Blue Ensign

O.K. ...... now for a little update, at this time I'd like to introduce you all to the ......................
 
                              " HMAT  SUPPLY CREW "
this is my first go at painting figures, so please excuse the flops here and there  The Captain's name is Wesley R. Starboard. his first mate is Lowell L Port  ( sound familiar?  ), the gun crew are the Flint brothers, Manny , Mo, Jack and Clyde. The Bosun's name is
John Fixit........ last but not least are the rigging crew...... as of this time we have on-board the Shroud brothers ( this is a family oriented ship  ), James,John and Joan( how did she get in here??) ... then we have three other guys, and I have  no idea who they are!!! they must 've
picked them up at MSW 1    ...Any how . stop by and say hello to them and have a couple
Frank
 
 

 Capt. Starboard
 

First Mate L.L Port
 

  gun crew ... the Flint Brothers
 

Bosun's mate J. Fixit
 

the Shroud brothers ( and girl )
 

 the three other guys ( I don't know who they are )
 
and........ two last group pictures!!!!
 

 

 
 Hope you all enjoyed meeting the crew!!!! It's a motely looking crew....but then again, look at the ship they're on      

I promised you a side by side photo of the after market items I ordered from Chuck.  Well, they're HERE!  I think they are terrific but you can judge for yourselves.
 
First, the cannons.  There are 2 sizes:
 

 
I'm sure you can appreciate the difference between the brass guns (and trunions) and the cast brittania metal.  They look so good I'm already getting comments from the Admiral that I should forget the 20 coats of paint (thanks BEN) and leave them as is !!!!
 
Then we have the figurehead:
 

 
Again, just much finer all around. 
 
The bottom line ---- well worth the investment.  I'm a happy puppy    :)  

Yes John ---- I noticed.  Only thing I can do is work faster (which is the opposite of what I had planned).......and try to outrun the fauna and flora    .
 
With that in mind, here's the latest update:
 
CHAPTER ONE   is completed.
 
I promised Sjors a picture of the rabbet so here we see it completed now near the stem:
 

 
I can't label the photo but I think it's easy to see how the laser drawn line on the bulkhead former (the lighter wood) has been slightly tapered down to meet the 1/8 x 1/16 rabbet strip and then the stem sits on that.  The result is we have a nice clean, uniform slot which is the rabbet.  This extends from stem to stern and shall be where the edge of the garboard plank (as well as the ends of the remaining planks) sit.  EASY --  and no carving involved.
 
In addition to the stem and keel now being fitted, here's a detail I like:
 

 
The keel uses 2 vertical scarph joints along it's length.  On the 1:1 ship, these were bolted together.  Here, we've simulated those bolts with #70 drilled holes filled with tinted wood putty.  This technique is similar to what I will be using for treenailing.
 
Here's a photo of where we currently stand.  Note that the false keel has been fitted and that the stem and keels have been stained.  Using Minwax products, I first pre-stain then stain using a mixture of 50% 'Natural' and 50% Light Oak.  This process will be used numerous times throughout the build.  I generally apply several coats of WOP later on.
 

 
Finally, things wouldn't be complete without introducing my infamous 'one size fits all' keel clamp ---- AKA the Dremel mini work stand.  It holds her firmly and straightly in place as we proceed.  I know SJORS also uses one but I got mine back when they were $ 9 (US) and I still had hair.     
 

 
Today is our 40th Anniversary so no more building is on the docket.  But the next step will be fitting the 16 bulkheads and to say I'm looking forward to that is an understatement.
 
All stay well
 

Thanks my friends.
 
Finished the ratlines. This is the best method  I’ve tried. Putting a card behind the shrouds with drawn lines.
 
 

I’ve finished the shrouds and also the main and fore stay. There is no stay for the mizzen mast.
 
 
For large and more detail photos see also:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ilhan_gokcay/sets
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ilhan_gokcay/sets/72157626433922489/
(Best go into the set and choose slideshow)
 

Nicely done on the Bowsprit rigging hamilton
 
Re the lanterns: for kit provided stuff they don't look bad for style and six sided is good for the period, presumably they are solid metal?
 
The real thing would probably have been made of metal but painted to represent wood, so you could paint it a sort of yellow ochrery colour to tone in with the  model. The glazed areas could be painted appropriately and perhaps finished in a high gloss to reflect light.
 
I am currently  trying trying to make something of the Pegasus lantern and I am using the Caldercraft 1:72 Victory stern lanterns.They come in three sizes and if you wanted to go for etch rather than solid the smaller ones may fit the bill.
 
The main central lantern is 23mm h x12mm  dia. the two side lanterns are 21mm h x11mm d. and theTop lantern is 16mm h x 8.5mm d.
 
The down side is they are somewhat out of period being Octagonal in shape.
 
