1/48 scale 20 gun ship from Modelship Dockyard kit [COMPLETED BUILD]

I have started making, bending and preparing the beams for the quarter deck. The kit uses a side plank with already cut notches for the beams, but since I am extending the Q.D. I have instead run a strip of 1x1 mm along each side to support the beams and let me place them where I want them. The beams are notched at different heights, gradually decreasing, the notches allow me to adjust them to the correct height and so the planking touches all in turn.
Before I plank across the top I decided to pimp the 'great cabin' a bit. I cut and glazed two four pane windows in the entrance doors. And whilst not wanting to make it into a dolls house I will a one or two pieces to give a feel of depth. And flushed with 'success' after making the galley flue I decided to start with a Georgian side board. I know people where shorter back then, but even so there will not be much head room in the cabin. Slushy scales out at a huge for his day at five foot ten, yet as you can see his head will be through the deck no bother.
B.t.w. he recons that sideboard will next be seen on the Antiques Roadshow, giving a couple of centuries!
Here are some pictures, including the first fitting of the beams.


IMG_20230528_110052.jpgIMG_20230528_110040.jpgIMG_20230527_233911.jpgIMG_20230526_234548.jpgIMG_20230526_103120.jpg Cheers JJ..
 
Scarborough Quarter Deck


The NMM has an unnamed Navy Board model of a sixth rate twenty gun ship circa. 1725 (SLR0012), and I have used this as a reference in extending the QD of my Scarborough.


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How I wish I could build something like that, beautiful. Anyway after the Lord Mayor's coach back to my dustcart, at least the above unnamed ship lets me see how far forward I can take the QD. Since the planking that comes with the kit was too short for the stretched deck I used some of the left over main deck planking, unfortunately the premade nail holes don't match the positioning of the beams, then again I couldn't get them to match on the main deck anyway.
Next I have to make up a pair of side latter's, I considered one central gangway between where the front rail will be and the mizzen mast but it would have been a bit of a squeeze so I plumbed for the arrangement as above. I also thought of adding a skylight over the great cabin but couldn't find any old models showing a skylight on a sixth rate, still I bet they had them.
Seeing the stand above has me thinking about how to mount Scarborough, I have already drilled the keel to fit a pair of pedestals but I'm beginning to think that would put a lot of stress on the keel so I don't know.

Well here are some pics of my progress.


IMG_20230602_173100.jpgIMG_20230602_173124.jpgIMG_20230602_173142.jpgIMG_20230602_173204.jpgIMG_20230602_173241.jpgIMG_20230602_173316.jpgIMG_20230602_173343.jpgIMG_20230602_173356.jpgIMG_20230602_173412.jpgIMG_20230602_173436.jpgIMG_20230602_173501.jpgIMG_20230602_173510.jpg Cheers JJ..
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The National Maritime Museum model of a sixth rate shown above uses two vertical ladders to access the quarter deck from the main deck, and very natty it looks, however when I tried to reproduce these ladders my attempt looked rubbish. I could not get everything to fit right and was fouling the gun outhaul rigging too much. I noticed that some larger navy ships of this era ie third rates upward tended to have spiral or curved ladders and that, for my sins, is what I have gone for, (pure fantasy I am sure).
With gnashing of teeth and scratching of head I came up with what's below. I don't like building anything I can not prove may have been used on a particular ship at a particular time, but I have argued with myself that with so few examples to reference that maybe some rich captain went for the deluxe upgrade,(yea right). So after convincing myself I set about making a pair of curved ladders. I used my Proxxon milling machine and dividing head to make them. The port anti-clockwise ladder was no problem. however the clockwise ladder proved more difficult as the divider jaws opens when turned anti-clockwise. I am sure greater minds than mine,(the vast majority), would have found a more elegant solution than me, but all I could think of to keep the jaws from opening was to wire lock them, and it worked fine.
I add the next gun in line to ensure there was enough room for it without fouling the ladder. Next up are the quarter deck rails etc..


