popeye2sea

Hello all,
I got tired of making bolts for my cannon carriages so I decided to put the riggers to work starting to prepare the rigging.
 
Decided to start with the main stay:  Here is a summary of the process
The line I am using is Morope.  An eye is turned in on the end with a circumference just large enough for the stay to pass through.  Morope is tricky to unlay for splicing because it is nylon.  When cut it will just fall apart  I separated the strands with a toothpick and touched a drop of CA to each before cutting so that the strands would not unravel.  The eye was then serviced with sewing thread with the serving continued over the splice.  The stay was then wormed for one third of its length from the eye.  I did not bother with parcelling.  The mouse was then raised on the stay to it's proper shape and size with sewing thread then pointed over to finish.  The mouse is several hours worth of work with the needle and thread
 
I hope you enjoy
 

 
 

 

So, now your a bricklayer too?  Fantastic work.  It really amazes me how many skills we learn and employ in miniature in order to build these models.

Hello all,
I got tired of making bolts for my cannon carriages so I decided to put the riggers to work starting to prepare the rigging.
 
Decided to start with the main stay:  Here is a summary of the process
The line I am using is Morope.  An eye is turned in on the end with a circumference just large enough for the stay to pass through.  Morope is tricky to unlay for splicing because it is nylon.  When cut it will just fall apart  I separated the strands with a toothpick and touched a drop of CA to each before cutting so that the strands would not unravel.  The eye was then serviced with sewing thread with the serving continued over the splice.  The stay was then wormed for one third of its length from the eye.  I did not bother with parcelling.  The mouse was then raised on the stay to it's proper shape and size with sewing thread then pointed over to finish.  The mouse is several hours worth of work with the needle and thread
 
I hope you enjoy
 

 
 

 

Hello all,
I got tired of making bolts for my cannon carriages so I decided to put the riggers to work starting to prepare the rigging.
 
Decided to start with the main stay:  Here is a summary of the process
The line I am using is Morope.  An eye is turned in on the end with a circumference just large enough for the stay to pass through.  Morope is tricky to unlay for splicing because it is nylon.  When cut it will just fall apart  I separated the strands with a toothpick and touched a drop of CA to each before cutting so that the strands would not unravel.  The eye was then serviced with sewing thread with the serving continued over the splice.  The stay was then wormed for one third of its length from the eye.  I did not bother with parcelling.  The mouse was then raised on the stay to it's proper shape and size with sewing thread then pointed over to finish.  The mouse is several hours worth of work with the needle and thread
 
I hope you enjoy
 

 
 

 

I bought a set of round nose ultra fine pliers from a company online called Micro-Tools (part # PLR-491-10).
I then ground one tip down to 1 mm, which is just over 1/32 inch.  The grinding down was really just an increased taper and I tried to preserve the mating surface of the plier jaws.
 
The best way to form the loop is to grasp the wire between the jaws of the pliers in your right hand, the jaw that you are going to loop around (smaller jaw) away from you and the wire gripped so that it is at the very end.  You do not want to able to feel the wire above the plier tip. You also want to make sure the the wire is perpendicular to the pliers or you will get an oval.  Using the thumb of your left hand bend the wire around the small jaw of the pliers.  Your thumb should be right up to the pliers and it is more of a pushing the wire around the jaw.  You will need to turn the pliers in your right hand by turning your wrist without losing your grip on the wire.  You may reach a point where you can not bend any further comfortably without losing your grip. You can adjust the the grip of the pliers so that the point at which they are gripping is further back along the loop by just turning the jaw slightly in the loop.  This will allow you to finish closing the loop.  Be careful not to move the wire up or down the jaws while doing this or you will get two different diameter bends in the loop.
 
Once the loop is made shift your grip on the wire by spinning the pliers in the loop until you are now gripping the straight section opposite the end of the loop.  Bend the wire slightly in the opposite direction until you get the shaft of the eyebolt pointed in the right direction.
 
I use the same pliers for making rings for ring bolts and hooks for blocks.  The hooks are made with five separate bends in the wire, but the principles are the same.  It is important that you keep the wire perpendicular or your bends are going to be out of plane and at odd angles.  Remember that you are not bending the wire with the pliers so much as you are bending the wire around the jaw.  You will have a lot more control over how the bends look if you are doing all the bending with your hand and not the pliers.
 
