Reference for builders

Ordered the way a builder looks for it: by technique, by problem, by dimension.

Everything a builder of the Caldercraft Diana looks for, distilled from nine years of build log and ordered by technique, problem and dimension. Search everything below, or pick a register or a how-to. Every row points back to the log post and the forum post it came from.

Techniques

The building techniques apart from this kit, from planking and coppering to ropework and knots, each with the how-tos, problems and log posts that belong to them.

Coppering a model ship hull

Laying copper plates on a model hull: set out the bands first, follow the planking runs instead of the keel, and what to do when a row runs crooked.

Deck fittings: capstan, ship's wheel, gratings and bitts

What goes on the deck: cambered gratings, a scratch-built ship's wheel, the capstan with bars, shot garlands, a binnacle, and bitts and pin rails that will have to hold the pull of the rigging.

Deck planking: margin plank, joggling and caulking seams

Laying deck planks in scale: the margin plank, joggling at the bow, a caulking seam made of thread and the four-butt shift for the joints.

Fairing bulkheads and getting the hull to run true

Fairing the bulkheads of a wooden ship model: only after gluing, always checked with a batten across several bulkheads.

Guns, carriages and carronades in scale

Twenty-eight guns to size: blackening the barrels, detailing carriages with bolts and breeching rings, getting the gun at the right height in the port, and the ropework that goes with it.

Hammock cranes and hammock nettings

Replacing the fragile kit hammock cranes with home-made ones from brass tube, with netting from fly screen and hammocks from tea-dyed cloth.

Head, cathead and rudder

The head with grating and seats, catheads from one piece, the bowsprit and the angle sheet 1 gets wrong, and a rudder in line with the keel with pintles set into the copper.

Planking a wooden ship model hull

Hull planking in scale: tapering strakes, drop planks and stealers, the second planking and the wale, including the mistakes made along the way.

Ropework and knots: breeching ropes, gun tackles and coiled falls

The first ropework on the model: cable-laid breeching ropes, gun tackles with 2.3 mm blocks, a silk-thread seizing instead of a knot, eye splices in the messenger and coiling the fall.

Stern, quarter galleries and mouldings

The stern and quarter galleries of a frigate: making windows opaque, bending mouldings round the bow, finishing ornaments in gold, and why that gold is a choice.

Registers

Six registers, distilled from 546 forum posts. Every row points back to the log post and the forum post it came from, or to the builder who reported it.

Problems and fixes 134 rows

What went wrong, what caused it and how it worked out in the end.

Kit errata 86 rows

Where the kit differs from the drawings, and what the right dimension is. Seen myself, read in kit and book, or reported by another builder.

Materials and suppliers 71 rows

Wood, rope, paint and tools, with supplier and price.

Sources and books 23 rows

The books, draughts and build logs the choices rest on.

Who helped with what 15 rows

The forum members who followed along, and what they helped with.

Terminology EN/NL 361 rows

Dutch and English ship terms side by side, with an explanation.