IMG_20230603_204030.jpgIMG_20230606_092929.jpgIMG_20230605_215541.jpgIMG_20230607_180700.jpgIMG_20230609_222408.jpgIMG_20230609_222829.jpgIMG_20230609_222843.jpgIMG_20230609_223704.jpgIMG_20230609_224327.jpgIMG_20230609_225905.jpg Cheers JJ..
 
Jack Jäger said:
Since I last put virtual pen to paper I have started working on the stern of Scarborough, adding a small bench below the transom lights in the captain's cabin. I also built up the rudder and fixed it to stern post. I used the gudgeon and pintle braces from the kit, I found these, like most of the photo-etched sheet, to be a little flimsy an ,at least to my eye, slightly out of scale. Regardless they look nice enough.
Perhaps I am too fussy but I really did not like the gun barrels that came with the kit, like wise the gun carriages, although top notch, well designed and produced, are simply of a different era and I could not make myself fit them. First the barrels are way too long at a scale length of over eight and a half feet,( 1719 Establishment calls for seven and a half feet with a bore of three and a half inches, scale eqv. of 1.85mm). Amusingly the bore of the brass guns in the kit scales up to 5.85 inches, a 32 pound gun circa 1720 had a bore of just over 6 inches. I guess these barrels are just generic, but to me they just don't look right. So having made a rod for my own back I set out to find a suitable barrel and make a convincing carriage.
The barrels I had 3D printed from Vanguard Models, and the carriage, although probably not a pretty as the ones in the kit I made (at the fourth attempt) using what information I could gather. Interestingly although the carriage drawn in the AoS Blandford book by Goodwin is very like the carriage supplied in the text Goodwin describes a carriage with a bed, so there has been a mix-up there somewhere. Like I said maybe I am just too fussy.

Here are some photos including the JJ Board of Ordnance Mk. 4 prototype bed and trucks carriage and gun. (not to mention a few odd looking boyos to serve her).


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ps that brass barrel would make a nice table cigarette lighter.
Click to expand...
Totally agree about the the excessive lenght of kit's barrels... . Vanguard's look great.
 
Hi Folks,
Since I last scribed upon these hallowed pages I have been working on the ships rails and the swivel gun pedestals situated on the quarter deck. Since I extended the quarter deck most of the bits and pieces have had to be made from scratch and has taken a bit longer than I had expected. The ensign staff is quite long,(according to Lee's Mast and Rigging ... it should be the same length as the mizzen top mast, while Goodwin's A o S has it at 23.5 feet, at scale there is only 1mm difference,), so I imagined it would need a sturdy support and shoe. I used cooks mate 'Slushy' to judge the height above the deck for the swivel guns, it looks ok to me. Finishing all the rails is a bit of a milestone and the next phase will be to finish the stern gallery, then to work on the bows. the roundhouses might be a problem as where they are to be placed has them at quite an angle, perhaps that part of the bow should be more vertical, I'll have to have a think about it..

Here are some photographs of my progress.




IMG_20230625_233420.jpgIMG_20230629_154204.jpgIMG_20230629_154227.jpgIMG_20230629_154236.jpgIMG_20230629_154317.jpgIMG_20230629_154248.jpgIMG_20230629_154346.jpgIMG_20230629_154417.jpgIMG_20230629_154455.jpgIMG_20230629_154512.jpgIMG_20230629_154553.jpgIMG_20230629_154610.jpg

The quarter badge and gallery carvings are only held with two sided tape for now. I'm not too sure about the blue, it looks a bit too strong in these pics.. Something else to consider.

Cheers JJ..

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Recently, I mostly, have been working on the rails and not using the kit plans and pieces so much but today I have been profiling and adding the channels. Guess what the numbers on the plans and the numbers on the wood don't match, even different shaped parts bear the same number! Nothing new there then. This is a real shame as this otherwise is a great kit, but these errors will confuse some, confused me at times.
Anyway I have shaped the channels to the curve of the hull and pinned them in place temporally, to be removed before coating the hull then to be replaced.

