HMS Surprise

Here are some more images of Artesania Latina's 1/48 scale HMS Surprise.

From Wikipedia'
Unité was a corvette of the French Navy built in 1794, the lead ship of her class. She was captured by the Royal Navy in 1796 and renamed HMS Surprise. In 1799 she famously recaptured HMS Hermione and in 1802 was sold out of the service.
She was designed by Pierre-Alexandre Forfait, who was in charge of her construction at Le Havre. She was launched on 16 January 1794, and was armed with 24 eight-pound and 8 four-pound long guns. Although the French initially rated Unité as a corvette, the ships of her class bridged a gap between smaller warships and frigates, and at various times were rated as frigates.

On 20 March 1794, Lieutenant de Vaisseau Jean le Drézénec, who was 41 years old and had entered the naval service soon after the revolution from a career in the merchant service, arrived to take command of Unité. He supervised the fitting out of the ship, and found the long guns were too large to be easily reloaded, and the lower sails were also too large. He notified the authorities, who urged him to finish fitting out the ship because a major naval operation was imminent. Soon afterwards, Unité took part in the battle of the Glorious First of June by escorting the dismasted Révolutionnaire as she was towed by the Audacieux.
In June 1794 Unité completed repairs of damage sustained in the battle in St. Malo and Brest, and in the following months escorted merchant vessels along the coasts of France. On 28 September, with the corvette Bergere and under the command of Lieutenant de Vaisseau Gouley, the two ships left Brest to sail northwest in between Ireland and the islands of the Hebrides and St Kilda to intercept enemy merchant ships. On 17 October, the ships captured a 200 ton merchant ship Dianne. The next day the weather turned foul and the two ships were separated. Unwilling or unable to continue the mission alone, Unité searched for Bergere fruitlessly for sixteen days before finally returning to Brest on 1 November.
Under Captain Edward Hamilton, the Surprise sailed in the Caribbean for several years, capturing several privateers. HMS Surprise gained fame for the cutting-out expedition in 1799 of HMS Hermione. Hermione's crew had mutinied, and had sailed her into the Spanish possession of Puerto Cabello. Captain Edward Hamilton of Surprise led a boarding party to retake Hermione and, after an exceptionally bloody action, sailed her out of danger under Spanish gunfire. The Spanish casualties included 119 dead; 231 were taken prisoner, while another 15 jumped or fell overboard. Hamilton had 11 injured, four seriously, but none killed.
After the Peace of Amiens, Surprise was sold out of the service at Deptford in February 1802 and broken up.


HMS Surprise was the ship chosen by author Patrick O'Brian to restore Captain "Lucky" Jack Aubrey of the Aubrey–Maturin series to his place as a captain, and eventually see him raise his flag as an admiral of the Royal Navy. Surprise is an important element of the series, both because of her importance to the running plotline, and because of the emotional attachment she has earned among fans of the series.
For the 2003 film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, the role of Surprise was filled by the replica of HMS Rose, which was purchased by the film studio and modified for the role. The film relates that Aubrey had served aboard her as a midshipman in 1785, when the real Surprise had not yet been launched. The book HMS Surprise by O'Brian also mentions Aubrey being a midshipman aboard Surprise The series also has the Surprise in service until at least 1812, even though a 38-gun frigate by this name was commissioned in September 1812.
The fictional Surprise is sold out of the service in The Reverse of the Medal, being purchased by Stephen Maturin and employed first as a letter of marque and later as His Majesty's hired ship Surprise under Aubrey's command. Maturin agrees to sell the Surprise to Aubrey in The Nutmeg of Consolation, though later novels suggest that Maturin continues to own the ship. Surprise's ultimate fictional fate is unknown although she was still at sea in Blue at the Mizzen when Aubrey receives news of his promotion to rear-admiral of the blue in her great cabin at the end of the book.

H.M.S. Surprise

According to the clock this model took me about 480 hours to construct which of course is faster then I expected.
I don't know if the construction was easier than I thought it would be or if I've just gotten better and faster at ship building over the ages or a bit of both.
Anyway despite the problems with the kit itself in the end it produced a very fine model.

Now to find a place for this 4 1/2 foot\ 1/48 scale beast.

H.M.S. Surprise (It'll Be Ready When It's Ready)

Some of you may have noticed that I haven't put up a progress post in a couple of days. The reason for this is that I felt that any pictures posted beyond my last post may be mistaken for a completed model. So on that thought I decided that the next post will be of the finished model to which I figure will be in the next two or three days.

In the meantime I present to you a Clip from the movie Master And Commander The Far Side Of The World. Enjoy.

H.M.S. Surprise (Fore Yards Installed)

Over the next few days will be the construction and installation masts yards.
After that will be the installations of the anchors, launch, more rigging, yet even more rigging, some more rigging, gun port doors, rigging,flags and finally the display stand.

H.M.S. Surprise (Rigging Continues)

As expected Artesania Latina again has failed to provide enough raw cotton thread to complete the running rigging. I would estimate that I am 1/5 complete as regards the running rigging and I'm already out of raw cotton thread. So off I go to the local craft store to try and find some crochet thread that will hopefully match. They have however supplied a whole slew black cotton thread for the standing rigging and ratlines that I am already finished with. I have 4 roles left! Another error as regards the plans is Artesania Latina's complete failure to provide information as to what belaying pin goes to what running rigging. This is common information provided in every model ship kit I've seen... until now. Fortunately I have enough information on this from other ship plans that I shouldn't any real problem. I've also noticed a failure to indicate measurements as regards certain yard parts. What are they smoking down their?

