23 december 2020

After building the "Galley" and placing the "Brodie Stove" only the deck beams of the "Upper Deck" had to be placed. After more than a year of work the furnishing of "The Middle Deck" is finished. There are 14 pieces of "24 pound Guns" placed and on the deck burn 8 lanterns. I am now 6 years working on this project and can now say that I am just about half.

Occasionally I turn on the lower lanterns and take a moment to look at the lower decks. I honestly admit that this sometimes takes more than an hour. There is so much to see. That's why I added a picture where you look from the rearview mirror to the front. Vic is becoming more and more impressive on the outside as well. There are now 29 of the total 52 "Guns" placed.

In the next few days I'm going to prepare the work for decorating "The Upper Deck" and also the deck construction for "The Quarter Deck" applied. Now this construction is a lot lighter and simpler than the lower decks. Besides laying black and white tiles in "The Admiral's Day Cabin" & "Dining Cabin" there is a lot of preparation and work in the construction of the "Beakhead & Bulkhead".

In addition, there are 15 pieces 12 "pounds Guns Long" made, so there is still plenty of work. According to my schedule, the layout of the "Upper Deck" late 2021 ready.

Merry Christmas

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Regards,
Henk

6 december 2020

In the past few weeks I've made a lot of progress. All "24 Pound Guns" are placed and equipped with tackles. The deck construction of the "Upper Deck" between the main mast and "The Brodie Stove" is quite simple. Outside the lighting and the operation of the hatches, there is nothing else to be installed.This part is now ready and I have arrived at the front part. That part gives some more challenges.

Under the next beam the first wall of the Galley will be placed. I have already done some research on the layout of the Galley. In the current situation it is equipped with windows, there is some kind of work closet in it, etcetera. So this one is quite different from the one on the drawing of John McKay. So I have decided to stick completely to the drawings.

In addition, I will also continue to work with 'The Brodie Stove'. It still needs to be provided with small parts, etc. I will keep track of the progress in the separate blog "The Brodie Stove".

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Regards,
Henk

8 november 2020

During the production of the "Jeer Bitts" and the 'Topsail Sheet Bitts' I oiled the front part of the 'Middle Deck' and meanwhile the production of the deck construction of the 'Upper Deck' has continued. There are lanterns installed again and once the oil was dry, I have quite a few 'Guns' placed. 

Before I could start with the production of 'Bitts', the right length had to be determined. These 'Bitts' run through the 'Middle- & Upperdeck' and the top of these 'Bitts' eventually protrude on the 'Quarterdeck'. I have a drawing on which these 'Bitts' are drawn in a scale of 1 : 24 in detail, so I was able to build them fairly accurately.

The 'Bitts' have a black color on the 'Quarterdeck', so I decided to make them out of ebony. Working with ebony is quite a challenge in itself, it's very hard and it splinters underneath you if you don't use sharp tools. In the end I was able to assemble the 'Bitts' yesterday with special glue, put them in the oil again and put them in place. 

If you look closely at the pictures, you will see a loose piece of wood in the middle under the deck beams. I make this piece of wood for each deck beam separately and it is meant to press it in the curved position. As soon as the rest of the deck construction is in place, it will be replaced by a fixed pillar. With the 'Bitts' the deckbeams are caught in a groove.

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Regards,
Henk

18 oktober 2020

It has been over 1.5 months since I updated the site, but there wasn't much to report either. Up to the main mast it is a matter of Guns places and the deck construction of the Upper Deck. The challenge is then to apply a lantern, these tests and then again with the next frame. As I now describe the work seems very boring, but it is not. It's still changing work and fun to do, but still you're going to miss the real thinking for a while. 

Now it's almost time for the deck construction at the main mast and especially the last two weeks I've been figuring out how to apply it. As you can see on the drawing, which hangs on the wall, there are large pillars around the Main Mast and the Fore Mast and these run through the upper deck constructions. For those interested in the names of these uprights, I have found the English name in the book The Anatomy of Nelson's Ships , page 20, fold-out drawing. The 2 pillars on the back of the mast are called 'Jeer Bitts' and the 2 on the front Topsail Sheet Bitts. In short, I have some drawing work and again something else to do.

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Regards,
Henk

30 august 2020

Because of the heat, the construction has stopped for a while, but I've progressed quite a bit. At the moment 6 of the 14 guns are in place and I have to admit that Vic gives more and more impression on the outside with all the guns.

I've prepared all the pillars of the Middle Deck, so I can grab these from my work stock in the coming months. My deck beams of the Upper Deck are rounder than the deck beams underneath and not under every deck beam. During the construction of the deckbeams I put a temporary pillar under a deckbeam where there is no pillar. As soon as the entire construction is attached to a girder with pillars again, the temporary pillars will be removed. In this way, the entire structure remains in the correct curvature.

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Regards,
Henk