Young America by EdT - FINISHED - extreme clipper 1853

[EdT]

Yes, I good idea.  My punch went AWOL about 10 yeas ago.  One more thing to buy?

 

Ed

[Chuck]

If you dont mind spending $20 bucks for a tool you wont use that often.....This one works really well to make thimbles.  Its a jewelry metal punch tool.   

 

Works great.  The aluminum or brass tubes we use are very soft so only light squeeze pressure is needed.

 

[cog]

 

One more thing to buy?

Grind a point on the shank of broken drill ...

[Chuck]

I dont want to hijack the topic but...

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mazbot-7-034-Hole-Punch-Pliers-5-SIZE-Jewelry-Metal-Leather-HIGH-GRADE-HPP06-/280775730493

 

Ebay of course.

[EdT]

Thank you, Chuck.  Looks neat.  I'll keep it in mind.  

 

Cog, I believe Druxey was referring to a spring loaded centering punch.  I've got plenty of the other type. including the one shown above that was made for thimbles, but thanks for the suggestion.

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 194 – Lower Masts continued

 

Previous posts showed the fore top completed and the other two constructed but not yet fitted with rigging connections.  None had yet been installed on the masts, which remain loose from the model.  The plan is to complete construction of the lower masts, then fit the tops with chains, deadeyes and futtock shrouds and then permanently step the masts.

 

The mizzen mast is lagging behind the larger two.  In the first picture the hounds have been fit and the mortises for the bibbs, have been roughed out,

 

 

The metal work is all left unblackened until the handling of construction is finished.  In the next picture one of the bibbs is being glued on.

 

 

The top of the hounds assembly will be filed off to the correct rake angle later.  The assembly will then be fitted with its 22 simulated bolts, rounded and sanded smooth.

 

In the next picture the completed fore top has been glued to the hounds.

 

 

Bolts and rigging connections may be seen in the picture. 

 

With the top fitted over, the next step was to trim out the masthead.  In the next picture the bolsters on either side of the mast have been installed and and excess glue is being washed from the newly fitted chafing battens.

 

 

The bolsters provided a rounded bed for the shrouds, but on the model they also strengthen the connection of the top.  The glued joints to the hounds under the trestletrees are end grain joints, so the added strength from the bolsters is helpful.  I avoided drilling bolt holes through the trestletrees astride the mast.

 

The last picture shows the completed fore top.  In addition to the bolsters and the chafing battens, thumb cleats have been fitted to each side of the head. 

 

 

 

The wood thumb cleats will support the strapping of a bullseye that will redirect the main topgallant stay downward to the eyebolt just behind the lower masthead.  The battens and the cleats are bolted with small-size (.014") monofilament.  The entire top, including the ironwork has been given a coat of thinned Tung oil.

 

 

Ed

[albert]

Hi Ed your model is fantastic.

[rwiederrich]

Fantastic work Ed......I'll be building the tops for the GR this weekend myself...thanks for the fine example.

 

Rob

[druxey]

That's a lot of add-ons required for a top of this era! Beautiful as usual, Ed.

[dvm27]

That's a lot of holes for rigging, Ed. I was amazed (reading Longridge's book) that Cutty Sark was rigged in three weeks. Might take you a hair longer I suspect.

[rwiederrich]

I was noticing Ed...how will you be attaching the chain sling to the mast....is the eye bolt hidden?

 

Beautiful work.

 

(Upon further study) I was wondering if the YA design called for an additional thumb cleat aft to support the chain sling that ran up through the lubbers hole to the thumb cleat...or will the sling stay low down near the bolsters.  Will you simulate leather sheathes?

 

Rob

Edited February 12, 2017 by rwiederrich

[Chasseur]

Super clean work. Amazing!

Jeff

[EdT]

Thank you all.  Comments like these make my day - and so far it looks like its going to be dreary.

 

I hope I got them all at this stage, Druxey.  The two eyebolts above the forward rim were late additions - on the ship and the model.  These will anchor tackles that were added with the second set of topsails.

 

You're right, Greg, a lot of holes - as many as I could cram in and only one or to unassigned spares.  Six yards on each mast required a lot of lines.  At the rate these ships generated cash, a large army of riggers could easily be afforded to shave weeks off of the schedule.  Unfortunately I have just one set of fingers, so yes, it is going to take some time.  These builders could accomplish amazing feats.  John Bertram, an 1100 ton extreme clipper was launched at East Boston just 61 days after laying her keel in 1850.

