Yep ..., because there aren't nearly enough Fubbs Stern section builds on here I decided I should post mine as well.
This is my build log for the 1:24 Stern Section of the HMY Fubbs.
His Majesty Yacht (HMY) Fubbs was laid down at Greenwich shipyards by Phineas Pett in 1682. By Royal Navy standards yachts would be the size of a typical harbor dispatch vessel or lightly armed gunboat. HMY Fubbs sported a keel length of only 63’ with at a specified 148 tons fully loaded. With a 21’ breadth and only 9’6” depth in hold these small ships carried a crew of up to 30 and could be armed with 8 – 12 3 pounders.
Royal Yacht duties primarily consisted of tending to the affairs of the royal household. Charles II must have enjoyed yacht class vessels as he had 23 of them during his reign – more than any other English king. HMY Fubbs was the most lavish of his fleet of Royal Yachts.
Visually, the hull of a Royal Yacht has the look of a 6th rate but is more akin to a ketch-rigged sloop. As such, she has a mizzen mast that passes through the small great cabin and no true orlop deck at all. As will be shown later, the stern ports are too close to the waterline and are not actually accessible from inside the ship. What look like stern quarter galleries are more like quarter badges. Most contemporary modelers and many artists tend to imagine HMY Fubbs as a larger ship than it really is due to the illusion created by the artistic style of the ship. The existing plans show a door leading into the quarter gallery. The quarter gallery can’t possibly have been more than 3 feet tall inside, therefore clearly a person couldn’t reasonably go inside it. There are several of the details that look rather odd because of the frigate style being done on a small yacht. As an example the planks below the stern counter appear way to large due to the ship being so small.
Here is a size comparison drawing. HMS Alfred, 3rd Rate, Ship of the Line, a frigate with a gun deck length of 169 feet. Compared to the HMY Fubbs, a Royal Yacht with a keel length of 63 feet.
Charles II employed well known Baroque period artists Van de Veldes younger and senior. Their artwork had a direct influence on the highly decorated HMY Fubbs. HMY Fubbs was named after the mistress of Charles II, the Duchess of Portsmouth, Louise de Keroualle. “Fubbs” was the nickname for Charles II mistress with the meaning of a chubby contemptuous child. HMY Fubbs remained in service for more than 80 years before being broken up in 1781. During that time, it went through 2 refits. One in 1701 and again in 1724. During the 1724 refit, most of her carvings were salvaged and replaced by painted frieze work. There is sufficient historical evidence on Royal Yachts to know they were lightly framed compared to other Royal Navy ships. It was noted that HMY Fubbs would require futtock riders to support the light frame timbers. While the specific duties of HMY Fubbs may not be known it is reasonable to expect the vessel was probably used for intimate entertainment purposes and fine dining.
The reader Is also directed to build logs by
Doc Blakes Stern Section:
Daniels Fubbs Stern Section:
Mike41's Fubbs Build on MSB:
The kits were produced by Weasel Works which is a group of modelers with different interests and skills, really just friends that build model ships and not a business. Several are extreme techies and are exploring what modern technology can bring to the table in model ship building.
There were 11 kits produced, as well as Mike Shank's prototype. There are no plans to produce any more. None were sold to anyone.
Here is one of the kits ready to box and ship. This is one of Mikes photos, don't think I can show this better so I just used his picture.
Now from me.
This is the rear approximately 1/3 of the HMY Fubbs. From just forward of the main cabin to the rear. There isn't presently a completed model of this. Mike Shanks has a mostly built prototype of the model, but we changed a lot of parts from the prototype before production. The lofting and basic design of the ship is from Bob Hunt's plans for the kit he used to sell, (With his blessing and assistance as well), Mike with help from some other members of the Weasel Works group put this kit together. Mike did all of the production of the kits including all of the 3D printing, machining, laser cutting, additional documentation etc. The digital carvings and 3D modeling on the stern were my contribution. This kit was intended to be the first version from 1684 with all of the carvings and will have the interior of the main cabin, and bilge beneath it modeled. There is a lot of unknowns about exactly how this ship was built and decorated, and a lot of conflicting information. As mentioned above, the ship was refit over the years on several different occasions for diferent purposes. The stern lanterns are shown in different configurations during different time periods as well.
