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Hello all Now is the time to start my second build log since I have finished the Americas Cup Endeavour. I am more interested in warships of the age of sails so it feels natural to build Sherbourne as a second kit. The ship is not so big but still has all features of a period ship. The main purpose of this build is to learn as many skills as possible so I can not tell how the finished model will look like. I will scratch and replace many parts in the kit just to learn how to do it. The model will be of darker but better walnut than supplied in the kit. I bought it in a local hobby shop here in Helsingborg and I think it is Amati's replacement wood. As sources for the build I will use AOTS Alert, Rigging period for and after craft and other books that I find fits. I will also pick ideas from Chucks cutter Cheerful and of course from the very nice Sherbournes by Gregor, Dirk, Tony and Kester. I hope you don't mind I follow some of your ideas . Ps, Some of the pictures are to small. You will see the full photos if you click (open) on them. -
As the master studies finally reach an end (have to bring in the thesis next week) and I will have more time for the numerous hobbies, I have taken up the work on the cutter Sherbourne again, which I bought 3 years ago as a reward for the finished bachelor studies. Now, after three years of ripening I started the kit. It is my first wooden model, and I thought Sherbourne might be a good start, as it is not too expensive. As I forgot to take some pictures of the earliest building steps, I will just show you the current progress. During the first planking of the hull, I built some of the equipment (anchor, gun carriages and the gratings), but I have to admit, that I don't really like those gun carriages. It will possibly happen, that I do them all over again from scratch, as soon as I made a little CAD-drawing. The sanded hull. There are some errors in the 1st planking, but I hope the 2nd planking + whitening the underwater hull will hide them sufficiently. A lot of glue marks on the stern... Will be hidden under red colour I hope. Some pre assembled equipment. As already mentioned, I dont like the gun carriages. Regarding the anchor, I decided to fair the stock on the ends, as found in "Historische Schiffsmodelle" by Mondfeld. So far. As this is a weekend project, I hope I can provide you with more photos of new progress every week. I am looking forward for tips, maybe some encouraging words for a newbie in wood. Most of my modelling experience is strongly limited to plastic/resin kits. -
To get a bit of an order here, and to overcome the 10 image limit, I redid the posts here All the older buildpics can be seen here: https://www.indee.de/gallery#14704013639500 Edit: I could restore a bit via Google Cache, I will edit here the next days: After a three year building break due to some private issues and high workload, I decided to start a small kit out-of-box just to build a bit and have fun ... haha .. not possible, I mean the out-of-box. Because of that and the long break I simply forgot some of my own rules for building: Measuring and Preparation all the time Now as it turned out not to be a "simple" build There are some, visible flaws, I have to live with (unfortunatley I am sure u will get what I mean ;-)). I also forgot lots of the english words for building a wooden build ship, sorry for that, and "help" is always appreciated. Anyway, as the build is allready in progress I will start with a little Photo-Story and some short comments, and will try to update the build regulary: Glueing the main wale made with ebony: Building the Gratings: Building the "don't know the word" Researching the Decklayout based on the original plan: The final Layout: Cheers, Dirk -
In order for me to understand better the rigging practices for cutters of the 18th Century, I wrote to the National Maritime Museum asking if I could see some of the cutter models they have in storage, now that they no longer have a model display at the Museum in Greenwich. Nick Ball, the Assistant Curator of Ship Models, wrote back very quickly saying that I would be welcome to visit and could see all of the models I had requested which are now stored at the Royal Historic Dockyard in Chatham -- except for one which was stored in another location less accessible to the occasional visitor. He, together with Dave Lindridge the Store Manager, gave me a very generous amount of time to look at and photograph the models that they had taken out for inspection – during which they provided a lively discussion about their jobs and the models they were showing. In fact Nick said he was pleased to show visitors the models because it gave him more of an opportunity to review models in their vast collection. I asked Nick about permission to post my pictures and he told me it was fine as long as I made it clear the pictures were from the NMM collection. He also asked to be provided to the links of the photos as he himself (as a trained naval archaeologist) was very keen on the details and would enjoy any discussion that ensued. I will post the photos of the individual models under different messages, this post deals only with the first of the models. I just need to add that I am enormously grateful to Nick and Dave for their patience and generosity with their time for this visit, which for me was invaluable. 