Jack12477

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 261 – Fore Topsail Yards
 
I have finally been able to break out of the ratline work to start on the next set of yards – specifically the fore lower and upper topsail yards.  These will likely be the next two to go up, but the main yard is also an option.  I want to get all the ratline work done on the lower and upper masts before staring on the yards.  I got ahead of myself with the fore yard and that made finishing the ratlines a tougher job.
 
I described the methods I am using to make spars in Parts 217-218 and Parts 247-248, so I will not go through it all again.  I will mostly stick to some things that may not have been covered earlier.
 
I generally like to drill all the holes in a spar at the first trim.  At this stage it is sized but still square and not tapered, so it is easier to hold and center the piece.  I forgot to do this on the lower topsail yard so it had to be done later as shown in the first picture.
 

 
In the picture the holes for the jackstay stanchions are being drilled.  The yard is clamped to the tooling plate at the octagonal center area and at the yardarm square section – not optimum but not too difficult.
 
In the next picture the upper topsail yard is set up for drilling while still at the first trim.
 

 
In the earlier description of this drilling I used the mill vise, but since I had the tooling plate set up I decided to use it instead.  To make the yard parallel with the plate, I used the small depth gauge described back during the deck framing.  The next picture shows the jackstay stanchion holes drilled into this yard.
 

 
The stanchion holes are the most important to do at this stage because they need to be centered on top of the yard and equally spaced.  Other holes will be drilled later.  In the picture the quarters are marked out.  In the next picture dividers are being used to mark the diameters on two opposite sides at each quarter.
 

 
These are taken directly from the drawing and serve as guides for the first roughing out only.  The final dimensions at each quarter will be measured and adjusted more accurately as shown below.  In the next picture the two marked faces are being tapered using a plane with the yard clamped in a vise.
 

 
The vise works well before the spar is tapered.  The fixture described earlier and shown below could also be used.  The taper is planed, scraped, rasped and sanded down to the divider marks.  In the next picture calipers are being used to check and refine the sizing to the dimensions specified on the drawing.
 

 
The drawings specify the diameter at each quarter in full size decimal inches, which are then divided by 72 to get the measurements to the three significant digits used in the final sizing as shown above.  The sandpaper board is used for the final sizing. 
 
With the spar tapered on two sides, the planning fixture shown below was then used to taper the remaining two faces.
 

 
For these smaller spars the top section of the stop was removed to clear the plane.  In the next picture one of the remaining two sides are being tapered.
 

 
The yard was then converted to an octagonal shape, except at the yard arms, as described in the earlier posts.  The center area on these "single-tree" spars were left octagonal, so the final rounding begins at the end of the octagonal section as shown below.
 

 
After filing off the corners of the octagon, the rounding was completed down to the square yardarm section using the sanding stick shown.
 

 
This has 220-grit paper on one side and 320-grit on the other.  The last picture shows the two topsail yards ready for their ironwork.
 
 
 
Ed

There appears to be only one solution Chuck - you must clone yourself and bring all three to market as soon as possible! 
 
The Pegasus cross-section is beautiful and a brilliant concept. Having already done a scratch built cross-section though, I likely woudn’t buy it myself (though I’d be sorely tempted).
 
The Dutch Boeier is an unusual and interesting subject that I can see having a lot of appeal to those looking for something other than “3-masts and lots of guns”. I’d be tempted by this one if I could sneak it past the Admiral.....
 
The Chebacco would likely have most appeal to the US market (which I guess is your largest market segment).
 
Not sure if I’ve helped at all there, but guess on balance I’ll vote for the Dutch Boeier. 

I agree with Dirk and want all three too.
 
That said the Pegasus is beautiful and would buy it in a heart beat
but I chose the Chebacco as it is fun to do something a little different.
 
No matter which one you choose I think you'll have a winner.

Model by David Antscherl for sale
 
The Hayling hoy of 1760 is a carefully researched model of an original subject at the classic scale of 1:48. This model was constructed as a prototype for a forthcoming book. Made of Castello boxwood, pear and holly, it is fully framed with one side fully planked. The model is rigged and measures 28”L x 28”H x 14W”. Offered on a custom veneered base but uncased. Serious enquiries are invited. More photographs upon request, terms available.

Beautiful work, druxey! I know how much research went into the ship's rigging and other details. Good luck with the forthcoming book.
 
Mike

Lovely....someone is going to be a very happy camper if they are lucky enough to snap that up.  Beautiful work
 
Cheers!!!!  

Chuck, my preference leans toward the Dutch Boeier and the American Chebacco equally.  I'm more interested in models of boats that are unusual and not offered by the major model kit companies.  Personally I do not have a lot of interest in building cross sections altho I do admire them, just not too interested in building one. I also prefer the smaller boats because I am running out of display space.

Chuck, my preference leans toward the Dutch Boeier and the American Chebacco equally.  I'm more interested in models of boats that are unusual and not offered by the major model kit companies.  Personally I do not have a lot of interest in building cross sections altho I do admire them, just not too interested in building one. I also prefer the smaller boats because I am running out of display space.

Chuck, my preference leans toward the Dutch Boeier and the American Chebacco equally.  I'm more interested in models of boats that are unusual and not offered by the major model kit companies.  Personally I do not have a lot of interest in building cross sections altho I do admire them, just not too interested in building one. I also prefer the smaller boats because I am running out of display space.