The model was developed with Portia's and Reverend Romero’s Practicums and Bob Hunts work, as well as the photos of the contemporary model and paintings etc. But instead of deciding what is "Correct" and expecting everyone to do it that way. In places where there is confusion such as the layout of the main cabin floor, that is being left up to the builder to decide how they want to do it. There are quite a few items that there is no way to really know how it was originally completed; the contemporary model has the domed entryway on the port side and the later practicums all have the entryway on the starboard side. It could be built as the 1684 version or after refit in accordance with one of the practicums it's up to each individual how they want to do that.
The kit contains a bunch of different types of wood kind of in line with the painting with wood concept. The members were also allowed to choose the wood they preferred for the frames and the method that they were produced. Meaning milled or laser cut. The main difference being that the laser cut ones have bevel lines so you don't have to glue templates on them, but you do have to remove the char.
The model goes from frame 25 to the rear. This was chosen because it includes the gold domed entry and the windowed wall in front of the main cabin with a small portion of the quarterdeck.
This portion is basically what will be covered by the stern section. This is one of Bob Hunts models.
Now for my model specifically;
I opted to go with the laser cut Cherry frames because I like the look of the cherry and its workability. Also being as I still work full time, I didn’t want to need to spend a ton of time cutting gluing and ungluing paper.
As I mentioned above, I did the carvings in the computer, and they were machined by Mike Shanks. In my defense, just for starters I had never done a single carving in real life or in the computer prior to October 17, 2022 when Mike asked me to give it a shot. I spent until the 29th of October working in Fusion 360 and decided it wasn’t at all practical to use it for sculpting. I had actually decided to throw in the towel and was typing an e-mail to tell Mike that when I got to thinking about how video game characters are done. I searched around and decided to give a program called Mudbox a shot. It is basically Autodesk's version of Z-Brush. The carvings included in the kit are my best effort at the time they were created.
I’m not thinking they are super great, but I’m very happy given I went from never doing a sculpture to producing these in basically 3 months. To be honest, they aren’t even the best I can do today, but at some point we had to get the model done. I expect my sculpting to continue to improve as time goes on. I may even rework some of the parts on this model as I do have the capability to produce them at home on a limited basis. My little 3018 machine does fantastic work, but it isn’t up to production specs.
Many have probably seen it but there is a thread on my 3018 Beast here.
I wanted to say a little about how this project evolved over time. Mike and Doc Blake came up with the initial idea for the project and one of the main considerations was Bob Hunt had given / sold them the rights to use his plans, so that meant the project wouldn’t have to start from ground zero. As is typical the project took longer than anticipated, but not nearly as long as if it all started from scratch.
The plan was always to use technology to machine, print, and cut parts in the most efficient way we could. However, one thing we didn’t originally plan was the construction of the quarter badges etc. Once I started on the sculptures, I had the thought of;” How do I make sure everything fits?” Because I have been using Fusion 360 for several years now for everything from ship parts to rc plane parts, to fixing my lawnmower. I decided my best bet would be to just draw the stern in Fusion, then I could make sure the carvings fit exactly. I was worried I would spend 50 hours producing a sculpture that didn’t really fit on the model. So, I proceeded to start to draw the stern in Fusion. At this point I realized that the stern plan had some other issues that needed to be worked out. The plans we were using had a lot of the stern parts that were created by fitting them to the end of the frames from oversized blanks. Also, do to the previous kit being all cut from flat sheets the stern was flat across the back. At this point I decided to just redesign the stern from frame 37 back with the correct arcs. After a discussion with Mike we decided we would attempt to do full 3D machining on them. That is why much of the framing is laser cut flat sheets, but the very rear is fully machined.
So from that point I was able to create carvings that exactly fit the curve of the stern, side fashion etc. For instance, the large carving on the top of the stern is machined on the back to fit the curve of the stern so there is no need to try and bend or sand the back of the boxwood to make it fit.
This was my first effort at the upper stern carving. Complete with the ghoul faces and doesn’t actually fit the redesigned back of the ship.
This is a later effort at cleaning that part up.
This is the last piece I produced. It’s pretty clear I could do better now but like I said we had to stop at some point and make the kit.
I have quite a few Ideas of modifications I’d like to do as I build this, and I’ll get to those when the time comes. For now I’m on to the basic frame construction, similar to all of the other kits.
Before I actually got started I was looking at Mike41's log on MSB and it motivated me to make a dust collector for my spindle sander, so I had to print this before I could get to work on sanding the frames. It worked great to hold the vacuum near the spindle. I just clamped it to the table and attached the hose to the back.
