_SalD_

Working on the shrouds I'd like to start by begging forgiveness from all my followers as to how I did my shrouds. After hours of deliberation on how I was going to tie the shrouds, my practical nature prevailed and I ended up making the shrouds off the model. First I measured the distance from the eye bolt on the mast to the deadeye on the cap rail where the shroud would go between. From that dimension I subtracted the distance between the cap rail deadeye and the shroud deadeye taken from the rigging plans. This dimension I used to make a jig to tie the shrouds. A single pin was driven into a piece of wood corresponding to the eye bolt at the top of the shroud (can't see it in the picture). Two smaller pins were positioned at the calculated distance away from the top pin corresponding to the location of the deadeye. Two pins were used to keep the deadeye from rotating. I then place a deadeye on the two pins, held down with a hair clip, wrapped the shroud around it and seized the end. I then looped the thread around the upper pin and tied that end off. I made the four, foremast shrouds and then readjusted the length between the pins for the main mast shrouds. To attach the shrouds to the masts I made a small shackle for the two foremast shrouds and for the main mast I opened up the eye bolt and slipped the top loop of the shroud into it, then closed the eye back up. Please forgive me and I promise I’ll try tying the shrouds like I’m suppose to on my next model. Maybe they’ll be a little bigger next time. I then practiced tying the main mast lanyards before attempting the real thing. Using some sewing thread I tied both the port and starboard side lanyards in order to get a feel on how tight to make them and to practice tying off their ends. While doing this I came up with a simple way to help make sure the mast stayed plumb. Using my 45 degree triangle, I scribed a line bisecting the 90 degree angle and perpendicular to the hypotenuse. Oooou… algebra, “when will I ever use this stuff”… little did I know. I then measured the distance between the cap rails at the location of the mast. Dividing that distance in half I marked that distance on either side of the scribed line along the hypotenuse. Then laying the triangle up against the mast and with the two marks at the edge of the cap rail I could see if the mast was pulled to one side or the other.

OUCH! Ulli sorry to hear about the hand. Hope everything heals okay. You just can't hire good help these days.

Ulli, Hello from a fellow Phantom builder. I hope you will enjoy building this kit as much as I am. It’s a challenge but with the help and advice from all the people on this site like Wayne, you should have no problems. I'm a bit ahead of you but I will be following your build with interest. Good luck,

As in the practicum the first two lines I installed were the Fore Stay and the Jib Stay. I’m glad I didn’t glue in the Span Iron in place when I installed it because I found it easier to tie the Fore Stay with it swung up out of the way. After I tied the Jib stay I placed a couple drops of CA glue on the Span Iron at the mast cap. The next two lines I installed were the Main Topmast Stay and the Triatic Stay. I noticed that I would need to thread both of these heavy lines through the same eye bolt on the foremast mast cap and thought this might be difficult. What I did was, first I tied the Main Topmast Stay to the top of the main top mast, then, using a needle threader, I pulled the line through the eye bolt on the foremast mast cap leaving enough thread to rig the Triatic Stay also. I then cut the loop that was pulled through the eye bolt giving me the two ends of the Main Topmast Stay and the Triatic Stay. I then seized both ends of each line. Hope this makes sense, picture might help. A WORD OF CAUTION. For all my fellow Phantom builders who blindly follow directions such as myself (well, most of the time) . I started laying out the shrouds and I noticed that the Navigation Lights are going to interfere with the main mast shrouds. These lights were positioned as shown on Sheet 1 of 3 of the kit plans and as shown in the practicum. If you notice, the lights are shown on pages 19, 20, and 25 of the practicum positioned between the main mast shroud deadeye and the belaying pin, just like the plans. Then on page 26 a miracle happens and the lights are now fore of the belaying pin. Did I miss something? Anyway, I removed (carefully) the lights and moved them forward a bit. I’ll just need to cover up the two holes in the deck with a mop or bucket.

Thanks, Russ

Stepping the masts After correcting my booboo on the mast hoops I glued the masts to the model. I decided to glue the masts in lieu of letting the rigging hold them for two reasons. One, when I drilled the mast holes in the deck I didn’t realize at the time that the dowel diameters would be reduced when shaping the masts, so consequentially the holes were a little big. The second reason was for my lack of experience at rigging. I realized (common sense prevailed) that there was no way I would be able to tie all those lines with the masts flopping around. I set the foremast first with the aid of a cardboard template, cut to the appropriate rake angle. I tied the mast to the template to hold it in the fore & aft position, and plumbed it by eye in the inboard-outboard direction. The blue tape on the mast is holding the mast hoops up out of the way. After the glue had dried over night I set the main mast. To set the correct rake angle and to hold this mast in position I tied a temporary string between the two masts where the Triatic Stay goes. I determined the length of this line by measuring it from the plans. I eye balled the mast for plumb in the inboard-outboard direction.