1763 cutter NMM ID SLR0510 First off is their cutter referenced in the NMM as Object ID SLR0510. It is described there as “a full hull model of a cutter (circa 1763) Scale: 1:48. The vessel measures 53 feet on the main deck by 20 feet in the beam and is armed with twelve 3-pounders. The model was donated unfinished and was completed in the Museum in 1960”. For me there were four main points of interest, apart from the fact that it is dated the same year as my Sherbourne. The first is that the fore belaying pins are arranged fore-aft beside the bowsprit. Gregor, Dirk, Kester and I have been trying to figure out how the belaying pins would be set given that the kit of the Sherbourne provides no plans for such a belaying rack. Each of us have provided our own particular possibility – with Dirk going for an arrangement such as that on the AOTS book of the Alert, and Gregor going for a rack right on the stem. I had made a rack that was parallel to the windlass. However, now I have seen the arrangement on the NMM cutter SLR0510, and, as you will see, the 12-gun cutter I saw had the same arrangement, I have changed my own rack accordingly. The second is that the topmast is fore of the main mast. I had understood that earlier in the century the practice was to place the topmast aft of the main mast. In fact the cutter Hawke (which I also saw at Chatham and whose pictures follow in a subsequent post) was the only one of these models to place the topmast aft of the main mast. The third point of interest was the windlass. The original NMM plans for the Sherbourne showed this type of windlass, and Gregor has already made one in the same style, and I followed his example – rather than following the type of windlass provided for in the Sherbourne kit. The fourth point of interest is that, like the Trial that you'll see in a subsequent post, the lower hull is painted up to the wales, and not to a waterline. The following were the other pictures I took of the1763 cutter, all of which will have details which will be picked up by those more knowledgeable than I am! Tony
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As usual, once I arrive at the point of making a particular part, I find the details confusing. This time it's about the mast tackles. The Sherbourne kit that I have doesn't illustrate or mention mast tackles or Burton pendants. Similarly, the 1763 cutter model I photographed in the Royal Dockyard doesn't have any. On the other hand, one of the cutter models (1790) I photographed does show a similar tackle hooked to the base of the mast as follows: Furthermore, Petersson in his book 'Rigging Period Fore and Aft Craft' shows what he calls a Burton pendant and tackle as follows (though I have added text to point out the difficulty I have with his diagram): This made me think it might be a good thing to set up mast tackles. However, the moment I started looking at this, I thought that the diagram didn't make mechanical sense. It shows the runner going through what looks like a hook without a block -- which would mean it would have to run through a thimble. When I looked up Marquardt's book on Eighteenth Century Rigs & Rigging, he shows the following arrangement: This is very similar to that shown by zu Mondfeld and is clearly more sound (to my mind) in terms of mechanics. Marquardt also supplies the following information about cutter rigging (following Steel) -- the last two paragraphs of which I am at a loss to understand: "The mast tackle pendants were wormed, parcelled and served over their whole length. Each was doubled, and the bight was seized to create an eye which fitted over the masthead. The ends were then spliced together, and a single block was seized in the lower bight. The ends of all splices were tapered, marled down and served over with spun-yarn. The tackle runners had a hook and thimble spliced into one end and were served over. They rove through the pendant blocks and were spliced round the strops of long tackle blocks. The tackle fall was bend to a becket at the lower end of a long stropped single block, with the ends seized. The long strops, with hooks and thimbles spliced in, were hooked to eyebolts in the sides." Here, I don't understand the terms 'served over' and 'long tackle blocks'. I also don't understand which 'long stropped single block' is being referred to as having the becket for the tackle fall. As a result I don't really know whether it's right to put mast tackles on, and, if I do, whether to try to mimic Petersson's diagram, or whether to go for the kind of picture Marquardt shows. Any advice, comment or other will be, as usual, very welcome! Tony