Regards,

Your skill with woodworking really comes through.  Great work.  The hatches are fantastic.

Dan,  we use a leather similar in fashion to a sailmakers palm with a broad flat piece over the thumb.

Although I have fired a cannon several times I can not say with certainty how much of a blast would come out of the touch hole.  The powder charges we use are much smaller than a full combat load.  And to be honest, my position on the gun is either worm/loader or sponge/rammer, so I am usually at the muzzle of the gun when it goes off and not really paying any attention to the touch hole.  My impression is that there is a plume of smoke but not much else.  Also much of that plume is from the powder in the pan and touch hole.

Although I have fired a cannon several times I can not say with certainty how much of a blast would come out of the touch hole.  The powder charges we use are much smaller than a full combat load.  And to be honest, my position on the gun is either worm/loader or sponge/rammer, so I am usually at the muzzle of the gun when it goes off and not really paying any attention to the touch hole.  My impression is that there is a plume of smoke but not much else.  Also much of that plume is from the powder in the pan and touch hole.

I bought a set of round nose ultra fine pliers from a company online called Micro-Tools (part # PLR-491-10).
I then ground one tip down to 1 mm, which is just over 1/32 inch.  The grinding down was really just an increased taper and I tried to preserve the mating surface of the plier jaws.
 
The best way to form the loop is to grasp the wire between the jaws of the pliers in your right hand, the jaw that you are going to loop around (smaller jaw) away from you and the wire gripped so that it is at the very end.  You do not want to able to feel the wire above the plier tip. You also want to make sure the the wire is perpendicular to the pliers or you will get an oval.  Using the thumb of your left hand bend the wire around the small jaw of the pliers.  Your thumb should be right up to the pliers and it is more of a pushing the wire around the jaw.  You will need to turn the pliers in your right hand by turning your wrist without losing your grip on the wire.  You may reach a point where you can not bend any further comfortably without losing your grip. You can adjust the the grip of the pliers so that the point at which they are gripping is further back along the loop by just turning the jaw slightly in the loop.  This will allow you to finish closing the loop.  Be careful not to move the wire up or down the jaws while doing this or you will get two different diameter bends in the loop.
 
Once the loop is made shift your grip on the wire by spinning the pliers in the loop until you are now gripping the straight section opposite the end of the loop.  Bend the wire slightly in the opposite direction until you get the shaft of the eyebolt pointed in the right direction.
 
I use the same pliers for making rings for ring bolts and hooks for blocks.  The hooks are made with five separate bends in the wire, but the principles are the same.  It is important that you keep the wire perpendicular or your bends are going to be out of plane and at odd angles.  Remember that you are not bending the wire with the pliers so much as you are bending the wire around the jaw.  You will have a lot more control over how the bends look if you are doing all the bending with your hand and not the pliers.
 
Regards,

The worm that we use on our working 1812 era cannon is made from cast iron and the head looks like a spring.  The arms really do not scratch the bore of the cannon at all. The pitch of the helix is smaller than you have depicted. The 'arms' make more that 2 complete revolutions.  The sponge and rammer are on opposite ends of another pole.
 
In addition to unloading the gun the worm is used as part of the regular gun drill.  Here is the drill we use.  It was standard during the war of 1812
 
1.  "Search your piece"  The worm is inserted down the barrel and given several turns to snag any unburned wadding or cartridge left over from the last shot
2.  "Sponge your piece"  The wet sponge is run down the barrel to extinguish any burning embers
3.  "Search your piece" 
4.  "Sponge your piece"
5.  "Advance cartridge"  The cartridge is brought to the loader
6.  "Load cartridge"        The cartridge is inserted into the barrel and rammed home
7.  "Load with shot"       The round shot (or other shot)  is inserted into the barrel a wadding is inserted after and the shot rammed home
8.  "Prick and prime"     The gunner inserts the prick down the touch hole to pierce the cartridge bag and then fills the touch hole with powder.  A lead apron is the placed over the touch hole to protect the powder.
 