 

Rob, the large eye for the lower yard chain sling under the top is conspicuously absent.  Because it will be shackled to both the mast eyebolt and the yard band, and because these shackles are silver soldered, the sling with its eyebolts will be prefabricated.  The location of the eyebolt hole will be placed with the yard on its truss so the chain will be taut and the truss horizontal.  I do not trust my ability to measure the chain/shackled length and place the bolthole at this stage.  This design does not require chain to be looped over the masthead, so hence no cleat on the aft  face..

 

Ed

[rwiederrich]

OK..I see what direction you are headed.  I wasn't sure of the sling design Webb's mast crew used.  Slinging from underneath the top via an eyebolt to the yard sling band is probably the easiest method anyway.  Earlier clippers may have used the sling that goes up and around the mast head with a leather sleeve.

 

What I do, is make a measurement of the length of the chain sling and mount the chain to its eye bolt up between the cheeks...and then let it hang until I am ready to mount the trussed yard.  I will then make adjustments to the sling length(If need be) before making the final connection to the mast sling eye bolt.

 

This way...I can have the mast finished, stepped and ready for yards without trying to add the tedious sling later.

Any way...that's my way.   

I really appreciate following your build...it motivates me and sets a good example to follow.

 

Rob

[cog]

61 days, what are you waiting for? You started September 2013!!! Sorry, forgot you are building alone whilst the shipyard had some more personel, and maybe even cut a corner on the way ..

 

She looks grand Ed

[MartinCJM]

I love the way all the different shapes, lines and volumes come together at the junction of mast and top. Almost architectural. Beautiful work, Ed.

[Maury S]

Ed,

You've probably mentioned it before, but how much dilution to the tung oil, and with what? 

Maury

[EdT]

Again, thanks to all for the comments, questions and likes.

 

Maury, I usually dilute oil with mineral spirits.  What I am using on the masts is probably about 50%.  I normally use pure Tung, which is pretty viscous.  Tung oil "finishes" may be partially polymerized or have other constituents, like dryers, added.  This makes them easier to use.  Some of these products may be thinner.  I was just looking for a thin seal coat on the masts so was not too particular.  I could easily have substituted Watco (linseed) - also thinned.  Linseed is not as durable as Tung.  All this will later be waxed.

 

Ed

[rwiederrich]

I always use tung oil.....Fine product in my view.

 

Rob

Edited February 14, 2017 by rwiederrich

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 195 – Mast Wedges

 

So far, the masts have been temporarily stepped and placed in position through partners at the main deck level.  The openings at this level were centered so the masts would stand at roughly the correct rake, but were not sized precisely, nor were they cut perfectly round.  The next step in the mounting process was to fit wedges on to the mast at the partner level.  The wedges would secure the masts at the correct rake, but still allow them to be removed for the remaining bench work.

 

The first step was to size the openings, refine their position, and make them round – with a few inches of clearance around the mast.  The first picture shows this being done at the fore mast partners, using sandpaper mounted on one of the tapered mandrels described earlier.

 

 

When the opening was large enough to wedge the mast, the diameter was measured with dividers as shown in the next picture.

 

 

In the next picture a ring is being turned that will fit the mast diameter and the hole diameter below an enlarged and rounded section at the top.

 

 

The mast wedges were cut from this ring.  The next picture shows the turned ring cut in two and one half being checked for fit on the mast.

 

 

Each of these halves were cut into segments.  In the next picture a segment has been fitted to the mainmast mast and the mast positioned.

 

 

This allowed the mast rake to be measured and any corrections made before fitting the rest of the segments.  The next picture shows the main mast with all the segments glued to it.

 

 

Once wedged, the masts are held firmly in their final position but may be removed for further work.  This work includes final installation of the tops and the masthead trim.  It will also include installation of the deadeyes and futtocks for the topmast shrouds.  The last step before finally stepping the masts will be the fitting of mast coats over the wedges.  These will cover the woodwork shown above with simulated tarred canvas.  The masts will then be glued at the partners and the step and will be ready for the lower shrouds.