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Hi all I started making the Sherbourne about 4 years ago and wasn't particularly impressed by the swivel guns that came with the kit so ordered some Caldercraft brass ones which appeared to be about the right dimensions as those in the kit. In the last few months I've restarted the model (I'm sure like a lot of other modellers, real life sometimes takes over!) Anyway when I came to construct the swivel guns, I realised that I had only ordered 6 instead of 8. Fortunately I'd kept the original packaging and ordered an extra 2 from my normal supplier. Unfortunately when they arrived they were considerably smaller. When I queried this I was told that Caldercraft had changed the guns following further research to make them more accurate. Whilst striving for accuracy is always welcome, the brackets and handles which come with the kit I bought 4 years ago, whilst not entirely accurate anyway, are now way out of proportion to new sized guns. This leaves me with a dilemma but before I set about the task of making the kit swivel guns look consistent with the brass ones I'm wondering whether anyone has, or knows where I can source two of the original sized swivel guns. The original guns are 17mm long: Caldercraft Part no: 85005A 0.5lb Swivel Guns 1:64 C1790 I've attached an image to illustrate my point. Extremely grateful if anyone can help me. -
Hey fellow Builders! I've been lurking on this site for almost a year now and I feel it's time to reveal my work... or pile of poorly painted bent sticks. I would like to give my thanks for all the other Sherbourne builders on this site as it has been immensely helpful to see your builds! I started building this lovely little kit last August and have been working on it slowly over the last 9 months. It would totally be done if I wasn't working so much, I'm a line cook so I get home and most of the time collapse into bed. Anyway I bought this kit after doing some research, it came highly rated for beginners. I still couldn't have made it without the resources on this site or the books I bought. Most kits are just assuming you know what you are doing it seems. The kit was missing the maple wood for the deck so I contacted JoTika/Caldercraft and they mailed some out to me for free! The build is at the rigging stage... I've been a little stuck there and will probably ask for help. I'll just post these two un-boxing pictures for now and add the rest later in chunks. -
Well, I'm a little late starting this building log, but it's been an interesting model to build, so I thought I'd share my experiences. Hope it's helpful, anyway. I'm hoping this will be an opportunity to try out some new skills and improve my planking skills before attempting something a bit larger! First off, a quick look at the kit itself. It comes in a small, but really nice and sturdy box, with everything packed in very neatly. The instructions are much more simple than the instructions for Pickle (a more recent kit, I believe), and reading them through I was glad I'd built Pickle first. Nevertheless, having build Pickle, these are perfectly adequate. The plans are excellent, and give lots of detail, including step by step illustrations for the construction of the hull. Looking closely you'll see the the walnut ply used for the cannon carriages and capping rails has been cut out right to the edge... on the other side this has led to a slight split going through the capping rail itself, but nothing too major, and it should be simple enough to put right (I'll mount it good side up!) So far I've found that all the materials are provided with plenty to spare, just as with Pickle. [edited to restore photos, 11, 13 July 2017] -
Super detailing the cutter Sherbourne, a guide to building the Caldercraft kit, by George Bandurek. I published this book in 2011 and at the time there were several threads that showed photos of my build. These are not now easily accessible so I have resurrected some of the information. The attached pdf files are extracts from the book that show how I tackled some of the topics. I would welcome any comments on these extracts, or if you have bought a copy of the book (thank you!) then please post a review. More information on the book is available on my website www.grbsolutions.co.uk. Buy direct and you will get a signed copy! George Bandurek Shrouds.pdf Sails MB.pdf Cannon.pdf Anchors.pdf -