The gunner then sights the gun and the crew uses handspikes to train and elevate the weapon.
9.   "Make ready"        The gunner blows in the linstock to make sure it is burning well.  The apron is removed from the touch hole.
10.  "Fire"                   The gunner touchs the linstock to the touch hole.

I had a bit of a set back (at least in my mind) and I would like your opinions.  After taking a long time with painting all of that gilt work on the ships sides, stern and quarter galleries, I wanted to put a coat of lacquer over all to protect the paint.  I sprayed the sides with dull cote and the result is to my eye a bit disheartening.  I do not like how dull the gold becomes, but I do not think there is any way to fix it, or if I should even try.
 

 
I am thinking of leaving the quarter galleries and stern with more of a bright finish even though there will be a contrast with the sides.
 
What do you think?   Any suggestions?
 
 

Finally have some new progress to report. Seems like there is never enough time to work on the build.
 
I am working on correcting the deficiencies in the head of the ship. Since no one really knows what this area of the ship looked like I took some artistic license. I was also pointed in the direction of a build log on another site which gave me some good ideas.
 
Here's what I came up with:
 
I filled the space between the cheeks with a billet carved from styrene stock. Then I cast some silicone molds using the decoration on one of the quarter galleries and cast some pieces in resin.
 




 
Here are the resin pieces mounted and painted

 
Next I carved some head rail timbers from strip styrene

 
And mounted them




 
Then I cast another decoration to ornament the head timbers and mounted them to finish out this project

 
And here is a couple of pics with the head rails and grating temporarily fitted


 
That's all for now.
Thanks for looking in on the build.
 
P.S. I'm hoping this is not too horrible a build. No one has commented yet

First parts of the rigging.
I decided to rig the ship using as a reference The Rigging of Ships in the Days of the Spritsail Topmast by R.C. Anderson. I chose sizes of rigging thread accordingly. Here you see the wooldings, the gammoning and the Main Stay. The thread is poly/cotton dyed black using Minwax Ebony stain. It took a few attempts to get an eye splice turned in; not so bad on the 0.08 inch diameter Main stay but a real bear on the 0.03 inch Gammoning. I don't think I will be making real eye splices on anything smaller than that. I'm sure simulated ones will look just fine for the smaller rope. The wooldings are 0.02 inch and seized around the masts using the method of taking the required number of turns round the mast and over a bight in the line and heaving the ends taught underneath by pulling the bight down beneath the turns. Not all the wooldings have been put on the Fore Mast yet. You can also see the mast coat I added to the main mast. I will put one on the Fore and Mizzen once the deck level can be determined.

I still need to raise a mouse on the Main Stay and seize a treble block in on the lower end.
 




 
Enjoy,
 
Henry
 

The worm that we use on our working 1812 era cannon is made from cast iron and the head looks like a spring.  The arms really do not scratch the bore of the cannon at all. The pitch of the helix is smaller than you have depicted. The 'arms' make more that 2 complete revolutions.  The sponge and rammer are on opposite ends of another pole.
 
In addition to unloading the gun the worm is used as part of the regular gun drill.  Here is the drill we use.  It was standard during the war of 1812
 
1.  "Search your piece"  The worm is inserted down the barrel and given several turns to snag any unburned wadding or cartridge left over from the last shot
2.  "Sponge your piece"  The wet sponge is run down the barrel to extinguish any burning embers
3.  "Search your piece" 
4.  "Sponge your piece"
5.  "Advance cartridge"  The cartridge is brought to the loader
6.  "Load cartridge"        The cartridge is inserted into the barrel and rammed home
7.  "Load with shot"       The round shot (or other shot)  is inserted into the barrel a wadding is inserted after and the shot rammed home
8.  "Prick and prime"     The gunner inserts the prick down the touch hole to pierce the cartridge bag and then fills the touch hole with powder.  A lead apron is the placed over the touch hole to protect the powder.
 
The gunner then sights the gun and the crew uses handspikes to train and elevate the weapon.
9.   "Make ready"        The gunner blows in the linstock to make sure it is burning well.  The apron is removed from the touch hole.
10.  "Fire"                   The gunner touchs the linstock to the touch hole.

