usedtosail

I served all the lines for the fore, main and mizzen shrouds.
 

 
I also finished the bowsprit with all the deadeyes and blocks.
 

 
Now I will make all the yards before I start rigging the masts.

I put the anchor cable in place. I had to drill out the inner hawse hole to get it to fit but to did fit in the hatch grating with no problem. I glued the hatch grating in place but left the anchor cable loose for now after wrapping it around the windlass.
 

The really hot weather finally broke here this week so I have had more time in the shop. I finished adding the various chocks and other bits to the bowsprit and gave it and the jib boom a coat of wipe on poly. While waiting for that to dry I made a new anchor cable line to replace the one that came in the kit, which was just a little too loose for my liking. I started by making four strands of 0.035" tan line, then twisted these together counter clockwise to make the cable.
 

 
Since I had the rope walk out, I started making the lines for the shrouds and backstays. I am using 0.035" line for the fore and main lower shrouds, and 0.030" line for the lower mizzen shrouds. I already had some lengths left over from my last build but I need a few more lengths of each. The 0.030 line is on the left.
 

 
I painted the first coat of black on the bowsprit and jib boom and will continue stropping the deadeyes for it when the painting is completed.

After a few weeks I have finally finished stropping all the blocks and deadeyes for the masts. This has taken a bit more time than I expected but then again I have only been working an hour or so a day because the weather has been so hot. I am now working on finishing the bowsprit and stropping the blocks and deadeyes for it.
 

 

 
I reverted to using seizings for the smaller blocks. I was able to make a single loop that went around the block and the mast with a single seizing to hold it all together, which to me looked better than the fake eye splice. I am currently serving a length of line to use for the bowsprit deadeye strops.

Thanks Glenn. It helps to have other build logs like yours to refer too.
 
I have turned all the yards on the lathe and glued the chokes in place. I have most of them cleaned of char except for a few that fell off while sanding them. I glued them back on and will clean them up tomorrow, then paint these all black.
 

 
I have also started stropping the blocks for the yards. Many of these have loops for other ropes (I can't remember what these are called at the moment) so I started by making a bunch of strops with small loops, as shown on the right. I then used these strops for the blocks, as seen on the left. That is all but one block for the fore yards that have loops.
 

 
 

Thanks Glenn. It helps to have other build logs like yours to refer too.
 
I have turned all the yards on the lathe and glued the chokes in place. I have most of them cleaned of char except for a few that fell off while sanding them. I glued them back on and will clean them up tomorrow, then paint these all black.
 

 
I have also started stropping the blocks for the yards. Many of these have loops for other ropes (I can't remember what these are called at the moment) so I started by making a bunch of strops with small loops, as shown on the right. I then used these strops for the blocks, as seen on the left. That is all but one block for the fore yards that have loops.
 

 
 

Post One Hundred and fifty-seven
 
A place on the skids?
 Well my curiosity  got the better of me and I just had to try the Pinnace onboard Sphinx.
 This coincidentally is the twelve month stage from starting the build.
 I’m warming to the look of the Pinnace on the skids and it doesn’t obscure the upper deck detail.

8090

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Nothing set in stone at this point, but I have decided that having all three boats on the skids would detract rather than enhance the look.
 
For me, Georgian elegance is why so many contemporary 18thc models only show the Pinnace onboard, it is the most graceful  and aesthetically pleasing(along with barges) of the boat complement.
 
B.E.
20/08/2022
 
 
 

Post One Hundred and fifty-six
 
Completing the Pinnace
The  final stretch for fitting out the Pinnace, seven days work and ongoing.

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The thole pins are brass etch of a devilish tiny size and are a loose fit within the mortices making it tricky to arrange correctly without getting glue on the woodwork.

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I chose to use wood slivers to represent the thole pins which I think look more natural, and they don’t need painting.

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The splash guards at the sternsheets and bow were  pre-bent to remove stress  and form the necessary curves. They were attached using pva.
 
I had hoped to leave the Pinnace hull below the wale entirely bright, but my eye was less than satisfied with the hull planking finish around the lower hull at the bow.
With some reluctance and not a little annoyance at my own deficiencies, I opted to paint the hull up to the waterline on the basis that a spot of ‘white’ stuff covers a multitude of sins.

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I used Vallejo Ivory paint which to my eye gives a better scale effect than  white.

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As it happens I don’t think it has turned out too badly.
 
The Rudder
The kit design is a pearwood  core sandwiched by thin brass etched patterns with the iron work detail moulded in.
The rudder attaches with false gudgeons and straps.
 
This certainly simplifies the process of rudder fitting, but for me it is a step too far removed from authenticity.

7994(2)
Making a replacement rudder is fairly easy, but hanging working rudders on these small models presents  something of a challenge.

8005
On the model a micro eyelet with 0.35mm ø brass wire silver soldered into it made for the lower pintle, and eyelets for the gudgeons.
 