The following is the reconstruction of my build logs for the Sherbourne following temporary loss of the Model Ship World Site in February 2013. First posted May 6th 2012. === It started with a birthday present in January of £200 from my daughter. What could I possibly want that would have some meaning over the year? I suddenly remembered that as a younger chap I had really enjoyed rigging plastic model ships, and had had a long-time yearning to work with wood. So on to the web, find out about ship models. Amazon for books, found 'The New Period Ship Handbook' by Keith Julier. It didn't give much (any) detail, but I thought maybe the Lady Nelson would be good. So researched that. Found this forum. Many days reading the variety of experience. Asked questions, thought about the Chatham as well, tried to get it but it was out of stock, so bought the Sherbourne Kit. My plan was not to go for the perfection of the other builds, but to get a basic understanding of the whole process, as I knew I would be making some frightful mistakes, and likely to be a bit messy as well. How right I was! Read all the planking advice on the Database, how to make filler blocks etc, then plunged in. Bought the kit, checked all the parts, stuck the tiddly little ones into the bags in the photo, put the frame together. Thought I'd be a clever little so-and-so and follow Danny's suggestion of inserting nuts in the hull to take pedestals at some future date. Even lined the bolts up with the bulkheads and epoxied the nuts in -- ensuring no glue was caught in the threads. All well and good ... so far. -
Hi All, This is my thrid kit build on MSW, and I'm taking on the HM Cutter Sherbourne from Jokita/Caldercraft. This will be my second "proper kit buid" on here as I started the Mantura/Sergal HMS President kit, and gave up on it due to the lack of decent intsructions and plans included in with the kit. My darling girlfriend (known as the Admiral) exceeded all expectations and bought me this kit for our anniversary in March. As you can all imagine, I was very very happy with this, and ended up maxing out the credit card on designer handbag(s) for her! So why start now?! In the last month or so, I have finished my build of HM Mortar Vessel Convulsion from Caldercraft, and was planning on joining a few other members on here to start a goup build of Sherbourne, but the Tennancy on my flat is up at the begining of August, so I was feeling a bit dubious about transporting the kit if we (the Admiral) decided we should move on to another property. Fingers crossed that won't be the case, but this is almost a preemptive strike to ensure the model is as safe as possible IF we do decide to move. Fingers crossed that we don't - I like our little flat! If you're interested in my Convulsion build, then click the link below. http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/8593-hm-mortor-vessel-convulsion-by-jonnyamy-caldercraft/page-1 So a kit bash? Because this is a special kit for me, I'd decided to make it is a little different! The main differences in the build from the kit will be: Replace Walnut planking layer with Basswood Replace Wales with Ebony Strips (if available) Treenailing of outer hull planking (to water line) Treenailing the Deck & Edge Planks Addition of Fife Rail around the Mast Rigging of sails (including all running rigging) Addition of Ships Boat Crew Figures (5 sailors max. 3 officers max.) Possible rebuild of the windless Replace White Metal cannon stock with Brass (white metal castings are terrible). So I'm about to buy the Basswood from Hobbycarft here in the UK, as they seem to be the cheapest source of Basswood strips I could find online. I will be using the book "Super - Detailing the Cutter Sherbourne: a guide to building the Caldercraft kit" by George Bandurek as my guide for the Kit Bash. I hope you all enjoy my journey in to the unkown of Kit Bashing, and tag along if you fancy it! Cheers Jonny -
After the tremendous help I received regarding the nature of the horse for the foresail, I find I have a further quandary. How to attach the foresail to the rail. I find the description given by Steel to be very confusing. He says: "Sheets reeve through a block made fast to the horse with a thimble, or, in some sloops, a dead-eye iron bound, and through a block at the clue, and so on, alternately, between the strap of the block and the seizing or dead-eye; then through the thimble at the clue, till the whole sheet is expended; then frapped together and hitched." I really cannot envisage this. It seems to say that the sheet is bound to the clue, then directly to a block at the horse, then to a block also attached to the clue, then to the seizing or dead-eye, then to the strap of the block at the clue then (after going back and forth 'between the strap of the block and the seizing or dead-eye') through the thimble at the clue and, when the rope is spent, frapped and hitched to the layers of rope so formed. I can't find a picture showing this, apart from a very indistinct picture from Cole's build of the Alert. I'd therefore be very grateful if someone could explain how the foresail is attached to the horse rail in this manner, especially if they could provide a drawing, illustration or picture. Just in case people reply after tomorrow afternoon, I'll be on a three-week trip starting mid-day Thursday 10th, and so may be unable to reply until I can find suitable wi-fi connections wherever I'll be staying. Thanks in advance Tony