Just a thought .
 
B.E.

Thanks Grant and Mark.
 
Sort of got tired of working on the cannons so decided to work on something different and this time the rudder. I built a rudder earlier from a plan I got from the NMM and unlike the TFFM rudder this one is a little different. I sort of built two of them and this is the second one. The first one I ended up having a knot in, which the main piece is made of boxwood and figure that the knot would end up in the waste, at least that's what I thought. ( O well, it was fun making another one. Have finally got a chance to really use my little smith torch and it's a blessing to have it. Don,t believe that soft solder would have stood up to the abuse of all the cutting, filing and twisting that it took to finally come out with the finally braces. Still have some clean up to do, due to the metal work. Funny how even small metal work makes a mess. Any way hope you enjoy the photo's. I didn't add any small planks under neith the braces and to me it doesn't look to bad.
 
Gary


 
 
 
 
 
 

Did a comparison between the 1:10 and my BB if someone is thinking about getting the BB kit.
 
The Landström heritage in some of the sculptures are easy to spot (if you have the Landström book, youll notice), and some misstakes I did are also there, but shapewise I think BB did a good job and with some fiddeling with the positioning of the parts, it can get a nice Vasa look.
 
 
/Matti

Neat job Ray, and at least some of the Top and Butt on the Upper deck is still visible.
 
Regards,
 
B.E.

Hi Ferit,
 
I've looked at contemporary models and many of the drawings of ship of the period by the Van de Velde's and they all seem to have enclosed  channels.
 
The great authority on the subject is Dr R.C. Anderson who writes in his book The Rigging of Ships In the days of the Spritsail Topmast 1600 - 1720. - Deadeyes in the period 1650 - 1720 (and afterwards) were set in slots on the outer edge of the channels and covering strips were nailed over them.
 
This appears to answer your question, but if you like the look of the exposed strops, then you could leave them off for demonstration purposes. Afterall they were only battens nailed on the edge of the channel.
 
Regards,
 
B.E.

Great photos kester, I just love the look of her
 
B.E.

With the mastcoat in place the mast provided made for a reasonably good fit, but to aid in its location I cut a slot in its heel, which secured it over the keel piece. I then tapered the mast from about half-way up its length using a small modelling plane, being careful to take just a thin sliver off with each stroke, and finishing off with a fine-grade sandpaper. (Btw, it is important to always have a sharp blade in the plane which, I find, also tends to reduce ’catching’.) This procedure took a little while, but I didn’t want to give the mast too much of a taper – and I think it resulted in a nice-looking spar. The kit’s topgallant mast was also, to my mind, a little on the thin side and I wanted to both beef it up and lengthen it. I therefore substituted my own from a suitable piece of dowel. Both the topgallant and the lower mast were made of similar dimensions to those given for the Alert, in the AOTS book.
 
Because of the above changes I was unable to use the ’cross trees’ and mast cap from the kit but I had decided to replace these in any case as, from my point of view, they were too small. Both parts are in fact the same, with similar-sized holes drilled for the lower mast and topgallant mast. Initially I attempted to adapt them but, when endeavouring to drill out one of the holes to enlarge it to take the head of the lower mast, it split in half – so that was that, I had to scratch them! The replacements turned out reasonably well, with separate ’trestle trees’ and ’cross trees’, into which the lower and topgallant masts fitted snugly, the lower ’cross tree’ structure resting on a pair of bibbs either side of the mast. I refer to them as ’cross trees’ and ’tressle trees’, but this is really a misnomer as they do not seem to have been fitted on cutters at this date. The structure I made more resembled an oblong-shaped ’box’, open at the top and bottom, with an off-center division passing between the two masts reflecting their differing circumferences.
 
Cutter lower masts and topmasts were in one piece at this date, hence the separate upper mast is referred to as the topgallant. The topgallant mast was also fidded abaft, or behind, the lower mast which meant that backstays were not normally required and could therefore dispensed with. Standing and running backstays were only fitted to the lower mast.  As a further historical note, Sherbourne was very likely one of the last of her type to have this masting arrangement. From around 1780, cutter masts followed the practice on larger ships, with which we are perhaps more familiar, and were rigged with a lower mast and longer topmast, complete with proper crosstrees, trestle trees, bolsters, and backstays. There are also some differences with the shrouds. On Sherbourne these terminate just above the position of the gaff (fitting over a shoulder or stop) rather than going as far as the doubling, but with the later rig the shrouds passed around the lower masthead. The number of yards and their hoisting arrangements also differ from later practice, but more about these later, except to say that pins were inserted into the masts to take the yards when fitted.
 