IMG_20230705_131454.jpg IMG_20230705_131506.jpg

After sorting the channels I have went back to do a bit more to the stern. I added the 'glass' to the great cabin lights and fixed the transom carving, then started on the figures placed between the quarter badges and the stern. I made two small platforms to set them on, these pieces might be supplied with the kit but there is no reference for them and I couldn't be bothered looking. Again these parts are just held temporally.

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Not too sure about monochromatic powder blue finish.... looks a bit 'froggy' to my eyes!

Cheers JJ..
 
Jack Jäger said:
Recently, I mostly, have been working on the rails and not using the kit plans and pieces so much but today I have been profiling and adding the channels. Guess what the numbers on the plans and the numbers on the wood don't match, even different shaped parts bear the same number! Nothing new there then. This is a real shame as this otherwise is a great kit, but these errors will confuse some, confused me at times.
Anyway I have shaped the channels to the curve of the hull and pinned them in place temporally, to be removed before coating the hull then to be replaced.

View attachment 383008 View attachment 383009

After sorting the channels I have went back to do a bit more to the stern. I added the 'glass' to the great cabin lights and fixed the transom carving, then started on the figures placed between the quarter badges and the stern. I made two small platforms to set them on, these pieces might be supplied with the kit but there is no reference for them and I couldn't be bothered looking. Again these parts are just held temporally.

View attachment 383010 View attachment 383011 View attachment 383012


Not too sure about monochromatic powder blue finish.... looks a bit 'froggy' to my eyes!

Cheers JJ..
Click to expand...
A truly masterpiece!
 
HMS Scarborough 1722

(And my excuse for painting her hull red)

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I have searched every 18th century painting of English ships of war I could find in books and the internet without finding a sixth rate with a red painted hull. There are quite a few first, second and third rates with painted hulls, there is even an account from the Battle of the Nile describing ships of the line painted all colours but no painted sixth rates. Then again there very few paintings where a sixth rate is the star.

This day, 19TH July 1722, three hundred and one years ago the twenty-gun ship Scarborough was launched at Deptford, unlike others of her class she was a rebuild of a surviving 1690’s thirty-gun ship. She cost three thousand five hundred and eighty-one pounds and one-half pence ! (Somebody was having a laugh). After a further cost of seven hundred and twenty-two pounds eighteen shillings and eight pence to outfit she was commissioned under the captaincy of Capt. George Anson, February 1724 and set sail for Carolina. It’s a rare time of peace and the first few years of her commission are quiet, there is no record as to whether her hull was painted or not.

Something happened, but I cannot find out what, and she returned to Plymouth in December 1728 for ‘a great repair and refit at the cost of £2853.17.9d. ’She was recommissioned in April 1729 under the command of Capt. John Barnsley and sailed for the Leeward Islands, and this is when I discovered something interesting, in a roundabout way. I was reading a piece about the last voyage of the fourth rate HMS Tilbury who was lost in a hurricane near Louisburg in September 1757, her captain was Henry Barnsley. The article included a potted history of the Barnsley family, penned in 1868, part of this includes the words of Mary, (the wife of John Barnsley),talking about, I think, Scarborough sailing for the Leeward Islands.

“Henry, along with his cousins James and Ann, stood proudly at the point while we, like the others, waved and cheered until we were hoarse, the good ship Scarborough, with her reddened hull and mountain of white sails, the last visible in the gathering gloom.” I should rather that she had written red instead of reddened which may , probably?, have been some sort of reflection from the setting sun, but I’ll take it anyway. My Scarborough will have a red hull. Sadly, her son, the Henry she speaks of, is the same Henry Barnsley who as captain of HMS Tilbury perished along with one hundred and twenty of his crew upon the rocky shores of Nova Scotia.

