TBlack

Gregory,
I’m just. Guessing, but maybe the steering cables went straight down from the drum, through the captain’s cabin, into the space below, and thence to the rudder post?
Tom 

Steve,
Your quoted passages are on pages 79-80 in my edition. While Mr. Brown thought the yard should be shortened, Jack thought otherwise, and instructed the carpenter, Mr. Lamb, just to touch up the stop-cleats. The spar was never shortened and remained at 43 feet.
Tom

Steve,
You're never too granular for this hobby. Keep it up!
Sophie was always going to have a wheel. Page 69 of my paperback edition of the book says that Jack took the wheel, and that the wind blew his hat off, getting caught in the hammock netting. So, the wheel is on the quarterdeck.
Tom

Steve,
Your quoted passages are on pages 79-80 in my edition. While Mr. Brown thought the yard should be shortened, Jack thought otherwise, and instructed the carpenter, Mr. Lamb, just to touch up the stop-cleats. The spar was never shortened and remained at 43 feet.
Tom

Steve,
You're never too granular for this hobby. Keep it up!
Sophie was always going to have a wheel. Page 69 of my paperback edition of the book says that Jack took the wheel, and that the wind blew his hat off, getting caught in the hammock netting. So, the wheel is on the quarterdeck.
Tom

Jon,
A nice explanation and I'm sure a big help to other first timers. Looks good so far.
Tom

My mistake. Must be the late night that fogs my brain. I was thinking 1:64=3/8" to the foot and it's actually 3/16" to the foot. We're all in agreement this morning.
Tom

This is becoming an interesting discussion, because the kit calls for a main yard 202mm long (7.953") and suggests that Cochrane extended it to 220mm (8.66"). In this scale, 1:64, that translates to, in the first instance, 21' and in the second 23'. Now I don't know how I'm going to resolve this issue, but I know that I'm a looong way from having to deal with it.
 
And Steve, please don't recede into the background!
Tom

Walter,
Check out Tom Szabo's Leopard (TomS10). Last page of his log shows the result, and back a couple of pages shows how he did it.
Tom

Walter,
Check out Tom Szabo's Leopard (TomS10). Last page of his log shows the result, and back a couple of pages shows how he did it.
Tom

Post 34
 
Making my first silkspan sails part 1 paint, its color, etc
 
This episode has been and continues to be an adventure.   It went quicker than it might thanks to my daughter coming up to spend Christmas week with us.  Last year she got me through updating all but one of Bluenose sails. That wa on the sewing machine, This year we worked together, figured out our method, not necessarily the best, and got basic production done on the ten sails.  She loved painting hanging, then cutting them out and drawing those nasty little lines. I have to say it took two to do the larger sheets.  One person I believe would be limited to sheets much smaller and only one or two at a time.
 
Here is the trial-and-error method.  It followed advice several ventures onto u-tube and other blogs to find several “experts”.  It is not surprising there is quite a range of procedures. The main choice was to follow one of the basic options. I had followed the suggestion and bought the book for Sea Watch. I read it months ago and now have no idea where it went.  
•    Several experts laminate silk span over marked up copy paper.  
•    One expert showed making the sail with one layer of silk span.  There were discussions on different choices in thickness of the silk span.  I simply got what Bluejacket supplied and it worked great.…..we liked the one layer approach and went that way.
Second issue is to choose paint method
•    One expert said take acrylic artist paint, mix the color, spray water and then  and roll it on.
•    One expert said take a spray can and spray it on
•    One blog said latex works just as well as acrylic.    That means one can get a pint premixed and be sure of common color and have enough to do many batches. Also a Pint of latex is the same cost as maybe two tubes of acrylic, and living here in Maine it is a 45 minute drive to the nearest store that carries it.  
 
First up is the first method of using artist acrylic
 
300      here we are mixing three tones. We knew we wanted ecru but were unsure if we needed grey to the mix.    We did one sheet and quickly switched to just ecru and white.   
301.    here on our third attempt we spayed the right amount of water remixed without grey and went ahead.  
302    here my ringer guest is going at it.  
303    here is this first batch drying.  Boy we lost a few sheets in this process and this one is a bit blotchy.  
304    here we laid out the sail patterns to see that we were making the right amount.  We decided to reject this batch as there were inconsistencies and other beginner problems.  I now have plenty of use for the material on smaller models at some later date.   We took a couple of ecru and off white spray cans and tried a few sheets.  we found they became shiny so ruled out that procedure.  After reading that latex would be OK, we reviewed our sample and chits and went to get a pint of what we felt best replicated the shade of light ecru in the color photo
 
305    here is goes on.  We learned it is very different that the acrylic to apply.  Hard to describe just different. It is stickier and the time element requires speed as is sticks to the mat quickly.     
306    here we are drying. The color consistency was much better.  We also learned not to wet nor paint the top one inch of the silk span, so it stays dry and strong for the hanging clips.  
307    here is the test foresail cut out and lined.  
308    here is the comparison of the first sail made with acrylic including the touch of grey with the latex out of the can.  One can see the consistent color and we thought the right tone against the white copy paper for comparison. the sheet under it is the acrylic.    Next up is to get them cut out, figure out how to make them up and then get them bent onto the spars. 
 
cheers 
 

My mistake. Must be the late night that fogs my brain. I was thinking 1:64=3/8" to the foot and it's actually 3/16" to the foot. We're all in agreement this morning.
Tom

This is becoming an interesting discussion, because the kit calls for a main yard 202mm long (7.953") and suggests that Cochrane extended it to 220mm (8.66"). In this scale, 1:64, that translates to, in the first instance, 21' and in the second 23'. Now I don't know how I'm going to resolve this issue, but I know that I'm a looong way from having to deal with it.
 