 

 

Ed

[Mirabell61]

lovely work Ed,

a real treat to look at your wonderful handcraft work....

 

Nils

[albert]

Fantastic work Ed, very very nice.

[WackoWolf]

Excellent work Ed, always looking forward to new updates.

[tadheus]

Ed, fantastic.

 

 

 

 

Pawel

[cog]

Why glue the wedges?

[rwiederrich]

Magnificent work and attention to detail Ed...

 

Rob

[EdT]

Thanks everyone for the comments and likes.

 

Carl, theoretically glue would not be necessary, but relying on wedges alone on a model of this scale is risky, so as with many other attachments on the model, glue is the sensible choice.  The glue will not only keep the masts down, it will also prevent rotation.  

 

If the question is: why glue the wedges to the masts, it is to permit the masts to be withdrawn and replaced as necessary until they are permanently fixed.  If the wedges were glued instead to the partners, the mast rings below the deck would not pass through the opening.  Also, the mast coats would have to be applied in place, within the confines of the fife rails.

 

Cheers,

 

Ed

Edited February 18, 2017 by EdT

[cog]

Thanks Ed. Learned something new again!

[druxey]

I've never seen a model where the mast wedges actually were functional as in full-size practice. An impressive miniaturization of the technique, Ed.

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 196 – A Touch of Rework

 

This post was intended to be about topmast deadeyes and connection of those deadeyes to their futtock shrouds below the foretop.  However, some interesting discoveries caused some rework that has interfered with this – and other work that was proceeding.  Fixing mistakes is not all that interesting but in this case I learned some things that may be of interest and I'm not sure the term "mistake" applies.  In any case the rework is relatively minor, and the final model will certainly benefit – though the change may be fairly obscure and unnoticed.

 

The first picture shows the two forward futtock shrouds installed under the fore top.

 

 

The shrouds in the picture have eyes with thimbles at each end, hooks to the deadeye straps, lashings to the mast eyes, and are served all over.  After completing this work, I felt, perhaps intuitively, that the rope looked a bit heavy.  I keep thinking of the lacy rigging in the photos.

 

The specified size of the topmast shrouds on large merchant and Naval ships, and therefore the futtock shroud size, is 6 ½", a size that goes back in time at least to Steel, and probably earlier.  It is repeated in other early sources, probably copying Steel.  It is also listed in Underhill's work on clipper ship rigging that I have used for some line sizing.  Crothers rigging drawings follow suit.  Considering the slight exaggeration in diameter that serving at this scale causes, the final futtocks shown above measure about to the spec.

 

In pursuing this further, I learned that American underwriters, at least, had some different ideas about standing rigging sizes.  While they duplicate Steel for the most part, they part company in the way topmasts are supported.  It appears to me that they wanted stronger topmast backstays and were less concerned about the size and structural importance of the topmast shrouds.  Both the New York Marine Register of 1857 and the American Lloyds Register of 1867 required 10 1/2" backstays on the fore and main topmasts on ships of this class, against the 7" size found in Steel – and other derivative listings.  This is equal to the lower shroud and stay sizes – the largest lines in the ship.  Topmast shrouds and futtocks on the large masts go from 6 ½" down to 5 ¼".

 

The next picture shows a smaller, 5 ¼" replacement futtock on the left with the original 6 ½" on the right.  There is quite a difference, of course.

 

 

If this were the only fix needed, it would hardly bear mentioning, but the backstays are another matter. Upsizing these means changing out a dozen channel deadeyes and chains.  The fore and main deadeyes go from 13" to 16" and the mizzen from 9" to 13".  No fun for Ed.

 

The last check before deciding to proceed with these changes was to examine the photographs of the ship.  While they reveal little on the futtock sizes, they clearly show topmast backstays and deadeyes comparable in size to the lower shrouds as anticipated from the underwriters' specs.  Wow!

 

This would have been easy to miss and I am delighted to have discovered it at this stage.  The difference will certainly be noticeable on the model.  Other American clipper modelers take note.

 

So, I will probably spend a week on the channel deadeyes and backstays – on the model, on the drawings, on the rigging list, and on the channel deadeye chapter in Volume II.

 

Please do not comment on my sanity.

 

Ed