Bart, thanks for looking at my build and for the kind words.

Tom, that's a good idea for the mast loops and I wish I had thought of it last night. I tried doing it that way with just the plain mast but it wasn't working too well so I ended up removing the block at the top of the mast, putting the mast hoops on and then replacing the block. Thanks for the advice though.

Mast hoops.. Cut strips of manila folder as in the practicum to make the mast hoops. Stained the strips and cut then into ~3/4” long pieces. I found that one of my dremel collets was the right diameter for the mast hoops. I wrapped the strips around the collet and glued the ends together. I made enough for the fore and main masts and waited to make the ones for the top main mast until I knew the correct size. Main Mast.. I shaped the main mast by chucking a dowel into my drill and used sandpaper of different grades held between my two fingers. It does get hot. The boom rest was made using a sheet of 1/32” basswood and a circle template. Drawing a set of centerlines on the wood sheet, I first cut out the hole for the mast by using the circle guide that was a bit smaller than the diameter I needed. Using a compass point held in my mechanical pencil I slowly followed the circle guide until the point carved its way through the wood. I then used a larger circle guide to cut the outer diameter of the boom rest. This guide was a little larger than I needed. The wood washer was then filed to fit the mast. The six chocks below the boom rest were made from 1/32” square stock and tapered by filing. The boom rest was angled per the plans and glued into place. The six chocks were then attached. The iron bands and eye bolts were assembled similar to the foremast. The ‘V’ shaped iron that is at the top of the mast was made from 22 gauge wire. Holes were drilled into the mast cap and the top iron band the iron ‘V’ was glued in. It might be worth repeating from the practicum but make sure you put the mast hoops on before placing the mast cap and iron bands on. The iron outrigger was formed on a little jig using finishing nails. I sketched out the basic shape of the outrigger on a piece of wood, getting the dimensions from the elevation view shown on the Rigging Plan drawing. I wrapped the 22 gauge wire around the nails and then pinched the ends with a needle nosed pliers to form the eyelet for the topmast backstay lines. After doing this I felt that the nail diameter I used for the eyelet was a little too big so I made another outrigger using a smaller diameter nail. I don't have a picture of the second jig. I finished the outrigger by soldering the ends together to form the eyelet. The outrigger was then glued to the mast, checking for level in each direction. Everything was then painted white. I made the main topmast exactly like the top foremast. The top mast was placed through the mast cap and secured with and iron band around it and the main mast. The appropriate sized blocks were tied to the eye bolts (getting a little easier). For the block that is stropped to the top of the main topmast I decided to try the method I found in the forum ‘Rigging Blocks – How to’, a video post by Modeler12, ‘Rigging a block to a mast or Spar’. I don’t have (it’s been ordered, don’t tell the Admiral) a hemostat so I improvised using my small vise grips. The method worked well and got it on the first try. The ball truck at the top of the mast was confiscated from my daughter’s jeweler making kit. She’s back at college so no begging was required. It’s a small brass bead that was blackened and fit perfectly onto the mast. As I am writing this though I am kick myself in the ***. I just realized that I forgot to put the mast hoops on the top mainmast even though I read ahead in Chuck’s practicum where he did the same thing and cautioned against it. I guess we’ll see how I do with re-dos.

Nils, Thank you, I'm glad you like the colors.

Eddie Thank you for the more than kind compliments. Although this is my first attempt at building a model ship I have built other models in the past. I've spend the last few years, on and off, putting together my HO trains that I've had in storage for the past thirty or so years. I will post a few pic's in the 'What else do you model, besides ships?' forum for anyone interested. I had most of the tools so there wasn't a big investment needed to try my hand at ship building. I’m sure with your engineering background and model plane experience you should have no problems working on a model ship. As far as the Phantom kit is concerned, it is rated as “entry” level but I would use that term lightly. If it wasn't for Chuck Passaro’s practicum and the advice received from the more experienced modelers on this site I would be lost. I had also thought about trying a more advanced model for my first kit but chose this kit, 1) because it was rated as “entry” level and 2) the price. I wanted to make sure I was going to be committed to this hobby before I invested a lot of money into a kit. The Phantom’s scale (1/8” per ft.) is very small however; a little larger ship would go easier on the eyes. Whichever ship you choose, I’m sure you’ll do a great job.