The worm that we use on our working 1812 era cannon is made from cast iron and the head looks like a spring.  The arms really do not scratch the bore of the cannon at all. The pitch of the helix is smaller than you have depicted. The 'arms' make more that 2 complete revolutions.  The sponge and rammer are on opposite ends of another pole.
 
In addition to unloading the gun the worm is used as part of the regular gun drill.  Here is the drill we use.  It was standard during the war of 1812
 
1.  "Search your piece"  The worm is inserted down the barrel and given several turns to snag any unburned wadding or cartridge left over from the last shot
2.  "Sponge your piece"  The wet sponge is run down the barrel to extinguish any burning embers
3.  "Search your piece" 
4.  "Sponge your piece"
5.  "Advance cartridge"  The cartridge is brought to the loader
6.  "Load cartridge"        The cartridge is inserted into the barrel and rammed home
7.  "Load with shot"       The round shot (or other shot)  is inserted into the barrel a wadding is inserted after and the shot rammed home
8.  "Prick and prime"     The gunner inserts the prick down the touch hole to pierce the cartridge bag and then fills the touch hole with powder.  A lead apron is the placed over the touch hole to protect the powder.
 
The gunner then sights the gun and the crew uses handspikes to train and elevate the weapon.
9.   "Make ready"        The gunner blows in the linstock to make sure it is burning well.  The apron is removed from the touch hole.
10.  "Fire"                   The gunner touchs the linstock to the touch hole.

The worm that we use on our working 1812 era cannon is made from cast iron and the head looks like a spring.  The arms really do not scratch the bore of the cannon at all. The pitch of the helix is smaller than you have depicted. The 'arms' make more that 2 complete revolutions.  The sponge and rammer are on opposite ends of another pole.
 
In addition to unloading the gun the worm is used as part of the regular gun drill.  Here is the drill we use.  It was standard during the war of 1812
 
1.  "Search your piece"  The worm is inserted down the barrel and given several turns to snag any unburned wadding or cartridge left over from the last shot
2.  "Sponge your piece"  The wet sponge is run down the barrel to extinguish any burning embers
3.  "Search your piece" 
4.  "Sponge your piece"
5.  "Advance cartridge"  The cartridge is brought to the loader
6.  "Load cartridge"        The cartridge is inserted into the barrel and rammed home
7.  "Load with shot"       The round shot (or other shot)  is inserted into the barrel a wadding is inserted after and the shot rammed home
8.  "Prick and prime"     The gunner inserts the prick down the touch hole to pierce the cartridge bag and then fills the touch hole with powder.  A lead apron is the placed over the touch hole to protect the powder.
 
The gunner then sights the gun and the crew uses handspikes to train and elevate the weapon.
9.   "Make ready"        The gunner blows in the linstock to make sure it is burning well.  The apron is removed from the touch hole.
10.  "Fire"                   The gunner touchs the linstock to the touch hole.

halyard (n.)  "rope for hoisting sails," 1610s, from Middle English halier "a halyard" (late 14c.), also "a carrier, porter" (late 13c. in surnames), from halen "to haul" (see hale (v.)). Spelling influenced by yard"long beam that supports a sail.
 
Rat Line Middle English radelyng
First Known Use: 15th century   Bunt (line) 1.  a :  the middle part of a square sail         b :  the part of a furled sail gathered up in a bunch at the center of the yard 2:  the bagging part of a fishing net   Origin of BUNTperhaps from Low German, bundle, from Middle Low German; akin to Old English byndel bundleFirst Known Use: circa 1582   Leech (line)   1.   :  either vertical edge of a square sail 2 :  the after edge of a fore-and-aft sail Variants of LEECH leech also leach Origin of LEECHMiddle English leche; akin to Middle Low German līk boltropeFirst Known Use: 15th century

Thank you all for the birthday wishes.
 
The build was a big hit at the Shipwright Guild meeting.  I got some good tips on soldering techniques for the upcoming deadeyes and chainplates project. The cannon rigging continues....a long and tedious project.  But, it is progress none the less.  Of course it is taking longer because I keep refining my methods as I go along.  The first cannon in place is a test piece.  Here are some pics of it as it is today.  I may still change some things.  I think I will make the breeching thicker.
 

