Blue Ensign

A fine, fine, model Peter, love the look of the boats on the Davits.
How lucky is your friend to be the recipient of such a  handsome gift.
 
I think she will as all models do look better out of a case, and she is of the style that could be kept clean with periodic dusting - easy access and limited rigging.
 
Well done Peter
 
B.E.

Hi Michael, your Masthead and shrouds look great, and I know where you're coming from being attracted to  interesting little rigging exercises, I'm prone to it myself.
 
I don't know if it's perspective from the photo but the blocks look a little oversize for the Catharpin rigging to my eye, and I see that you have used a triple block rather than a deadeye in your trial, both Anderson and Lees show deadeyes, unless I'm missing something. 
Lees has a good drawing of the English setup on page 43 of his Masting and Rigging book.
It seems to me that the falls between the blocks could be rigged off model (set the appropriate distance apart) and the line made fast around itself. The Catharpin legs can then be secured to the shrouds and rigged thro' the deadeyes, maintaining and controlling the tension.
 
There seems to be  sufficient doubt about both fitting and style for anyone to really gainsay you whether you decide to fit or not, but it would be an interesting little feature on your Vasa.
 
B.E.

Hi Michael, your Masthead and shrouds look great, and I know where you're coming from being attracted to  interesting little rigging exercises, I'm prone to it myself.
 
I don't know if it's perspective from the photo but the blocks look a little oversize for the Catharpin rigging to my eye, and I see that you have used a triple block rather than a deadeye in your trial, both Anderson and Lees show deadeyes, unless I'm missing something. 
Lees has a good drawing of the English setup on page 43 of his Masting and Rigging book.
It seems to me that the falls between the blocks could be rigged off model (set the appropriate distance apart) and the line made fast around itself. The Catharpin legs can then be secured to the shrouds and rigged thro' the deadeyes, maintaining and controlling the tension.
 
There seems to be  sufficient doubt about both fitting and style for anyone to really gainsay you whether you decide to fit or not, but it would be an interesting little feature on your Vasa.
 
B.E.

Well done Steve, I just love the Gallows display mode.
 
I may find myself using that idea in the future.
 
B.E.

@Eric,
Thx Eric for your kind words
 
And finally an update;
I FINISHED MY AGGY!!!!!
She is not on her place yet. I ordered a mahogany shelf and 4 bronze dolphins to put her on. Those things have to come from Italy, so it will take a while. But when she is in het final place, I will take more pictures.
 
Hennie
 

Thx Sjors,
And as promissed an update. All (boom)yards are in there place now, so I started with the last piece of rigging. This will take a few month, I guess....
 
Some pictures...........

Thx Sjors
 
I am half way with the yards now. The rest of the yards will be easier.
 
Some pictures..........
 
 

@B.E and @Piet
Thank you both :)
 
A small update....
The first yard (and the biggest one) is in his place. Just like Sjors I used a brass pin to put it on the mast in the first place. When using the ropes to put the yard against the main mast, I will damage the whole thing. I only have two hands, so thats almost impossible. I will use ropes later.
 
Some pictures....
 
 

Received the display case from Kreative Acrylics today. I'm very pleased with the end result. The dimensions worked out perfectly.
Enjoy!
Steve

Back in my wharf I had the boats stowed and the loose ends trimmed. America was almost finished.
I also had a brass nameplate made with the engraving:
                                    Schooner Yacht AMERICA (1851)
                        On August 22, 1851, she was the first winner
                        of a new British yachting trophy which was
                        later named after her.
 
 
 

stowed boats and nameplate
 
 
 
 

boat on portside
 
 
 


almost ready to sail - only the crew is missing

The work on America (the schooner) was suspended for 2 weeks, while I visited America (the continent).

We made a trip from New York to Boston and up the coast of New England to Bar Harbor - a wonderful region and truly wonderful people. As we visited before the season begun, we met hardly any tourists (except us) and it all was very peaceful and only occasionally a bit cold or wet or both.





near Bar Harbor (Maine)


 
In Bath I had the opportunity to visit the Maine Maritime Museum (meanwhile the Admiralty was successfully scouting the town for a decent pub). A great location with very interesting exhibits.