 
The after side of the lower mast head was fitted with eyebolts to take the blocks for the throat and peak halliards and the boom topping lift, and stops were fitted in various positions for some of the rigging, such as the forestays when they they are fitted. At the base of the lower mast, I fitted a saddle around the aft side of the mast on which the boom jaws rest, whilst below them five cleats were equally spaced around the mast, to take the falls of the running rigging which might be belayed there. I’m not quite sure yet what all of these lines will be but, as I mentioned before, there is an overall lack of belaying points – so I think providing a few more will be an advantage. The cleats were painted black, as were the crosstrees, caps and masthead, whilst the mast itself was stained a reddish brown.
 
The topgallant mast, as mentioned, was a replacement. As with the lower mast, this was carefully tapered at its upper end, and given a snug fit at the heel to fit the crosstrees and mastcap. Not immediately obvious to the eye is the fid, made made fom a small cut-off nail, which passes through a hole drilled through the heel of the mast, and which rests on the upper edges of the ’trestle trees’. As mentioned it is not that noticeable, especially as the whole assembly is painted black – but at least I know it’s there! Just below this is the sheave hole for the toprope, the rope itself being made fast to an eyebolt on the port side of the mastcap. There is a corresponding eyebolt on the starboard side, for the toprope block.
 
At the upper end of the mast there are again stops for the rigging, and at the very top I fitted a truck. This was not provided for in the kit, but I think any mast looks unfinished without one! This was easy to make, being merely a suitably sized piece of dowel rod, with rounded edges and a small capping on the top. Four small holes, two on each side were then drilled, which will take the flag halliards when they are rigged. The topgallant mast was finished off similarly to the lower mast, with the lower end and masthead being painted black, and the spar itself being stained a reddish-brown colour. The masts were then lightly treated with beeswax.
 
I decided to glue the topgallant mast to the lower mast before stepping them as one unit – and in the process completely forgot about how I was going to fit the mast hoops, since they would not now of course, fit over my nicely-made crosstrees! This actually didn’t prove to be such a disaster, when I gave it a little more thought, and the problem was satisfactorily resolved as I will mention later.
 
I opted to glue the mast in place, with a smear of glue around the partners at deck level, and with a spot on the heel where it fits over the keel piece. The actual stepping of the mast went quite smoothly, and it made a close fit. To locate the cut out in the heel onto the keel piece, I had made a small pencil marks on the mast at deck level, which showed the fore and aft position. By slightly twisting the mast this way and that, as I pushed it home, I felt the heel ’lock’ in place. The mast was pretty much vertical in the athwartships plane, according to my homemade plumbob gauge, although to be sure I put some gentle pressure against the top end of the mast whilst the glue dried. The rake fore and aft was, of course, fixed by the kit design.
 

 
We now come to the boom. The dimensions, from the AOTS bible, called for a spar of 62’ in length, which works out to a model length of 27.62 cm. This was not much longer than the length given in the kit instructions, but again I opted to make my own spar, it being a little thicker at 9.2 cm at it’s maximum girth. Both ends are tapered from this point, approximately a third of the length of the boom from the mast. The sides of the boom at the mast end are then chamferred, to fit the jaws. Since the kit supplied jaws would, of course, no longer fit the thicker boom (but which I otherwise considered suitable) I first split them in half, shaped the tail end to fit, and then glued them to the spar on either side. Finally, I drilled a hole in each side at the tail end of the jaws, to take a couple of belaying pins for the mainsail brails. With the boom thus shaped I painted both ends black, including the jaws, and gave it a beeswax finish.
 
Fittings include: a preventer tackle beneath the boom, consisting of two double blocks fixed to two widely-spaced eyebolts, the fall of the line rove between them coming off of the after block, and being belayed to a small cleat on the side of the boom; two stops on top of the spar at its after end, between which the upper double sheet block strop is fastened; a sheave hole for the mainsail clew outhaul, which also belays to a small cleat on the boom; an eyebolt on top of the spar at the aft end, for the topping lift; another eyebolt, near the jaws, for the tack of the mainsail; there is also a small cleat for the ensign halliards.
 
Having finished all these fittings, it was then time to fit the boom to the mast. The mast end would rest, and be glued to, the boom saddle and I would further secure it (as with the yards) by a pin positioned in the mast. The aft end, however, could still move if not fixed so I decided, since the sails would be furled, to make a boom crutch. I had no reference for this (other than more modern ones I have seen) so I made it out of two simple, substantial-looking cross pieces, with a pin through them where they cross. I have it in mind that they fold when not in use, and can be stowed away. It is simply glued to the deck, behind the two lockers, but it made for a stable support for the aft end of the boom.
 

 
Two jobs remained to be done. The first was to fit the parrels, connecting the jaws to the mast, and here I opted to use the black parrel beads supplied with the kit. Then it was simply a case of tying a length of black rigging thread to one end of the jaws, through the hole already drilled, threading on the requisite number of beads required for it to pass comfortably around the mast (being careful not to make it too tight) and fastening the other end of the thread to the opposite jaws. A small touch of glue on the knot would prevent it from untying.
 