Wax on, wax off, and sand 'd floor... But alas I'm afraid if I were to come my wife would immediately turn my workshop into a coupon clipping center. She is however upstairs at this very moment packing my suitcase. Maybe 40 years ago I would have taken you up on the offer. Best regards,

Remco I’ve just found your building log and have just finished going through all your posts. What can I say that everyone else hasn’t said already? Absolutely magnificent! Superb craftsmanship! If you ever feel the need for a lowly apprentice just say the word and I’ll catch the next flight to the Netherlands. Truly wonderful work

Nice find Max, Right place at the right time. Now I'm jealous

To glue, or not to glue? I've assembled my first (fore) mast which went smoother than anticipated. I started by shaping the lower foremast by using the method described by Dziadeczek in the ‘How to Taper Masts’ post by using two paint stirring sticks. I glued the sandpaper to one side of each stick and set the taper between the sticks as per the plans. I then chucked the dowel in my portable drill and fed the dowel in between the two sticks. One problem I had was that the paint sticks seemed to be too flexible and the top stick tended to bow upward as the dowel was inserted. I used a sandpaper with a 220 girt which may have been to fine for this application. I finished shaping the mast by holding a piece on sandpaper between my fingers and running it along the dowel while spinning it with the drill. After shaping the mast I squared off the top to fit the mast cap but did not glue it in place. I then painted the top and bottom white. For the mast bands I decided to use some of the left over copper tape used for the hull. I had seen this in craigb’s Phantom build log and thought it was a good solution. I cut the tape lengthwise into 1 mm wide strips and wrapped them around the mast. Next I drilled the holes in the bands for the eye bolts and glued them in place. I decided to position the eye bolts for the shrouds 90 degrees from what was shown in the practicum. I did this because after having a difficult time threading the thin foot-rope thread and thicker bowsprit guy thread through the same eye bolt I didn't think I would ever get the two thicker shroud lines through the same hole. Instead I will attach the two shrouds to a shackle and insert the shackle through the eye bolt. Before gluing the mast cap to the mast I drilled the holes for the span iron and eye bolt. After gluing the mast cap in place I glued the eye bolt into it but not the span iron. I will leave this free to move and will glue it in place after I rig the jib stay line to get its proper angle. I then painted it all white. Next I chucked the dowel for the top foremast into the drill and shaped it by holding sandpaper between two fingers. At this point I tied all the blocks to the individual masts. I thought it would be easier to do each mast separately then when they're combined. I still find tying these very difficult. Don’t know if it’s just lack of experience; or my fingers are too big; or I can’t see too well anymore, probably a combination of all three. In spite of my short comings I attached all the blocks. I then inserted the top foremast through the mast cap and wrapped the bottom with more copper tape. Finished by touching up the paint. Now back to my original question. Chuck’s practicum says to glue the mast to the model, but the directions that came with the kit recommends not gluing the mast and using the rigging to hold it in place. I was just wondering what the general consensus is on this. So, to glue, or not to glue, that is the question.

Russ, thanks for the tip. I'll give it a try next time. Michael, for an "entry" level kit it can be quite a challenge.