It seems that altogether several thousand ships were built in Maine and among them hundreds or thousands of schooners. A truly astonishing example was the wooden schooner Wyoming, launched in 1909, with 6 masts and an overall length of 445ft or 135m.

A museum and an area well worth a visit.





a fine model of the Wyoming in scale 1/8 inch = 1 foot or 1:96


 



a sculpture depicting the real size of the Wyoming - look at the cars!

the boats


In my clever books and the web I was looking for installation details of the davits with their boats. A clear example of "how to..." wasn't to be found and I had to revert to some more or less educated guesswork.

The davits most probably could be turned inboard and you would then have had the option to stow the boats on deck. However the paintings in John Rousmaniere's book seem all to show the boats hanging outboard. Most period davits show some stays from the davits head to the deck and one between the heads. Those were probably for stabilisation as well as a help for turning the davits.

The tackles for the boats are straightforward usual ones with a double and a single block with a hook.

One of the attaching points on the davits I use for the straps and will wind them diagonally around the boats. Originally the probably used some sort of tape but I took 0.5 mm thread instead.


 



 



davits on starboard side installed


 



the boat is pulled up into position on the port side

showing the flag
 
The flag coming with the kit was too coarse, stiff and historically incorrect. During 1851 the flag changed from 30 to 31 stars with the admission of California as a state. Although I love the Californian Republic I made only a 30 star flag because it seemed simpler and America perhaps only had this on board when leaving the US for Europe.
The flag was hand painted onto the same fabric as I used for the sails. The stars are just small, irregular dots and the 'hand made' clearly shows but I like it.
It was then hoisted according to the kits drawings. Attaching the flag line to the boom always seemed the logical solution to me, although I had to learn, while rigging Pickle, that the navy way was again the complicated one by attaching the flag line at the rail and having to adjust it with each shifting of the gaff.
 
 

printed template and hand painted flag compared to the kit's flag
 
 

 
looks acceptable
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

The jib was pencilled and glued the same way as the other sails. For the hanks, attaching it to the jib stay, I used the kit's brass rings. Several alternatives similar to the Pickle's hanks looked less convincing.
Due to the altered stay I had fix the forward clew a bit differently. I'm not happy with the way it looks now - next time I build this ship I will take the stay through the bowsprit in front of those rings.
 
The eyebolts for the lower blocks of the sheet tackles were set into the waterway. The kit's instructions have them on the rail. I didn't believe that.
Then I had to tighten the already finished lanyard of the stay tackle. Fortunately it was fixed with diluted white glue only and could be loosened with some water. Lesson learned (again): don't coil your ropes before the stable door is closed - as Jack Aubrey perhaps could formulate, using another one of his inappropriate sayings.
 

jib is set
 
 
 

a small leftover 2mm block leads the down hauler
 
 

forward clew - looks a bit dislocated
 
 
 

boom end with sheet tackles
 
 

almost in racing condition
 

I'm in the middle of a run of 12 hour night shifts and don't have too much time but was able to finish opening up the windows today.
 

 
Dry Fit..
 

An overall shot is how she is this evening  

I spent the first part of my time since my last update completing the fairing of the hull. This involved first adding boxwood strip shim pieces to the frames that were low as a result of the the jig slot misalignments. This was tedious work, but straightforward and uneventful. I've attached photos of the faired hull which don't look all that different from the prior photos, but there really is a big improvement.
 
After completing the fairing, I turned to the stern framing. This presented some challenges. I quickly realized that the laser cut wing transom and stern frames were simply not right. After wasting some time trying to figure to ways to "improve" them, I decided that the easiest solution was simply to cut entirely new parts from scratch. I started with the wing transom, which required multiple efforts to get any thing that was any good at all. The plans don't really show it in any way, other than it's position, and the book photos are are also somewhat vague. I cut the part from boxwood sheet, rough shaped it to fit and cut notches in the top side with small chisels for the stern frames. I then cut and shaped the other two transoms from boxwood sheet and mounted all three. I did some rough fairing of the lower two transoms, but left the wing transom until the stern frames are in place.
 
