HMS Diana, plank by plank
A 1794 frigate, built on the kitchen table.
Nine years, plank by plank. The complete build log of the Caldercraft (Jotika) model of HMS Diana, scale 1:64, reordered into a reference: 0 log posts distilled from 546 forum posts, 1803 photos, 134 problems with their fixes, 48 how-tos and the errors in the kit. Click a part on the original Admiralty draught, or slide through time.
Explore the shipRead the build logReference
1 Keel and bulkheads2 Planking the gun deck3 Hull planking4 Stern and quarter galleries5 Coppering6 Mouldings, head and rudder7 Fitting out the gun deck8 Guns9 Planking the upper deck10 Rails and capstan11 Ship's wheel and binnacle12 Upper deck guns13 Hammock cranes
14 Masts15 Standing and running rigging
1 Keel and bulkheads2 Planking the gun deck3 Hull planking4 Stern and quarter galleries5 Coppering6 Mouldings, head and rudder7 Fitting out the gun deck8 Guns9 Planking the upper deck10 Rails and capstan11 Ship's wheel and binnacle12 Upper deck guns13 Hammock cranes
14 Masts, 15 Standing and running rigging: still to build
What went wrong, and how it was fixed
- 20 Oct 2019
- The bowsprit gammoning has to be able to pass through the grating. Made two elongated holes in the grating. Pietsan only discovered it on his own build when fitting the bowsprit and then cut a strip out of the grating, with two tiny strips beside it for strength (modelbouwforum, 20 August 2015, https://www.modelbouwforum.nl/threads/hms-diana-engels-fregat-uit-1794.211803/page-32#js-post-3614567); hence his advice to make the holes straight away. (Tips from pietsan)
- 22 Dec 2018
- The upper moulding of the quarter gallery is too long because the planksheer still has to go on. Deliberately left long to trim later; pietsan finds that illogical since it is metal, and fitted the planksheer first. In the kit order this does not arise: there the planksheer (20.2) is already on when the galleries are finished (21.8). It came from our reversed order (coppering first). (Tips from pietsan)
- 22 Dec 2018
- The red line in the profiles of the mouldings is hard to apply. In the end the brush (size 0) after all, rather than fineliner or acrylic marker. (Tips from *Hans*)
Kit errata
- Shroud cleats
- The manual lists 28 cleats (foremast 16, mizzen 8, mainmast 4); the note at Stage four on sheet 5 also asks for a cleat on the first topmast shroud of each topmast for the topgallant lifts, six that appear nowhere in the text. The box has 32 castings 330. 34 cleats.
- Stern and quarter gallery decoration
- The manual prints '374-356 & 358' as part numbers. 347 to 356 and 358; 374 is 0.5 mm thread.
- Rudder
- Kit plan with a bottom edge of the rudder sloping upward. Rudder in line with the keel.
Reference for builders
Ordered the way a builder looks for it: by technique, by problem, by dimension.