selective in their choice of wood, or alternatively offer the step as a single piece ;-)

More images

cheers

Dirk

 

[RichardG]

Looking really clean.
Ditto on advance removal of interior char. The boxwood being harder was quite a challenge to get the last interior areas clean, and the amount of finger pressure required seemed a little unhealthy for my hands. Also loved the templates. They just get better as the kit progresses.

 

[Ronald61]

Dirk, I really like the build! My compliments

The difference in wood is what I personally like in wood. It makes the total more natural what you ony can archieve with wood. But that is my humble opinion

 

[Dubz Modelling World]

Thanks Richard and Ronald and the likes. I basically agree that variations in the wood are perfectly natural, but if laminating wood is intended to imitate a unique piece, then the wood should be uniform in order to maintain the illusion. Just my 2 cent

Next, a jig/stand were constructed to determine the exact position of the beams of the hold deck and to position them. Another jig was then used to centre the beams on the double frame and glue them in place (I used some masking tape here for the beams so that they are clamped more securely into the jig, as the dimensions were smaller after the laser char had been removed). But before that happened, the entire inner hull was oiled, as it would not have been possible to do so properly afterwards.

More images

cheers

Dirk