HMS Speedy 1782 1/48 scale 36.61`` 93.0cm Model Ship Kits MarisStella
11.05.2019. | Our products
HMS Speedy 1/48
It was our original intention to produce a model ship kit of the fictional Brig-Sloop HMS Sophie as described in a novel by Patrick O’Brian (deceased). His HMS Sophie was a combination of HMS Vensejo, HMS Speedy, and brig tables published by David Steel. A model ship kit of HMS Sophie is arguably a derivative work of the original book that requires a license or permission from the copyright holder of the book. Though we were informed the Estate of Patrick O’Brian favors the idea, we have been unable to even get a response from the current copyright license holder after years of repeated efforts and have suspended plans to produce this kit.
Speedy and Vensejo have been heavily researched. The Maris Stella kit version of HMS Speedy uses the sail plan, rigging, armament and flagging as of her original commissioning. To maximize authenticity, we have freshly designed all cannon, carronade and swivel guns for the three kits, each of the type, weight and time frame appropriate, using Armstrong and Blomefield construction formula, historical patterns and photos of antiques.
Maris Stella kits are suitable for intermediate level modelers. For those who want to go a step beyond, we are providing copper hull plates, details on period appropriate stains and paint schemes, and rigging rope diameter information. Sails are a great accessory that can be purchased separately. The set of sails includes 27 pre-sewn sails...
This HMS Speedy model will be a market-class leader. Our three-dimensional modeling of the Admiralty draughts and the kit’s plank on bulwark hull construction with 19 bulkheads makes it easy for even casual modelers to achieve the original hull lines with great accuracy.
I show a few of instruction book draft 3D renders of HMS Speedy. Note how the model achieves the novel look and feel of the Speedy-Class Brig!
HMS Speedy (1782)
The Maris Stella Royal Navy’s HMS Speedy ship model kit is as of the sloop’s floating. It is based on painstaking research that includes use of three Admiralty draughts, an original 4-pounder cannon design from the applicable Establishment tables based on historical treatises, masting using the Admiralty hull draught and the Royal Navy formulae for Brig-Sloops, and period-authentic rigging. It further includes a rather large boat and hull copper plates. The hull copper plates are an additional article.
This 1:48 scale kit is designed for intermediate modelers and those with more experience. We regressed a bit by providing some 3D-printed decorative parts as an alternative to working wood and brass, but those parts need not be used.
HMS Speedy (1782-1801) was a Brig-Sloop of the Royal Navy built by shipwright Thomas King of Dover. She and her sister-ship HMS Flirt were the first of a new class of English brigs (the ``Speedy-Class``) intended as a small, fast escort. The lines of her hull were inspired by cutters. Her curved deck ran flush from stem to stern. Note the long stem and heavily sloped rudder, resulting in Speedy having a relatively short keel that was 75 percent of total gun deck length. That keel angled heavily downward as she floated. The Speedy-Class design greatly contrasts to the previous more seaworthy but slower brig vessels using a more rectangular side-profile.
Her armament was light, with the great guns comprised of fourteen 4-pounder guns which would have been of the later era Armstrong design. Roughly speaking, Speedy`s gunports were open rectangles 2` in length, 1` 9`` tall and 1` above deck. They were unable to accommodate guns larger than the intended 4-pounders.
Henry VIII`s flagship Mary Rose (1511-1545) was thought to have sunk when she rolled and her lower gunports, about 39`` above the waterline, flooded the ship. She was in combat at the time. Flooding sunk a number of top-heavy ships of the line when they heeled so as to put gunports beneath sea level. ``The French term for `scuttling`, `sabordage`, comes from `sabord` (`gunport`), reflecting their potential for flooding.`` In rough weather lower deck gunports were even battened down and the interstices caulked when the safety of the ship made this necessary.
Speedy`s lowest gunport (the fourth of seven starting from the stem) was 4` 5`` above the waterline, and the aftmost 6`. The disparity would have been reduced a bit after a few years of sailing when the ship hogged. She had no gunport lids. It is obvious Speedy was a wet ship but, with the gunport piercings to supplement the scuppers, water on her gun deck could easily drain. There is, however, another issue:
There are numerous instances of schooners and brigs being driven under while in chase of an enemy or while being pursued. This was true of the Baltimore Clipper and was due to the fullness in the forward sections. This type of hull form tends to bore or fall by the head when driven hard, which added to the lever of the masts and press of sail, tended to drive them under, headforemost. Man-of-war brigs of 1800-1850 were particularly liable to do this. The 10-gun brigs of that time were known as ``coffins`` because of their tendency in this direction.
The skill of the Captain could overcome much of this, and we are unaware of it plaguing Speedy.