There was one other small job to do before the boom was finished. I thought a small footrope at the after end, overhanging the taffrail, might look the part. This was made from a length of black rigging thread, with simple overhand knots tied at intervals, and fastened to the spar. I fitted another stop to anchor the inboard end, the outer being fastened by a simple loop over the boom.
 
Next time: Some items of rigging, the gaff, and the mainsail.

Wonderful work Matti, that last shot shows off her sheer lines beautifully; love the colour you have achieved on the stern and topsides.
 
I think you are a 'natural' at this game
 
B.E.

Looking wonderful Ferit, love those shots of the Mizen top.
 
B.E.

I started to feel bad for those knights having lost their feet and decided to have a go at making new feet for them. I also felt it was an oportunity to make them more individual and appear to have slightly different positions. So some have 2 and the others are bending their knee behind the shield. Actually if someone else needs to do them, make the feet when the knights are fixed on the ship, hindwise it was a good way. And it does look more realistic and detailed with them on. I didnt think it would work, but I was wrong.
 
I also did some touch up on the faces. Man, painting noses in that scale makes my hands feel shaky... lol
 
 
/Matti

Painted the Gideon guys. I tried to get them close in color to the 1:10.
 
 
/Matti

The mizzenmast...

Deadeyes for foremast...

I just love the stuff you design and build Chris, I just wish Amati would keep up with you in terms of producing the goods. I'm still eagerly awaiting your Elizabethan Galleon, as I'm keen  to revisited an earlier period.
 
My mouth has been watering so long it has now dried up! 
 
Regards,
 
B.E.

I worked out all the upper masts  and yards relative to the correct proportions, as given in Steel, it all starts with the Main topmast relative to the overall true length of the mainmast.
 
For the Main mast I then allowed an extra length at the presumed partners where all the quartering and tapering starts, and then added the actual length of dowel below decks to fit the kit arrangement. The Fore and Mizen masts followed the same  procedure and proportions relative to the Mainmast.
 
This gave me the leeway to make final adjustments from the bottom of the masts to suit my eye. From the one reference I had in the Swan book relating to the Foremast the drawing would suggest from an overall length of mast of 56' with just over 19' below the partners to the keel.
 
This left 36.75' or 175mm at scale, looking far too short in relation to the model. My actual length which sits well with my eye is 242mm which has it happens is only 6mm longer than the kit plan! rather annoying really.
 
B.E.

My edition of Lees is the 1984 revised edition and runs to 212 pages. No matter all the relevant information is in the Goodwin book.
 
The main problem I had, in relation to Steel in my case, was working out the below decks lengths, which in the kit are not true as the masts sit in the false keel and bear no relation to actual lengths between the keel and partners at the Upper deck level. When I took a scale deduction from the one drawing given in the Swan ffm book the mast seemed to come up far too short above decks so for this reason I left the masts over long to start with, and used mock ups to judge the final height.
 
B.E.

Hi hamilton, the dimensions given by Goodwin in his Blandford book are the same as given in Table 5 of Lees relating to the 1719 Establishment (p196) ie 68' 6".
 
The figures given on Table 8 relating to the 1773 establishment (p198) are 67' 11". as near as makes no matter.
 
If you look at Section G in the Goodwin book you will see he gives the length of the masts below the partners (taken at the Upper deck level for single decked ships) in the case of the mainmast this is 14' 6" equivalent to 44mm at scale. You are really interested in the height above the partners which is easily calculated. To this you only need add the actual below decks length on your model to get the overall scale length.
 
I would suggest you mock up  the lower masts and see how they look to your eye before  before committing to the real thing.
 
B.E.

It seems I have to split this into two posts....here are the rest of the photos....
hamilton
 

 

 

 

As promised - here's a quick update with photos. I've now pretty much finished the hull - saving the sweep port lids, the figurehead, and the beak gratings, which I'll install after the bowsprit is on. 
 
Tonight, I installed the moldings on the channels, the backstay deadeyes and the ballast ports. I have to say I'm pretty happy to be moving on to the masting and rigging - it'll be nice to start building up! Enjoy the photos.
hamilton
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

I finished the gun port lids and mounted some of the cleats needed to belay the lines operating the upper lids (images 2 – 6). Before using the cleats provided by the kit I cleaned them up, added pins, and reduced the size of their feet (image 1).
 

Image 1 "Cleaning up" of cleats
 

Image 2 Finished rear gun ports - with the exception of the davits the stern is pretty much complete
 

Image 3
 

Image 4
 

Image 5 Upper gun port lid ropes fastened to cleats
 

Image 6