I laboured several hours  to get the micro eyelets and pins in the right position.
I used Syren fibreboard to represent the straps.

8051(2)
One down, two more to go, I’ll set the Pinnace aside now and move onto the Launch.
 
B.E.
19/08/2022
 
 

Here are some pictures of my Chapter 10 work.  It is pretty much finished except the eye bolts along the rails.  I have all the holes drilled but need to make more eye bolts & rings.  I have not done the ships wheel yet as I forgot to order it with the Chapter so will probably wait till Chapter 12 is available & get that done then. I also need the chain plates, etc, for Chapter 11.  

 

 
 

 

 

None of the cannons are attached yet.  They are pretty glossy so I might dull them down a bit.  I think I will put the emblems on the Binnacle but leave it natural color.  Also leave the capstan natural - I couldn't bring myself to paint it.....
Pretty good progress for the last 3 weeks.   Till next time.....
Steve   

After numerous out of town trips, family interruptions, injured thumb (try opening glue bottles one handed) and breaking off every gun port lid at least 3 times each, the guns are finally on and rigged. 2 six lb. forward and 4 nine lb. finish the fit. High School Football coaching started 2 weeks ago and I am learning 2 new playbooks, offense and defense, so progress will remain slow until November. Sorry lighting is a bit dark.
 

Thanks for the comment Bob, and thanks to all who have added their "likes".
 
Working my way down the mast, the topgallant yard is next.  I didn’t get much in the way of progress pictures, but there are a number of things to talk about.
 
This yard and the ones below it have studding sail booms, which are used to extend additional sails out beyond the yards themselves.  These booms require hardware (“iron work” in the words of the instructions), and the instructions are a real problem here.
 
They start with a picture of the various pieces, saying there are 18 of them when there are actually 20. The picture and the plans show 18, but the plans’ text say that there are a pair of “main yard outer boom iron caps” and a pair of “topsail outer boom iron caps”, which is in fact what is supplied with the kit. Not a big deal since, at least as far as I can tell, none of these 4 boom iron caps are used in this model! I have no idea what they are supposed to be.
 
But far more concerning is the fact that the instructions and the plans inexplicably do not use the same terms to describe these less-than-intuitive parts. The plans show part numbers for these things (#2065 followed by a hyphen and a two digit number), but the instructions do not refer to the part numbers at all. After studying the instructions at length, I think I have figured it out, and in the picture taken of the plans below I have written in the terms used in the instructions. I hope future builders find this helpful.


I would add that the instructions say to "darken" these pieces, but I have never found what I use, Darken-It, to work on Britannia metal.  I used flat black paint.
 
The lower three yards also have a pair of chocks at the outer ends, and these are laser-cut in small, medium and large pieces.  Only problem is that there is only one pair of each size and obviously two pairs are required.  Not a big deal as they are easy to cut from the same sheet of wood that the laser cut pieces come from.
 
The instructions don’t mention, but the plans show, that the booms are angled up and out away from the yards at a 45 degree angle.  Or perhaps more clearly, looking at a cross section of the yard and boom, with the top of the mast being north and forward being to the east, the booms are to the northeast.  Holes need to be drilled in the yard for what the plans call “top gallant quarter irons” (one for each boom), which can be glued in place. Then insert the “topgallant outer irons” in holes drilled into the ends of the yard, but as the instructions appropriately warn, don’t glue until the booms are slid in place and these fittings can be angled in such a way that the booms and the yards all run parallel to each other.
 
As I did with the royal yard, I ran the thread for the foot ropes through some diluted white glue and let it dry before rigging them through the long eyebolts and tying them to the yards. That worked fairly well with the first foot rope on this yard.  The second one was an entirely different story.  For some reason tying the end of the thread to the boom proved really problematic, and I couldn’t get the clove hitches on the eyebolts to look or act anything like clove hitches.  After spending more time on it than I did on the previous three foot ropes combined, I went to tie the remaining end onto the boom and realized that the thread was too short to have any realistic chance of tying a knot.  After cussing up a storm (fortunately my wife wasn’t home), I got up from my work bench (the smartest thing I did all day), went outside and took a walk of about a mile, and ate lunch before returning to my work bench.  Things went a little more smoothly the second time around, but again it proved to be harder to do than it should have been.  Next time I may experiment with going back to merely wetting, stretching and drying the thread before tying it on, then applying diluted white glue with the hope of being able to bend the thread to the desired look and having it stay that way.
 
Enough text . . . here are some pictures.  When I took them, I had not yet added the eyebolts to the yoke for the parrell.



And here’s the topgallant yard dry fit on the mast.


I am going to take a little break with the yards and get the ratlines finished.  Then I’m thinking about installing these two yards with their running rigging, before moving on to the topmast and lower yards.

Great work, you have a very nice looking model

I served all the lines for the fore, main and mizzen shrouds.
 

 
I also finished the bowsprit with all the deadeyes and blocks.
 

 
Now I will make all the yards before I start rigging the masts.