And Steve, please don't recede into the background!
Tom

OK, Steve, you're a lot further on in the book than I am. Let me catch up.
Tom

OK, Steve, you're a lot further on in the book than I am. Let me catch up.
Tom

Perhaps it is as supplied in the kit. There is a description of the yard that to Aubrey was too small, so you may be able to judge from that. 

It is clear that Jack disliked the Main yard on Sophie when he first took command of her, and pushed her hard until the spar sprung. He got another from the shipyard, maybe a spare foretopgallent yard from a ship of the line, but alas the yard master said ‘It will never do, Captain Aubrey,’ called Mr Brown, hailing over the quiet evening air through his trumpet. ‘It is far too large and will certainly carry away. You must saw off the yardarms and half the third quarter.’.
 
But among the dimensions Mowett recites to Maturin, the main yard is not included … in fact, Mowett says he will have to measure it. I think we never do find out the final size. 
 

First, I am delighted that I've got an audience that is appreciative of my modest efforts. Thank you all for being here. Secondly, I hope Chris Watton doesn't stumble of this log and see how I'm ruining his perfect kit! He'll never sell me another thing!
 
Steve: once I figure out the shape and dimensions of the stern area, I need to go back and reread Master and Commander to see if Aubrey provides any more detail on the rest of Sophie. We know that the "forecastle" is not a raised deck but just an area of the main deck, and that there is an elm tree pump up there as well. Big assumption, but perhaps the main yard is as supplied in the kit?
Tom

First, I am delighted that I've got an audience that is appreciative of my modest efforts. Thank you all for being here. Secondly, I hope Chris Watton doesn't stumble of this log and see how I'm ruining his perfect kit! He'll never sell me another thing!
 
Steve: once I figure out the shape and dimensions of the stern area, I need to go back and reread Master and Commander to see if Aubrey provides any more detail on the rest of Sophie. We know that the "forecastle" is not a raised deck but just an area of the main deck, and that there is an elm tree pump up there as well. Big assumption, but perhaps the main yard is as supplied in the kit?
Tom

First, I am delighted that I've got an audience that is appreciative of my modest efforts. Thank you all for being here. Secondly, I hope Chris Watton doesn't stumble of this log and see how I'm ruining his perfect kit! He'll never sell me another thing!
 
Steve: once I figure out the shape and dimensions of the stern area, I need to go back and reread Master and Commander to see if Aubrey provides any more detail on the rest of Sophie. We know that the "forecastle" is not a raised deck but just an area of the main deck, and that there is an elm tree pump up there as well. Big assumption, but perhaps the main yard is as supplied in the kit?
Tom

First, I am delighted that I've got an audience that is appreciative of my modest efforts. Thank you all for being here. Secondly, I hope Chris Watton doesn't stumble of this log and see how I'm ruining his perfect kit! He'll never sell me another thing!
 
Steve: once I figure out the shape and dimensions of the stern area, I need to go back and reread Master and Commander to see if Aubrey provides any more detail on the rest of Sophie. We know that the "forecastle" is not a raised deck but just an area of the main deck, and that there is an elm tree pump up there as well. Big assumption, but perhaps the main yard is as supplied in the kit?
Tom

Holidays over, back to the shop. Making some progress, albeit slowly. I'm trying to get the stern section together and flowing smoothly. I've added the gun port patterns and one hull plank:

 
Now I'm working on fabricating two of these:
 
 
 
 

 
Happy new year to all!
Tom

Holidays over, back to the shop. Making some progress, albeit slowly. I'm trying to get the stern section together and flowing smoothly. I've added the gun port patterns and one hull plank:

 
Now I'm working on fabricating two of these:
 
 
 
 

 
Happy new year to all!
Tom

Msgt. Ray,
Mark makes a good point. How far down the rabbit hole do you want to go? Yes, the forestay and preventer stay is rigged incorrectly, but will your audience know the difference? I stand by my previous recommendation. Do a little trimming and tightening; fix the masts. It will pass muster. Don't make perfection the enemy of the good.
As an aside: I'm thinking, Master Sergeant, fighter aircraft. Does that mean Marines?
Tom

Ray,
I’m going to depart from the considerable wisdom and advice given by Roger and Druxey. I had a similar problem a few years ago (see log Researching St. George) where the bowsprit and attendant rigging was a tangled mess. That area I cut away and redid from scratch. The rest of the rigging I left in place and tightened it up. My reasoning was that I didn’t want to add work if I didn’t have to. Your situation looks like the main mast and rigging needs a redo. However, it looks like you can save the lower shrouds. Hard to tell from the photo what the main top shrouds look like.
BTW, when you go to buy the Q tips be careful; they sell 2 kinds. The one to avoid is the one where the stem has break away joints. The least little pressure and they break in your hand. Most frustrating! Also, Mark’s suggestion is spot on. Longridge’s book would be helpful, and there are many build logs on this site that may supply help. In the search box (upper right) type in Victory.
Tom
 

Holidays over, back to the shop. Making some progress, albeit slowly. I'm trying to get the stern section together and flowing smoothly. I've added the gun port patterns and one hull plank:

 
Now I'm working on fabricating two of these:
 
 
 
 

 
Happy new year to all!
Tom