So next post I'll talk about starting my build,
This is my build log for the 1:24 Stern Section of the HMY Fubbs.
His Majesty Yacht (HMY) Fubbs was laid down at Greenwich shipyards by Phineas Pett in 1682. By Royal Navy standards yachts would be the size of a typical harbor dispatch vessel or lightly armed gunboat. HMY Fubbs sported a keel length of only 63’ with at a specified 148 tons fully loaded. With a 21’ breadth and only 9’6” depth in hold these small ships carried a crew of up to 30 and could be armed with 8 – 12 3 pounders.
Royal Yacht duties primarily consisted of tending to the affairs of the royal household. Charles II must have enjoyed yacht class vessels as he had 23 of them during his reign – more than any other English king. HMY Fubbs was the most lavish of his fleet of Royal Yachts.
Visually, the hull of a Royal Yacht has the look of a 6th rate but is more akin to a ketch-rigged sloop. As such, she has a mizzen mast that passes through the small great cabin and no true orlop deck at all. As will be shown later, the stern ports are too close to the waterline and are not actually accessible from inside the ship. What look like stern quarter galleries are more like quarter badges. Most contemporary modelers and many artists tend to imagine HMY Fubbs as a larger ship than it really is due to the illusion created by the artistic style of the ship. The existing plans show a door leading into the quarter gallery. The quarter gallery can’t possibly have been more than 3 feet tall inside, therefore clearly a person couldn’t reasonably go inside it. There are several of the details that look rather odd because of the frigate style being done on a small yacht. As an example the planks below the stern counter appear way to large due to the ship being so small.
Here is a size comparison drawing. HMS Alfred, 3rd Rate, Ship of the Line, a frigate with a gun deck length of 169 feet. Compared to the HMY Fubbs, a Royal Yacht with a keel length of 63 feet.
Charles II employed well known Baroque period artists Van de Veldes younger and senior. Their artwork had a direct influence on the highly decorated HMY Fubbs. HMY Fubbs was named after the mistress of Charles II, the Duchess of Portsmouth, Louise de Keroualle. “Fubbs” was the nickname for Charles II mistress with the meaning of a chubby contemptuous child. HMY Fubbs remained in service for more than 80 years before being broken up in 1781. During that time, it went through 2 refits. One in 1701 and again in 1724. During the 1724 refit, most of her carvings were salvaged and replaced by painted frieze work. There is sufficient historical evidence on Royal Yachts to know they were lightly framed compared to other Royal Navy ships. It was noted that HMY Fubbs would require futtock riders to support the light frame timbers. While the specific duties of HMY Fubbs may not be known it is reasonable to expect the vessel was probably used for intimate entertainment purposes and fine dining.
The reader Is also directed to build logs by
Doc Blakes Stern Section:
Daniels Fubbs Stern Section:
Mike41's Fubbs Build on MSB:
The kits were produced by Weasel Works which is a group of modelers with different interests and skills, really just friends that build model ships and not a business. Several are extreme techies and are exploring what modern technology can bring to the table in model ship building.
There were 11 kits produced, as well as Mike Shank's prototype. There are no plans to produce any more. None were sold to anyone.
Here is one of the kits ready to box and ship. This is one of Mikes photos, don't think I can show this better so I just used his picture.
Now from me.
This is the rear approximately 1/3 of the HMY Fubbs. From just forward of the main cabin to the rear. There isn't presently a completed model of this. Mike Shanks has a mostly built prototype of the model, but we changed a lot of parts from the prototype before production. The lofting and basic design of the ship is from Bob Hunt's plans for the kit he used to sell, (With his blessing and assistance as well), Mike with help from some other members of the Weasel Works group put this kit together. Mike did all of the production of the kits including all of the 3D printing, machining, laser cutting, additional documentation etc. The digital carvings and 3D modeling on the stern were my contribution. This kit was intended to be the first version from 1684 with all of the carvings and will have the interior of the main cabin, and bilge beneath it modeled. There is a lot of unknowns about exactly how this ship was built and decorated, and a lot of conflicting information. As mentioned above, the ship was refit over the years on several different occasions for diferent purposes. The stern lanterns are shown in different configurations during different time periods as well.