The laser cut frames were simply too small and didn't match either the plans or my construction. I cut them from boxwood sheet, but have not mounted them yet. I have attached a photo of the rough wing transom and the stern frames before mounting. The photo also shows a laser cut frame, for comparison. The final photo shows the three transoms mounted. 
 
Next up will be the mounting of the stern frames and the remainder of the stern framing.
 
Bob

Small update...
 
all 40 raw davits have been made, now every one is being equiped with a lead for the pulley rope in the upper curve and a cleat on the vertical post, just above deck level.
The unprimered section will be painted when the davits are mounted, otherwise I would scrape off the paint where the post passes the bearings, when pushing through...
 
Nils
   
 
 
 

officer briefing two sailors on the aft deckhousing
 

Build log part 58
 
Davits, boats.....
 
started with the production of 40 davits. The building of the boats will take some more time, but the first hand scetch has already been brought to paper, to give the mind something to think about.... (changes pending...)
 
Nils
 

 
 

first lot of the radial davits
 

Thank you very much Gerhard,
words, much appreciated....
 
a helmsman is climbing the "monkey island" for the feeling of freedom under the wide ocean sky and calm weather, and is preparing to steer the 14,300 tons and 31,000Psi here from this point for a while...
 
Nils
 

 

Update :
 
here we have the captain, just behind the the stb. bridge bulwark. He is proudly watching his baby plough the Atlantic, as the bow wake browses by. This little figurine, together with the gentleman and the two lady passengers in conversation two decks below, I`m proud to posess. They are a gorgious gift from MSW member "TLC", who saw that I was on the look for certain figurines in scale 1:144 or 1:160 N-gauge, specialy  the captain, and he so kindly merged the make of these with a young Bulgarian artist, who was producing miniature dolls and dollhouse articles. She herewith, first time attempted, custom made,  to do a long time searched for captain for the KWdG, and I know she did a top job on it.
Many thanks again at this ocasion to "TLC" and the young artist...
Now is the time to have these figurines boarding and placed on board at exponated positions.
 
Also today I received the etched brass wheels from "M.Z. Modellbau", Manfred Zinneckers webshop and they are correct in size and look top, so the telemotors could be completed, installed, and the hydraulics connected thereto. The bridge crew is now complete and doing its job...
 
Nils
 

Captain in scale 1:144 with moustarch and in his Norddeutscher Lloyd uniform....
 

the litte group of passengers, two ladies in their 1900- 1910 fashions in conversation with the gent at the railing on the forward promenade deck
 

one of the two telemotors after completion...
 

the little Revell color can for scaling
 
 

the nautical crew at work, hopefully they bring her safe to the port of destination
 

 
 

 
 

Martin,
thank you for your your nice compliment.
Have now completed the bridge front and the cabs. The roof platform remains removeable until the ship control devices underneath are permanently installed
 
Nils
 

 
 

 
 

The crow`s nest is maned with two sailors, safety reasons
 

 
 
 

Small update....
 
I`m still looking for a suitable set of steering wheels in scale 1:144......
Have made the two bearing compasses for the outer end bridge wings, the two machine telegraphs, and the main bridge compass-column with it`s trimming magnets for nautical alignment setting
 
Nils
 

 
 

Thank you very much B.E and Dan,
for your nice comments...
 
B.E.,
am pleased that you like it, much of little details now to do and touching up...
Just as well I liked the fnalisation of your Pegasus and the photos of the ship
 
Dan,
thanks for your nice words....
final port of call not made out yet, as it is not for any client, its going for display in my home
 
Nils

Love those outdoor shots Don, a very fine model.
I suppose the tarred rope binding around the mast base performs the function of a mast coat to prevent water ingress, a nice touch.
 
B.E.