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Topsail yard tie rig on 1763 cutter (Sherbourne)
tkay11 posted a topic in Masting, rigging and sails
Another question while I try to figure out the rigging for my yards. I'm trying to figure out how to rig the topsail yard tie. Steel says the following: "Tie reeves from aft, through the sheave hole in the mast-head, comes down, and clinches round the slings of the yard: the other end has a double block spliced, that connects by its fall to a single block hooked in the channel; the fall leads through a leading block on the gunwale, and belays to a cleat or timber-head." I'm ok as far as the single block hooked in the channel, but I can't work out the subsequent route of the fall. Thus I see it as: So could someone help me as to how the fall would go to the timberhead? The way I see it is that if it does go through another block on the gunwale, there would be no mechanical advantage at all. Of course I may be missing something obvious, so that's why I'm asking the professionals! Thanks Tony -
I want to place a horse rail for the sheet of the foresail on the Sherbourne (English Revenue Cutter 1763). I have seen pictures of rails that run right across the deck along the top of the bulwarks, but it seems from a look at Steel's and Marquardt's books that the horse would lie quite close to the deck just in front of the mast. Unfortunately none of the models of cutters I have seen in the museums have such a horse, even though all the sources refer to one. Goodwin's AOTS book on the Alert doesn't show one either, although there is a tantalising reference in one drawing of the rigging which shows the sheet tackle disappearing from sight on to the deck with the caption 'secured to horse'. In fact the only one I recall seeing on a model is Kester's (Stockholm Tar) build of the Sherbourne. There he placed the rail across the fore gratings but I recall he was uncertain himself at the time of how exactly he should place it. My question is how wide across the deck should the horse rail go? My initial thought was to make it the same width as the one for the mainsail at the taffrail, but when I placed it on the deck it looked a little short at just under 4 ft (45 inches) full size on a deck whose width is nearly 19 ft. The other thing, of course is the height. I've thought 15 inches would be ok, but again am more than willing to hear from the experts. Any advice or wisdom will be gratefully received as usual. Tony
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Hello! First time builder here, I used to build some plastic models and miniatures when I was a kid and been meaning to grab a more creative hobby for some time now. One day it hit me: I wanted to build a wooden ship model! After two weeks of research (and finding of this forum) I decided to order ship modeling simplified book by Frank Mastini as it was recommended by many and cheaply available. Soon after that I decided on Caldercraft's HM Cutter Sherbourne kit. I wanted a POB kit that was fairly cheap, of high quality and wuold someday yield a possibly quite a good looking model therefore the obvious choice was this cutter The kit arrived just today and with it some titebond wood glue, cutting mat, admiralty paint set and swann morton scalpel with two kinds of blades. I had researched ship building pretty much beforehand so opening the box was not so confusing as some people had described. I started right away by cutting the keel and bulkheads and dry fitting them. Before continuing I need to grab some tools on weekend inclucing sanding papers and block, a couple small clamps and possibly a dremel, as it is discounted at the moment. I'm not setting a deadline when I want this completed, as I have quite a lot happening at the moment with school and personal life, but hoping to complete this in about one year. I'm mainly building on weekends and maximum 10 hours a week so progress will probably be slow as well as updating this thread, but I'll very much hope the helpful users of this forum will follow and give me advice as I progress and maybe someday this build log cuold help another starting ship builder like me! Until next time! Anjuna -