Also I have decided to rig this model without sails as all the other Surprise models I have seen on the interweb are all rigged with sails. This will be a bit tricky as rigging a ship without sails (as they are seen in dock) is done differently and the plans for this model are drawn out for rigging with sails. The beauty about rigging a ship without sails is that the viewing of the ship's detail are more obvious and easier to see plus one sees the rigging more. Sails as beautiful as they are have a tendency of hiding detail. To each his own I suppose.

H.M.S. Surprise (Bowsprit Installed)

Now that the Bowsprit is installed and the Bows Watercloset is complete, continuation of the stay rigging can carry on.

It is often thought that rigging is the most difficult part of model ship building however I never found this to be so. It just appears that way when the rigging is completed.
I've always found that the most difficult part about model ship building to be the planking of the Hull.

H.M.S. Surprise (Rat Lines Completed)

Now that the Rat Lines (pronounced ratlins) and the back stays are completed (whew!) work can now continue on the completion of the bows water closet and the construction of the Bowsprit.

H.M.S. Surprise (Masts Installed)

Now that the Fore, Main and Mizzen masts are installed work can now begin on the installation of the ships rat lines. This is a very long and tedious procedure and at times cause ones neck to seize up.
So keeping that in mind we'll see you in a few days.

H.M.S. Surprise (Mast Construction Continues)

Now that the lower parts of the masts are constructed the construction of the small top and foretop part of the masts can begin. This part bothers me a bit as there is no real way to know where to place the crosstree supports. So what I am going to do is determine the placement distance by taking the size of the crosstree supports and estimate. I hate doing this but I have no other choice. Thanks a lot Artesania Latina "pinheads".

H.M.S. Surprise (Life Boat/Launch)

Now that the life boat/launch is complete work can begin on the masts.
The first part of the masts to be built will be the crows nests.

H.M.S. Surprise (Stern Completed)

Now that the stern and most of the fittings are completed work can now begin on the lifeboat and masts.
Building the masts are going to be difficult because those gibbering pinheads at Artesania Latina somehow figured that measurements as to where one places parts onto said masts are not necessary. All three masts are of a different size but they only give you basic measurements for one of the masts, then tell you to refer to the drawings for the others. When you look at the drawings there are no measurements plus there are no part number indicators. I will be able to build them though by cross referencing the indicated part numbers to the ones the are not mentioned in the back of the book. From there I can determine positions by part size. I shouldn't have to do this but it is my only choice.
Needless to say this will be the last Artesania Latina kit that I will build. There quality in some areas and attention to plan detail has seriously degraded over the years. A mere shadow of what they once were in my opinion.

H.M.S. Surprise (Side Fittings Continue)

Now that the Chainwales and the Davits are installed work on the Bow's Water Closets can begin.
As you can see the basic structure of the water closets has begun however completion will not be done until later on.
Next will be the the installation of the Hammockholder net and the Rudder chains.

H.M.S. Surprise (Top Deck Fittings Completed)

Now that the top deck fittings a basically finished the side fittings can begin. First up will be the instalment of the chainwales for the rat lines. Unfortunately due to the lousy so called brass wire supplied with the kit I will have to use a black metal wire that I happen to have as its replacement. It's more accurate anyway.

H.M.S. Surprise (Fittings Continue)

I can say unabashedly that I am glad the installation of the cannons is complete. Now I can carry on with the top deck fittings.
One disturbing thing I discovered is that the so called brass fittings and brass wire are not made of brass. I first noticed this when I tried to straighten out some brass wire. To straighten brass wire all one has to do is with two pairs of pliers grab each end of the wire and pull and it will become straight as a ruler. With this wire it doesn't do that. In fact it also sometimes snaps. So I decided to take closer look at the wire and "brass" fittings. Yep a type of brass coated white metal. Has brass become that expensive?
Needless to say I am very disappointed in Artesania Latina. Why they did this is anyone's guess. In the past all of their brass fittings were made of brass.

H.M.S. Surprise (Top Deck Fittings Begin)

Probably one of the best things about wooden ship building is getting to build all these neat fittings that go on the deck. They are like little models onto themselves. This is where the detailing of a ship in my opinion really begins. Plus as you can see more work has been done on the stern and forecastle though by no means finished. Next up more cannons.

H.M.S. Surprise (Upper Deck Planking Completed)

With the completion of the upper deck planking and the gunwale covers the major planking of the ship is now completed. the drilling of the mast holes so they match the lower deck mast holes was difficult.
Next will be the continued construction of the stern and forecastle.

H.M.S. Surprise (Upper Deck Planking Begins)

Now that the lower deck is completed the the upper deck planking can begin. I think the most difficult part about this process is the lining up of the mast holes to the ones on the lower deck. A little hair raising because if I get it wrong...

H.M.S. Surprise (Lower Deck Completed)

Installation of the cannons, gratings, stern transom, etc are now complete. Next begins the installation of the upper deck frames and planks so for the next little while the lower deck will be obscured until the access holes can cut.


HAPPY 144TH BIRTHDAY CANADA!!!

H.M.S. Surprise (Cannons)

It took a couple of days to finish the assembly of all 42 cannons but what's a ship without them.
You may notice that the more detailed cannons have about 27 parts each as they will be readily seen on the ship as opposed to the the less detailed ones which have about 14 parts each. Those will not really be seen except for the fronts of them.

H.M.S. Surprise (Rubbing Strakes Completed)

I have just finished the rubbing strakes and the main shape of the stern (Captains Quarters). Now all that remains for the stern are the windows and decoration but that comes later on. For now over the next few days I will be spending my time building 42 cannons.