Steel`s Navy List shows Speedy as a Brig at Dover, June 1782, with no commander. She was uprated to a Sloop (making her a Brig-Sloop) when given to Captain Jonathan Young. He was under Sir John Jarvis, Commander in Chief, GCB, a Post Captain made Commodore October 1782. Speedy would not have stern davits in 1782, the time of this model ship kit, as the Royal Navy did not introduce them until 1790. We see her at Spithead under J. Young. She paid off, ``but [was] not dismantled or any of her stores returned,`` at Sheerness. Josias Rogers, Esq., was given command of Speedy in May, 1783 for Channel Duty, to be ``manned with 70 men and victualled for three months with all species of Provisions except Beer, of which she is to have as much as she can conveniently stow….`` He was placed under the command of the senior officer of the Noire station, Captain Thomas Shirley, Esq., HMS Union. Captain Rogers` initial assignment was to interdict North Sea smugglers. After his promotion to Post Captain, Speedy was commanded by Richard Lane. Next, she operated in the Mediterranean; first under Charles Cunningham then George Cockburn. Winter storms damaged, and forced the dispersal of, the Geneo blockade squadron for repairs. Speedy`s status was reported as unknown to Lord Hood, but she stayed on station maintaining the blockade and taking prizes until relieved. She was captured, off Nice, on June 9, 1794 while under the command of George Eyre, when she had the misfortune to run into the French fleet. Speedy was retaken in the Mediterranean by the HMS Inconstant on March 25, 1795.
After two more commanders, Lord Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, was given command in March, 1800. He complained:
THE `Speedy` was little more than a burlesque on a vessel of war, even sixty years ago. She was about the size of an average coasting brig, her burden being 158 tons. She was crowded, rather than manned, with a crew of eighty-four men and six officers, myself included. Her armament consisted of fourteen 4-pounders! A species of gun little larger than a blunderbuss, and formerly known in the service under the name of ``minion,`` an appellation which it certainly merited.
A bow-chaser is a cannon mounted in the bow aiming forward. Cochrane attempted to add two 12-pounders as bow-chasers, but failed because there was no room to work the guns and the timbers would not support survive their operation. Speedy`s foremost gunport does not permit a cannon to aim even near forward. In order to add true bow-chasers a new gunport would have been required. It is hard to imagine a Captain ordering the ship`s carpenter to pierce a new gunport in the bow. She also had twelve ½-pounder swivel guns, but it would have been impossible to deploy them all when the hammocks were out because the hammocks block access to all the swivel gun support posts except in the tops.
Speedy`s pitiful mainyard was carried away. The shipyard fortuitously gave him the fine foretopgallant yard of the captured French 74 Le Generuex. Ordered to cut off its yard arms, Lord Cochrane made an evasive show of planing the ends and managed to keep their original length.
The day cabin, situated under the flush gun deck of such a small ship, was tiny. Cochrane justly complained:
… her cabin merits passing notice. It had not so much as room for a chair, the floor being entirely occupied by a small table surrounded with lockers, answering the double purpose of store chests and seats. The difficulty was to get seated, the ceiling being only five feet high, so that the object could only be accomplished by rolling on the locker, a movement sometimes attended with unpleasant failure. The most singular discomfort, however, was that my only practicable mode of shaving consisted in removing the skylight and putting my head through to make a toilet-table of the quarter-deck.
The cabin ceiling would further have been periodically interrupted by beams! The aftmost section of its floor was 11`` beneath the waterline.
Despite all this, Lord Cochrane ``was very proud of my little vessel`` and ran rampant over enemy shipping. He even disguised Speedy as the Danish merchant brig Clomer to great effect. Cochrane is best known for capturing the frigate-sized Spanish xebec El Gamo on May 6, 1801. El Gamo had a crew of 319-men, whereas Speedy`s was reduced to 54 men after the dispatch of prize crews.
Prize-court corruption and the habit of speaking his mind against the ill-effects of corruption and interest on the Royal Navy (a system whereby contracts, plum commands and promotions were traded by the Government for votes) as a member of Parliament, and to both the Admiralty and the First Lord of the Admiralty, prevented him from receiving hard-won benefits.
On July 3, 1801, Speedy was again captured by a French fleet. Napolean gave her to the Pope for the Papal Navy in 1802.