 

 
Thanks for looking in.
 
Regards,

As I mentioned before, the stern of this kit is a series of difficult fitting jobs.  The stern balconies were fitted in the order of lowest to highest.  The balconies were aligned as well as possible using the side profiles as a guide so that they match up to the quarter galleries.  Then the brackets were added to the undersides.  Any filling that was necessary was then done followed by touch up painting.  The carved pillars were added last followed by more touch up paint.  I had to add some height to the carved pillars between the second and top balcony by using some strip styrene shaped to form a continuation of their pedestals.  The large figures on the sides have no real attachment points so finding out where they actually come in contact with the various surfaces to prepare them for glue was interesting.  Those contact points are rather small, hopefully they will adhere well enough.  There remains to be added two reclining figures on the taffrail and the stern lanterns in order to complete the stern.  I have to wait until the poop deck is in before I can finish.
 
Overall, I am quite pleased with the result.
 




 
Thanks for looking
Regards,

Finally have some new progress to report. Seems like there is never enough time to work on the build.
 
I am working on correcting the deficiencies in the head of the ship. Since no one really knows what this area of the ship looked like I took some artistic license. I was also pointed in the direction of a build log on another site which gave me some good ideas.
 
Here's what I came up with:
 
I filled the space between the cheeks with a billet carved from styrene stock. Then I cast some silicone molds using the decoration on one of the quarter galleries and cast some pieces in resin.
 




 
Here are the resin pieces mounted and painted

 
Next I carved some head rail timbers from strip styrene

 
And mounted them




 
Then I cast another decoration to ornament the head timbers and mounted them to finish out this project

 
And here is a couple of pics with the head rails and grating temporarily fitted


 
That's all for now.
Thanks for looking in on the build.
 
P.S. I'm hoping this is not too horrible a build. No one has commented yet

Daniel,
The sponge for our working 6 pounder, which gets exercised/fired regularly, quickly turns a dirty grey color but does not seem to get any darker than that.
 
Regards,

Popeye, (I get the strange feeling that I am talking to myself here.   Perhaps your me long lost pappy?  )
   The shrouds are not plastic.  I will be setting them up in the correct manner in pairs with eyes around the masthead.  That is why I added the bolsters, also.

As I mentioned before, the stern of this kit is a series of difficult fitting jobs.  The stern balconies were fitted in the order of lowest to highest.  The balconies were aligned as well as possible using the side profiles as a guide so that they match up to the quarter galleries.  Then the brackets were added to the undersides.  Any filling that was necessary was then done followed by touch up painting.  The carved pillars were added last followed by more touch up paint.  I had to add some height to the carved pillars between the second and top balcony by using some strip styrene shaped to form a continuation of their pedestals.  The large figures on the sides have no real attachment points so finding out where they actually come in contact with the various surfaces to prepare them for glue was interesting.  Those contact points are rather small, hopefully they will adhere well enough.  There remains to be added two reclining figures on the taffrail and the stern lanterns in order to complete the stern.  I have to wait until the poop deck is in before I can finish.
 
Overall, I am quite pleased with the result.
 




 
Thanks for looking
Regards,

As I mentioned before, the stern of this kit is a series of difficult fitting jobs.  The stern balconies were fitted in the order of lowest to highest.  The balconies were aligned as well as possible using the side profiles as a guide so that they match up to the quarter galleries.  Then the brackets were added to the undersides.  Any filling that was necessary was then done followed by touch up painting.  The carved pillars were added last followed by more touch up paint.  I had to add some height to the carved pillars between the second and top balcony by using some strip styrene shaped to form a continuation of their pedestals.  The large figures on the sides have no real attachment points so finding out where they actually come in contact with the various surfaces to prepare them for glue was interesting.  Those contact points are rather small, hopefully they will adhere well enough.  There remains to be added two reclining figures on the taffrail and the stern lanterns in order to complete the stern.  I have to wait until the poop deck is in before I can finish.
 
Overall, I am quite pleased with the result.
 




 
Thanks for looking
Regards,