I'm still beavering away at working out the rigging for my Sherbourne cutter of 1763. For reasons given in my build log, I decided to go with the rigging plan shown by Petersson in his book on rigging period fore and aft craft -- rather than the plan shown with the kit. However, this has led me to a few puzzles, current of which is how the lower yard was held. Having prepared the shrouds, backstays and Burton pendants, I was looking at the plans for holding the lower yard. Petersson shows the following: This leaves me puzzled as to how the yard was lowered or raised if just a sling was used. The books I have don't give me a straight answer. Several, such as those by Marquardt, show halliards with blocks (as do the plans for the Sherbourne). Others show just a sling, as does zu Mondfeld: Models in the Royal Dockyard at Chatham show some with a halliard and blocks, whilst others show just a simple sling. Thus a model of a 1763 cutter in Chatham shows the lower yard with a halliard and blocks as follows: I'd be grateful if someone could explain to me whether tyes with blocks were used instead of slings (or vice versa), or whether a ship could be fitted with either (depending on circumstances), or whether both were used together. I have a feeling I'm missing out on understanding function here, so any guidance will, as always, be very welcome! Thanks Tony
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I started this project in summer 2012. I choose this kit after browsing and reading many of the build logs in MSW 1.0, and because it has only one mast (I’m not much of a seaman except in the rather romantic way of reading Patrick O’Brian’s novels for the second time). The box contained all the promised parts in an orderly fashion, and a very short/thin instruction booklet. But there is help: Watch and learn on MSW 2.0 (in my case especially from Tony’s Sherbourne at http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/335-hmc-sherbourne-by-tkay11-–-caldercraft-–-scale-164-1763-a-novice’s-caldercraft-sherbourne/) Download the construction manual of Caldercraft’s Brig Badger, it explains and illustrates a lot of the details (i.e. principle of hull construction, guns …) which are very similar to the Sherbourne (http://www.jotika-ltd.com/Pages/1024768/Manuals_Badger.htm) Buy George Bandurek’s book “Super-detailing the cutter Sherbourne” (http://www.grbsolutions.co.uk/5.html), an inspiring guide to make much more out of a beginners kit Keel, bulkheads and deck came first, then balsa fillers fore and aft. Then I soaked the plywood bulwarks before bending them with the help of tea mugs and a good bottle. -
In his book on Rigging Period Fore and Aft Craft, Petersson shows a diagram of a boom as follows: The arrow I have added shows some tackle fitted to the underside of the boom, quite separate from the mainsheet tackle (which is given the honour of a full diagram later), but there is no other mention in the book or diagram of how this might be used. I'd be very grateful if someone could explain it to me or give me some idea of its function and the points to which it might be fixed. Oh, and by the way, I'd also be glad of some explanation of the function of the bees at the end of the boom as displayed (just to grab as much info as possible in one swoop!). Thanks in advance for any ideas Tony
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It's a bit late in the game for me, but every time I've looked at my Sherbourne deck recently I've had a nagging suspicion that something is odd. It was this morning when I had another look that it dawned on me. All the cutter models I've seen, as well as the plans in the AOTS book of the Alert by Goodwin and the plans for other cutters, show the bowsprit supports fore of the windlass, and their bitts include the pawl for the windlass. The following are pictures I've taken during my visit to Chatham as well as at the Science Museum store: The following is from Goodwin's book on the Alert: The original plans for the Sherbourne, however, show it aft of the windlass, as is done in the kit: My question is whether this was an oddity, or was it just variable? In mechanical terms I would have thought that having it aft of the windlass would be advantageous in terms of balance and the ease of moving it in or out, but it's clear that a lot of cutter designers seemed to think differently. Having it aft does clutter the deck more, though. Tony
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I bought this kit about three years ago after much research, forum visits, reviews and talking myself out of buying the Victory. Even though I've been on the Victory as a young sailor visiting Portsmouth, and had been favored with "the sailors" tour by one of the seaman stationed on board, I finally admitted that the Victory would be a poor choice for a beginner. I have years of experience as a plastic scale modeler even competing with IPMS USA and writing build reviews of kits. My interests distilled into Wingnut Wings WWI kits and large scale resin, wood and metal kits of American Civil War ironclads. However, as an eight year Navy veteran with many, many miles at sea and a one time voracious