I served all the lines for the fore, main and mizzen shrouds.
 

 
I also finished the bowsprit with all the deadeyes and blocks.
 

 
Now I will make all the yards before I start rigging the masts.

I served all the lines for the fore, main and mizzen shrouds.
 

 
I also finished the bowsprit with all the deadeyes and blocks.
 

 
Now I will make all the yards before I start rigging the masts.

I served all the lines for the fore, main and mizzen shrouds.
 

 
I also finished the bowsprit with all the deadeyes and blocks.
 

 
Now I will make all the yards before I start rigging the masts.

I served all the lines for the fore, main and mizzen shrouds.
 

 
I also finished the bowsprit with all the deadeyes and blocks.
 

 
Now I will make all the yards before I start rigging the masts.

The anchors have been made with a minor modification on my part. The stocks are two parts and
when I put them together and started sanding them, I was not happy with the way I could make
them look. Not the parts fault. I was not as careful putting the together and the seam just didn't
look good to my eye. Because of this I cut some stocks from pear I had on hand. 

 
Now with the anchors in place I just have rope coils to make and check the lines to
ensure they are snug, and we'll be finished. That happy sad moment is rapidly approaching.
 

This is only a mini-update as I've been away on holiday. This shows the hull up to completion of second planking, but I have started on sanding this smooth, which will be seen in next update when I've added the wales and done some other stuff.
 
The plan will give a position below each gun port, where a mark will be added. It's here that a plank will be run, from stem to stern. It also gives a nice reference to the upper wale strake which will lie directly over the top.
 




 
 
The hull is now sheathed in pear. Sanding begins.

Rob, I forgot to check MSW and adjusted the masts without looking at what others did.  Two of my masts were off a fair amount.  The main mast was  a little too vertical, but was off quite a bit laterally (sideways).  The mizzen mast had about twice as much rake as plans showed.  The foremast, for whatever reason, fit just like it was supposed to.
 
I made simple angle patterns for the main mast and mizzen mast so I could match the rake to the plans reasonably well.  I also aligned the hull laterally with a small plastic level and used a t-square to align the masts vertically looking from the front (or back).  I just eyeballed everything to get it aligned with the rake angles and the t-square.
 
I adjusted the masts by removing wood from one side for a length of about 1/2 inch at the bottom of the mast.  This is the part that fits into the lower holes, and it doesn't show.  I didn't make any changes to the upper holes in the main deck.  Then I glued on extra wood on the other side of the mast from where I removed wood, so the mast would fit in the hole fairly good.  I didn't want it loose fitting.  This took a fair amount of filing and fiddling to get the rake to match.  And of course I forgot to take a photo before I glued in the masts!
 
Here's a couple of photos of the end result. 

I've also made a little progress on the yards.  Here's their current status:

The really hot weather finally broke here this week so I have had more time in the shop. I finished adding the various chocks and other bits to the bowsprit and gave it and the jib boom a coat of wipe on poly. While waiting for that to dry I made a new anchor cable line to replace the one that came in the kit, which was just a little too loose for my liking. I started by making four strands of 0.035" tan line, then twisted these together counter clockwise to make the cable.
 

 
Since I had the rope walk out, I started making the lines for the shrouds and backstays. I am using 0.035" line for the fore and main lower shrouds, and 0.030" line for the lower mizzen shrouds. I already had some lengths left over from my last build but I need a few more lengths of each. The 0.030 line is on the left.
 

 
I painted the first coat of black on the bowsprit and jib boom and will continue stropping the deadeyes for it when the painting is completed.

I put the anchor cable in place. I had to drill out the inner hawse hole to get it to fit but to did fit in the hatch grating with no problem. I glued the hatch grating in place but left the anchor cable loose for now after wrapping it around the windlass.
 

I put the anchor cable in place. I had to drill out the inner hawse hole to get it to fit but to did fit in the hatch grating with no problem. I glued the hatch grating in place but left the anchor cable loose for now after wrapping it around the windlass.
 

The really hot weather finally broke here this week so I have had more time in the shop. I finished adding the various chocks and other bits to the bowsprit and gave it and the jib boom a coat of wipe on poly. While waiting for that to dry I made a new anchor cable line to replace the one that came in the kit, which was just a little too loose for my liking. I started by making four strands of 0.035" tan line, then twisted these together counter clockwise to make the cable.
 

 
Since I had the rope walk out, I started making the lines for the shrouds and backstays. I am using 0.035" line for the fore and main lower shrouds, and 0.030" line for the lower mizzen shrouds. I already had some lengths left over from my last build but I need a few more lengths of each. The 0.030 line is on the left.
 

 
I painted the first coat of black on the bowsprit and jib boom and will continue stropping the deadeyes for it when the painting is completed.

I put the anchor cable in place. I had to drill out the inner hawse hole to get it to fit but to did fit in the hatch grating with no problem. I glued the hatch grating in place but left the anchor cable loose for now after wrapping it around the windlass.