The model was developed with Portia's and Reverend Romero’s Practicums and Bob Hunts work, as well as the photos of the contemporary model and paintings etc. But instead of deciding what is "Correct" and expecting everyone to do it that way. In places where there is confusion such as the layout of the main cabin floor, that is being left up to the builder to decide how they want to do it. There are quite a few items that there is no way to really know how it was originally completed; the contemporary model has the domed entryway on the port side and the later practicums all have the entryway on the starboard side. It could be built as the 1684 version or after refit in accordance with one of the practicums it's up to each individual how they want to do that.
The kit contains a bunch of different types of wood kind of in line with the painting with wood concept. The members were also allowed to choose the wood they preferred for the frames and the method that they were produced. Meaning milled or laser cut. The main difference being that the laser cut ones have bevel lines so you don't have to glue templates on them, but you do have to remove the char.
The model goes from frame 25 to the rear. This was chosen because it includes the gold domed entry and the windowed wall in front of the main cabin with a small portion of the quarterdeck.
This portion is basically what will be covered by the stern section. This is one of Bob Hunts models.
Now for my model specifically;
I opted to go with the laser cut Cherry frames because I like the look of the cherry and its workability. Also being as I still work full time, I didn’t want to need to spend a ton of time cutting gluing and ungluing paper.
As I mentioned above, I did the carvings in the computer, and they were machined by Mike Shanks. In my defense, just for starters I had never done a single carving in real life or in the computer prior to October 17, 2022 when Mike asked me to give it a shot. I spent until the 29th of October working in Fusion 360 and decided it wasn’t at all practical to use it for sculpting. I had actually decided to throw in the towel and was typing an e-mail to tell Mike that when I got to thinking about how video game characters are done. I searched around and decided to give a program called Mudbox a shot. It is basically Autodesk's version of Z-Brush. The carvings included in the kit are my best effort at the time they were created.
I’m not thinking they are super great, but I’m very happy given I went from never doing a sculpture to producing these in basically 3 months. To be honest, they aren’t even the best I can do today, but at some point we had to get the model done. I expect my sculpting to continue to improve as time goes on. I may even rework some of the parts on this model as I do have the capability to produce them at home on a limited basis. My little 3018 machine does fantastic work, but it isn’t up to production specs.
Many have probably seen it but there is a thread on my 3018 Beast here.
I wanted to say a little about how this project evolved over time. Mike and Doc Blake came up with the initial idea for the project and one of the main considerations was Bob Hunt had given / sold them the rights to use his plans, so that meant the project wouldn’t have to start from ground zero. As is typical the project took longer than anticipated, but not nearly as long as if it all started from scratch.
The plan was always to use technology to machine, print, and cut parts in the most efficient way we could. However, one thing we didn’t originally plan was the construction of the quarter badges etc. Once I started on the sculptures, I had the thought of;” How do I make sure everything fits?” Because I have been using Fusion 360 for several years now for everything from ship parts to rc plane parts, to fixing my lawnmower. I decided my best bet would be to just draw the stern in Fusion, then I could make sure the carvings fit exactly. I was worried I would spend 50 hours producing a sculpture that didn’t really fit on the model. So, I proceeded to start to draw the stern in Fusion. At this point I realized that the stern plan had some other issues that needed to be worked out. The plans we were using had a lot of the stern parts that were created by fitting them to the end of the frames from oversized blanks. Also, do to the previous kit being all cut from flat sheets the stern was flat across the back. At this point I decided to just redesign the stern from frame 37 back with the correct arcs. After a discussion with Mike we decided we would attempt to do full 3D machining on them. That is why much of the framing is laser cut flat sheets, but the very rear is fully machined.
So from that point I was able to create carvings that exactly fit the curve of the stern, side fashion etc. For instance, the large carving on the top of the stern is machined on the back to fit the curve of the stern so there is no need to try and bend or sand the back of the boxwood to make it fit.
This was my first effort at the upper stern carving. Complete with the ghoul faces and doesn’t actually fit the redesigned back of the ship.
This is a later effort at cleaning that part up.
This is the last piece I produced. It’s pretty clear I could do better now but like I said we had to stop at some point and make the kit.
I have quite a few Ideas of modifications I’d like to do as I build this, and I’ll get to those when the time comes. For now I’m on to the basic frame construction, similar to all of the other kits.
Before I actually got started I was looking at Mike41's log on MSB and it motivated me to make a dust collector for my spindle sander, so I had to print this before I could get to work on sanding the frames. It worked great to hold the vacuum near the spindle. I just clamped it to the table and attached the hose to the back.
So next post I'll talk about starting my build,
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