Warning understood Chuck,
 
The frames were just sat in the board for the picture.
 
ben

Looks good Ben...  Nicely done.
 
Be careful to make sure that the frames are facing the correct way.  Its tricky because they are upside down.  I think you might have one or two facing the wrong direction in the photo.  They switch direction at frame "0".  One "0" frame faces one direction and the other  "0" frame starts all of them going the other direction.
 
Check your forward "0" frame and your forward "A" frame. 
 
 

So here are all the frames assembled and adjusted to fit in the build board. No issues seen at all, you just have to be careful to only glue one floor and futtock at a time to make sure they don’t get mixed up.
Getting the loose but not too loose fit of the tabs into the build board just takes a little time and care to get just right.
Next up will be glueing the keel assembly onto this framing.
 
ben

Hi Lawrence, haven't been up to much lately - awaiting some ice on the river so we can bring the antique ice yachts out and do some sailing.  Next build is still being debated; I've been toying with the idea of scratch building a scale model of one of our club's ice yachts. Been waiting for them to come out of storage and get set up on the ice so I can get measurements.  Otherwise it will either be the Constellation or the Picket Boat.

Wonderful work, Nenad, and they are so small.  Almost ship-in-a-bottle scale.   

Oars for Captain's Gig finished and mounted

Thanks! The reason (according to Shepard Paine, legendary diorama builder) is that if objects are parallel to the edge it plays a "mind trick" and it looks like the scene is constrained by the frame. It is difficult to "imagine" that the diorama is a snapshot/cut out of reality and goes on outside the diorama. With things parallel it looks like the scene is made to fit inside the frame (I hope I'm not too unclear)
 
I find it very good advice. Just moving objects a few degrees of 90 degrees makes a huge difference. Of course it doesn't matter if a few small things are parallel but major focus points like vehicles, roads, houses, railroad tracks, fences and such should not be parallel.

Nicely done. Like your map base, too.

Well done! I particularly like the map on the base. And that’s an interesting tip about “nothing parallel to the edge on a diorama”.
 
 

Well, drum roll... It is done!
 
I´m pleased with it. It was a fun kit to build. Some processes were difficult, I would not recommend this kit unless you have some experience in model building and working with different materials. I remember that I did not find the instructions clear in the beginning. I take that statement back. the instructions were very good. Read the carefully and follow the exactly and things will go fine. 
 
A very tricky part was adding the rudder wires through the rollers. Take care when you build the rollers and maybe install the wires before adding the roller wheels. This is the only deviation from the instructions which I would recommend. So instead of finishing the wings with the roller wheels and everything and adding the wiring in the end, install the wiring and then add the wheels. This way you have more space to work with when you install the wiring. So installing the rollers would be the last part you do before the model is finished.
 
The map as I used as a base is from the Imperial war museum. It is a bit "offset" to the frame as I use an old diorama rule that states "nothing parallell to the edge". Technically this is not a diorama but anyway.
 
The medal I put there to make it look a bit more interesting. Also the Red Baron got it, so I thought it would be nice to include it.
 
I will try go get a friend, who is a much better photographer than me take a few pictures of better quality than the ones below.
 
"What ever" you say, we want pictures!  Well here are a few!
 

Hot off the pad 
HMS Belfast in a spot of Roughers
15" X 11" watercolour.

Well the clamps are off and the work on the BARGE is done until next weekend. I have another personal build I want to spend some time on and a kit design project just getting underway. Keep an eye on MSW for news on that coming soon...........
 
I taped together a couple of pieces of thin cardboard to make a small firm envelope to store the flags, inset and sweeps' artwork and the chip board laser cut piece. I'll leave them safely in the bottom of the box until they are needed.
 
Sam

I started the carving for the taffarel.  Let's just say that it will be a slow process.  I need to be in the correct mood to concentrate on it.  Therefore, I will work on other aspects of the ship while carving continues.
 

 
The next thing to tackle is the counter artwork.  The upper counter has the name ATALANTA and some acanthus leaves.  The artwork was done in the same manner as the side of the ship.  The background was spray painted.  The artwork was drawn onto the background with transfer paper.  The painting was done with artist acrylics.  The print shows the lettering as "artsy" rather than block lettering.  This did not seem right to me so I attempted to make the lettering more consistent.  I could not find any information about the two men on the lower counter.  The man on the port side is blowing a horn and the man on the starboard side is holding a caduceus in his right hand and what looks like a gourd in his left hand.  I do not think this represents the two prospective suitors of Atalanta because they are seen in the carvings above.
 

 
After they were installed I tried to freehand paint the edging on the lower counter.  This was an utter failure and I had to remove all of that paint without damaging anything.  The best alternative for me was to paint some tissue paper with yellow ochre, cut out strips and glue them onto the blue background.  I think it looks reasonably good and will look better after I install the rudder.
 

 

I like the scratch build idea ...

Hi Lawrence, haven't been up to much lately - awaiting some ice on the river so we can bring the antique ice yachts out and do some sailing.  Next build is still being debated; I've been toying with the idea of scratch building a scale model of one of our club's ice yachts. Been waiting for them to come out of storage and get set up on the ice so I can get measurements.  Otherwise it will either be the Constellation or the Picket Boat.

Boy am I having a hard time with this thread................
 
One more pic