Here are some more pics.. Since before I have added some gun ports, the ballast ports, thrown away the wheel to make a better one, then made a start at the bow. Oh, and painted the hull red, well ‘humbrol wine actually’. If the boys and girls at Humbrol think wine is this colour they have been drinking their own thinners!



IMG_20230719_210000.jpgIMG_20230719_210014.jpgIMG_20230719_210055.jpgIMG_20230719_210112.jpg


Cheers JJ..







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Jack Jäger said:
HMS Scarborough 1722

(And my excuse for painting her hull red)

​

I have searched every 18th century painting of English ships of war I could find in books and the internet without finding a sixth rate with a red painted hull. There are quite a few first, second and third rates with painted hulls, there is even an account from the Battle of the Nile describing ships of the line painted all colours but no painted sixth rates. Then again there very few paintings where a sixth rate is the star.

This day, 19TH July 1722, three hundred and one years ago the twenty-gun ship Scarborough was launched at Deptford, unlike others of her class she was a rebuild of a surviving 1690’s thirty-gun ship. She cost three thousand five hundred and eighty-one pounds and one-half pence ! (Somebody was having a laugh). After a further cost of seven hundred and twenty-two pounds eighteen shillings and eight pence to outfit she was commissioned under the captaincy of Capt. George Anson, February 1724 and set sail for Carolina. It’s a rare time of peace and the first few years of her commission are quiet, there is no record as to whether her hull was painted or not.

Something happened, but I cannot find out what, and she returned to Plymouth in December 1728 for ‘a great repair and refit at the cost of £2853.17.9d. ’She was recommissioned in April 1729 under the command of Capt. John Barnsley and sailed for the Leeward Islands, and this is when I discovered something interesting, in a roundabout way. I was reading a piece about the last voyage of the fourth rate HMS Tilbury who was lost in a hurricane near Louisburg in September 1757, her captain was Henry Barnsley. The article included a potted history of the Barnsley family, penned in 1868, part of this includes the words of Mary, (the wife of John Barnsley),talking about, I think, Scarborough sailing for the Leeward Islands.

“Henry, along with his cousins James and Ann, stood proudly at the point while we, like the others, waved and cheered until we were hoarse, the good ship Scarborough, with her reddened hull and mountain of white sails, the last visible in the gathering gloom.” I should rather that she had written red instead of reddened which may , probably?, have been some sort of reflection from the setting sun, but I’ll take it anyway. My Scarborough will have a red hull. Sadly, her son, the Henry she speaks of, is the same Henry Barnsley who as captain of HMS Tilbury perished along with one hundred and twenty of his crew upon the rocky shores of Nova Scotia.

Here are some more pics.. Since before I have added some gun ports, the ballast ports, thrown away the wheel to make a better one, then made a start at the bow. Oh, and painted the hull red, well ‘humbrol wine actually’. If the boys and girls at Humbrol think wine is this colour they have been drinking their own thinners!



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Cheers JJ..







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Good morning Jack. Awesome post. Cheers Grant
 
Wow Jack! You cite the Scarborough model as your holy grail, but I honestly do not think your build has stand back one iota for that model. I must say that red hull certainly sets it apart from the rest and calls for a second take! I love it!
 
I did read somewhere that captains were at liberty to paint the hull whatever colour they wished when taking over a ship - and since you are the captain the choice is yours.
Great build which I am following with interest.
 
Since the last time I have been working on the ships bow area and have just about completed it at least for now. Next I will work on the channels and probably add some dead eyes (not included), been working on the guns on and of so will rig the rest of them also.

Some photographs ,


IMG_20230727_094915.jpgIMG_20230727_094935.jpgIMG_20230727_095118.jpgIMG_20230727_095125.jpgIMG_20230727_095145.jpgIMG_20230727_095221.jpgIMG_20230727_095236.jpgIMG_20230727_095334.jpgIMG_20230727_095346.jpgIMG_20230727_095415.jpg Cheers JJ..
 
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