reader of Napoleonic War history and novels, I've always wanted to build a "plank on bulkhead" ship. Hence, H.M. Sherbourne. I almost started the Sherbourne about three years ago, but other issues – health, mainly – pushed that back until now. I've about finished my current Wingnut Wings model (a Roland C.II) and have been re-reading my few model ship building books and checking the internet again. I was previously signed up here when I thought my build would get off the ground, and to my surprise, it's basically a new site. Some kind of server crash I guess. Anyway, my old user name was still available so I luckily got it back and am moving in the direction of getting the Sherbourne started. I am looking forward to reporting my progress and posting questions here. Regards to all... Shellback PS I was inducted into the realm of Davy Jones in 1963 where the line and the dateline (realm of the Golden Dragon) intersect, hence it should really be "Golden Shellback", but I prefer the informal... I have met a few, very few, other Golden Shellbacks. Are there any here? -
In his table of dimensions for 90-ton cutters, Steel gives the dimensions of the heel rope for the bowsprit, and describes the heel rope as follows: the "Heel-rope reeves through a leading block, hooked to an eye-bolt in the bow, then through a sheave-hole in the heel of the bowsprit, and the standing part makes fast to a timber head or eye-bolt, and the leading part is connected to the windlass". I find this a bit hard to follow, as I understand that the heel rope is to haul the bowsprit out. I wonder how the mechanics of this worked. So I would be grateful if any one could point me to drawings, pictures or models that demonstrate how this is rigged. It may also be that the ropes are generally left off whilst not positioning the bowsprit, but I am particularly interested in how the sheave was placed in the heel of the bowsprit. As usual, any advice from the more knowledgeable will be gratefully received! Thanks Tony
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I am working on the belaying plan for the Caldercraft model of HMS Sherbourne, cutter, and can't figure out how the ropes holding the topmast shrouds are fixed. There is no indication of those particular shrouds in the kit's plans for the standing rigging. Petersson's book on Rigging Period Fore and Aft Craft shows them being fixed via pulleys hooked to the channels, but the pulleys are shown with the pulling rope merely wound round the top of the upper block of the two that are hooked to the channel. Would the loose end of that rope have been fixed to the main shrouds with a cleat, or would it have been placed on a belaying pin on the rack by the channels? I hope this makes sense -- having had no sailing experience I am doing this all from a theoretical viewpoint! Tony
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Sorry, everyone, but now that we've had the discussion about backstays, I've traced my puzzlement about the rigging of the bowsprit on the Sherbourne and would like to check that I have it right. My conclusion so far is that there was no need for a bobstay (or that it would hamper things) for the bowsprit on the Sherbourne because of the need to move the bowsprit in or out. Petersson shows no bobstay on his cutter, and Goodwin neither shows nor discusses a bobstay in the AOTS book of the Alert. The kit plans for the Sherbourne show no bobstay. The only reason I ask is because my pictures from NMM of the cutter Trial of 1790, seem to show a bobstay as well as the jib outhaul. But then it doesn't show any holes on the bowsprit to suggest that it could be moved. Could it be that a running bowsprit doesn't have/need a bobstay as that would have hampered its being moved? Thanks for your patience with my ignorance! Tony
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Notice, not a piece of string. No, it's the tiller on my Sherbourne I'm questioning. The kit's tiller measures 35mm from the rudder top. That equates to 2.24 metres full size, or 88", or 7.3ft. The reason I ask is that I noticed on the original plans what seems to be a companionway at the very rear of the deck. Not so unusual you may say, and I have in fact just built one to the same dimensions. However, measuring the back of the companionway on the plan to the edge of the rudder gives 1.62 metres or 64" or 5'4". That means the rudder would have to be a foot shorter than the dimensions given in the kit to give the helmsman some freedom of movement. It is also shorter than the tiller on the Alert which seems to be 2.56 metres long, or over 8'. I note from the Cutter Trial at the NMM that the tiller on that seems very short from the photo. The actual question is how long a tiller would be on a cutter of this size to allow for freedom of movement as well as strength of leverage? I attach two drawings. The top is from the original plan, the lower is with my inked out tracing of what I take to be companionway and scuttle. If you think I'm wrong about the companionway and that it should just be a scuttle as others have interpreted it, then I'd be glad to be corrected as that leaves plenty of room for the tiller. Another possibility is that I make the scuttle go to the back and the companionway take the place of what I take to be a scuttle. Thanks again, everyone, for tolerating my questions, and I look forward to any answers except 'as long as a piece of string' -- although that may well be closer to the right answser! NOTE: IF YOU CLICK ON THE PHOTO IT WILL ENLARGE SO YOU CAN SEE THE DETAIL] Tony