The bowsprit.. The bowsprit was made from the 1/8” square stock that came with the kit. Took the length from the plans and shaped the rounded portion by first carving the corners off and then using my portable drill as a lathe and some sandpaper to finish rounding it. I drilled the two sheaves as described in the practicum. Next I cut and glued the two jackstays to the bowsprit also as described in the practicum. A template was made to locate the holes for the gaskets. I decided to try and use the heavier rigging thread for the gaskets instead of the 28 gauge wire. This is kind of hard to explain (should have taken a picture) but using just the wire from a needle threader, I first laid the thread in the threader, I then inserted the two loose ends of the wire through the bottom of the hole in the jackstay and pulled the thread through the hole a tiny bit, just enough to slide the wire off the loop. I continued this for each hole trying to keep the loops as equal as possible. Then repeated the procedure on the other side. For the iron band at the outboard end of the bowsprit I made a brass band using the technique described in the Ear'd Bands - Masts, Booms, etc. post by azzoun. After making the band I temporarily positioned it on the bowsprit and drilled two holes on either side of it for the eye bolts. The stretching screws were made similar to what was described in the practicum. First I drilled a hole through the toothpick, then I cut the toothpick to the length of the screw; I used 3/16”. Next I shaped the screw with an emery board, inserting a wire through the hole to make it easier to handle. Once the shape looked somewhat reasonable I glued the eye bolts in each end. Three of them were made. Once all the pieces were either blackened or painted the bowsprit was installed. I attached the iron band and glued in the outboard eye bolts and attached the stretching screw. I then made the gammoning iron out of brass and positioned it around the bowsprit and connected it to the stem post. I also glued the two cleats to the inboard end of the bowsprit whose holes I had previously drilled. Next I decided to try and replicate the iron fittings at the bow of the ship for the bowsprit guide, bobstay, and jib and fore stays. I cut the pieces out of brass and filed them to a size I thought was appropriate. To install the pieces I drill small holes in the stem post and hull and inserted nails similar to what was done for the chainplates. The remaining stretching screws were connected to the bowsprit guy fittings on the hull and small shackles, made from 28 gauge wire, were insert in the bobstay fitting. I then tried my hand at tying my first rigging line. The footropes were simple enough, tie two knots, done. Then I tried the bowsprit guide, OMG, whose idea of fun is this anyways, the Marquis de Sade! One thing for sure, I now have much greater respect and admiration for all the model makers who do all that rigging. After numerous attempts I was finally satisfied with how the bowsprit guy looked. I’m not sure if the way I did it is "historically accurate" but in order to keep my sanity this is how I did it. I first tied the rigging line to the eye bolt at the outboard end of the bowsprit using a simple knot. I then threaded the other end of the line through the stretching screw and pulled it taut. Keeping the line taut with an alligator clip holder I seized the end closed (being a glutton for punishment I figure why not try tying tiny knots while I’m at it). I seized the line in two places, securing the knots with a little glue. I did this for the other bowsprit guy and the bobstay. I figure, as soon as I grow three more hands I should be able to do this with some amount of proficiency. One question I have is that after I trimmed the line my ends were frayed. Is this normal or is there a way to prevent this from happening or fixing it?

Tom, Thank you for looking at my build and for kind words. Glad you liked the name. Marty, is this the file you are looking for? You can have the AutoCAD dwg file too if you'd like. That file I will need to email you. DeckLayout Model (1).pdf

Max, the font is called 'unicorn' on my software. I had thought about using a little wood filler to feather the edges but I didn't want to take the chance of screwing it up. If I take my reading glasses off it looks perfect anyway. Does the vellum have a shiny finish? Because I tried printing it on a sheet of (showing my age) overhead projector transparency film and it was very noticeable on the ship. As far as deterioration, I have a few years on you so I don't think I need to worry about the paper deterioration as much as my own.

Max, You give me way too much credit for my artist abilities. I only wish I could have hand painted those names on. A stencil is a good idea that I hadn't thought of, although it would be kind of tough cutting out those little letters. Alas, all I did was print out the names on plain white printer paper with a black background. The bow letters have a font size of 8 and the stern letters are 5 and 4. I then cut the names out to fit the step area and after positioning them I painted over them with a diluted (50/50) mixture of white glue and water. You can't see it in the pictures but if you get real close you can see the paper. You need to darken the edges too so you can't see the white edge on the paper. One thing I did learn while doing this is that there is no white ink in printers.

Chris and Russ thanks for the kind words.

Completed the fore deck fixtures. I assembled the fore deck companionway, painted the vent pipe and made the wire guard, painted the anchor, made two more bollards, made the davit from the wire of a paper clip, installed handles (used 28 gage wire) on the winch bits and then painted it, and made another mast coat for the fore mast similar to the one made for the main mast. The positions of all these pieces were located on the fore deck from the plans and the appropriate size holes were drilled in the deck. All the parts were then glued in place. Note that there is another eye bolt that appears to be needed near the fore fife rail that is not mentioned in the practicum until later in the rigging chapters. According to the Chuck’s practicum I am now officially half way complete with my ship. I must admit I do feel a sense of accomplished in the progress I've made to this point. I've enjoyed each task preformed so far, although some less than others. Coppering the hull is pretty far down on the list. I would also like to take this time to thank Mr. Chuck Passaro for his excellent practicum. If it wasn't for his guidance through his practicum I would have never been able to complete all this. It’s always easier to enhance things that someone has already designed. I hope that the second half of this build goes as well (knock on wood) as the first. With Chuck’s guide I’m sure it will. Since I’m thanking people; I would like to thank everyone for their words of encouragement and help and for all the ‘likes’ so far.

Max, The deck fixtures look terrific. I like the way you need your bars in the skylight window. I also like that jig for sanding the wood down, I'll be borrowing that idea.

Kester, Thanks for all the information. It makes sense now. Sometimes I'm a little slow but I usually catch on after a while.

Kurt, Thanks. I looked at that very picture a dozen times and it never dawned on me (pointing two fingers at head and pulling trigger).