The Admiralty plan above shows all of Speedy`s various deck openings, of which there are eight unfilled by timber accessories such as a mast or capstan shaft. One of them is for the single skylight on her flush deck and another part of a double-length forehatch so, to be fair about it, Speedy had six hatches including the ladderway. If you think about how a sailing ship was stowed and run, you will realize this is important. We determined there were two ways to do the companion and skylight. This kit makes both options available. The Royal Navy appears to have used two different pawl methods on their capstans in the second half of the 18th Century. Speedy could have had either. The contract for the English 18-gun Brig Raven (1804) requires ``… a capstan placed as shewn on the draught, the diameter in the partners 14 inches, to be fitted with ribs and hoops at the partners, with 8 or 10 bars, chains, and two or four iron pawls on the deck.`` We lack Speedy`s contract, but do not believe the Admiralty would pay for the more expensive-looking, self-locking pawls on her.
English brigs grew in size and firepower over the next twenty-years, capitalizing on the Speedy-Class hull design. None, however, surpassed the fame of little HMS Speedy. We very much hope you enjoy building this storied Royal Navy Brig-Sloop!
Boats, made the MarisStella way
We have attached samples of the boats, made the MarisStella way. They are realistic and in scale. Here are a couple of processes of the boat mold making. The boat mold making is the most important because it gives the final shape of the boat. The illustrations are taken from the MarisStella model ship modeling school Level 3. It is not hard to do. We find that beginners can do this with great results. All you have to do, to take a couple of balsa blocks and practice making one or two molds before you make the final one. It is a great fun!
You can watch the video at the bottom of the page:
21 foot Yawl Longboat and 24-foot Pinnace Models made the MarisStella way
Photo etched anchor
The anchor parts are to be put together from three-pieces of photo-etched parts. Assemble the photo-etched parts for each anchor (shank with arms). Fill the gaps on the edges of the anchor with solder. If you do not want to solder these parts, fill the gaps with plastic wood or other method of your choosing. File or sand the anchor into the required shape. Drill a hole for the cable ring.
Solder or glue the flukes to the anchor arms. Paint the anchor matt black. Sand the laser cut parts for the stock to the required shape. They need to be slightly tapered towards the outer ends. Make the cable ring from wire (if you have a soldering iron, solder the ends of the rings together to prevent the anchor line from slipping out of the ring). Add the stock straps cut from the remains of the brass sheet and blacken them and install. That finishes the anchor.
You can watch the video at the bottom of the page:
Photo-Etched Anchor
Sails
The 27 sails are pre-sewn on the fabric, embroidered to look realistic. In our set of sails we supply a complete sail without the bolt-rope. This 27 sail set is an additional article, it is to be purchased separately.
You can leave the sails as they are without adding Linings or you can add the Linings. Add the boltrope for a more authentic look.
Definition of the Linings: the canvas sewed on the leeches and middle of a sail to strengthen it. Types of the Linings: Leech lining, middle-band, reef band, buntline-cloths, mast cloths, top lining. Position of the Linings on the sails: Top-linings and mast-cloths are put on the aft side and all other linings on fore-side of sail.
Cutting the Sails and Linings:
Cut the sails including the hem edges. Cut the Linings taking care of the seams on them. The
seams will give an impression like the Linings were sewn to the Sail.
Process of cutting and folding the sail edges (The Selvedge):
If you use a special glue (In America, white glue seems to work best and stays reasonably flexible.) Apply the glue along the edges, cut the sails and fold the edges over. Some modelers iron the folded edge to be sure it stays folded over. If you happen to cut a ragged edge, use a pair of very sharp scissors to trim the cut edge. When dry, trim any rough spots with a pair of sharp scissors.
If you use a wood glue, such as Pattex by Henkel, dilute it with water and apply it with a brush over the edges and, when dry, trim with sharp scissors.
Hem the Sails once or twice:
If you do not use the Linings, we suggest that you hem the sails by folding the hem twice to hide the cut edge, gluing and ironing it to ‘fix’ the folds in place. If you use the Linings on the sail leeches, you only need to hem them once.
Process of gluing the Tabling and Linings:
If you use a special glue for fabric apply the glue to the both surfaces to glue and glue them together.
If you use wood glue, as Pattex by Henkel, dilute it with water, apply it with a brush over the both surfaces to glue . When dry, press the surfaces one to the other with a very hot iron. The glue will melt and unite into one whole when cold.
To sew the bolt-rope and cringles to the sails, use a needle with a large eye. Sew the sail clew using a needle and thin thread. Sew the reef points by sewing them through the sail and tying an overhand knot on both sides of the sail fabric.
A solid wood decorated Model Stand
After the hull is completed, the model is ready to be set onto a decorative stand permanently. It is very good to create or purchase a thick solid wood well decorated model stand. This model deserves it. A thick solid wood decorative model stand is not supplied into this kit because it is heavy and would affect the price of the shipping a lot. The stand on the photographs of the model above is the stand supplied into this kit, it is easy to construct.
To show the decoration this model deserves, we have exposed a few of our products, the MarisStella wooden stands.