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Oh No, not another Sherbourne Build Log ! Yes, I am afraid here is another one to add to the fleet. It took some time looking here on MSW for inspiration to select my first boat. I humm'd and haa'd over what to buy, the Manufacturer (Caldercraft/Jotika) was an easy choice but the subject somewhat harder. I fancied HM Yacht Chatham, Schooner Ballahoo, HM Brig Supply and others from the Nelsons Navy Series. Chatham and Sherbourne came tops for one reason - one mast and therefore less complicated rigging. I favoured Chatham but at the time this fantastic resource (MSW) had more detail on Sherbourne so away we went and Sherbourne was duly ordered. I had no experience of ship building but did spend over 25 years building R/C aircraft from trainers to 1/4 scale models and was looking for something that did not take up too much space (unlike 1/4 scale biplanes) and would enable me to keep up my building skills. The kit arrived and when I had cleaned up the keel and formers wondered why I had one too many formers compared to the plan. Whoops, wrong sheet of parts in the kit which was promptly sorted out by Jotika. Despite all the information available here there was some initial trepidation when starting out. I had never attempted planking on a hull so was trying to think several steps ahead whenever I did anything which slowed down the initial build. I do remember planking a balsa glider (Minimoa, if my memory is correct) and how that looked like a starved horse. Anyway, here we go...... Bearding Line ? Rabbett ? confusion sort of reigned - I had the general idea but will pay more attention to these on the next model. Balsa block added between the first two formers which is a must. Stern end, learning all the lingo took some time. I have an interest in full size boats and thought I knew quite a bit until I found MSW ! Some balsa added right at the stern but I should have added more to give a graceful rounded bottom - Ooo, Nurse. Thankfully I saw on previous build logs the tip to drill three holes before gluing the keel to the formers. What you can't see here are two problems which are about to raise their heads: 1) The bow end of the keel where the three holes were drilled split when the bulwark sides were fitted - easily fixed with an application of PVA and a peg - a brilliant use for a peg, far better than the use 'The Admiral' at home has for them ! 2) The starboard bulwark side on fitting and gluing was about 1/16" lower than the port side. Pretty obvious when you looked at the hull from the front. More on this later but it meant I had to open another bottle of Thinking Water or as it says on the label - Whisky - Damn ! 7 A picture says a thousand words and for each step I found myself looking at other build logs to see if I could see how someone else had done it especially regarding the planking. In the end you just have to get on with it so I am hoping that a few more pictures may just help someone else. Here is the stern with some planks in place - see what I mean about a rounded bottom ? More like a starved horse at the moment which did require some filler. The bow went better than I hoped, bits of offcut wood between the rabbett and the planks held the wood in place while it glued - saved on pins ! At times I found it difficult to work out what to do next with some of the planking so moved on and hoped it would become clearer. I had read about stealers etc but found it difficult to visualise what I needed to do. I suppose this is where experience comes in. Dobbin the starved horse making another appearance, wish I had added more balsa fillers........ Almost there, I know it is a hobby and everything should be enjoyed but finishing the first planking is a bit of a milestone. I had decided that as long as the planking was secure to the formers and reasonably equal either side then all would come right with the second planking - a case of too much Thinking Water, I'm afraid. I will stop for now, more pictures to post but I see that there are notices about problems with the server and changing Disc One - will post some more tomorrow - pip pip !
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