JSGerson
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Ratlines All the staves were installed under the tops and above the deadeyes. The ones above the deadeyes gave me pause. Due to lack of my skill and/or experience the deadeyes did not line up was well as I had hoped. I was consoled somewhat because I had read somewhere that they did not always lined up due to the need to be adjusted due to wind conditions, moisture, etc. which affect their tautness. Therefore I attempted to minimize the obviousness of their irregularity by installing the lower staves a little higher above the deadeyes. After taking two weeks off from model building to visit Mom in Florida (she turns 97 next week) I returned home and realized that after looking at the model afresh, I could have lowered them a bit more but they were glued into place. Be that as it may, I plodded on. Per Mr. Antscherl’s instructions I started to install the ratlines using my thinnest cotton thread. Using an index card with the proper spacing of the ratlines laid out, I installed a line every third row without any glue so as to maintain the shrouds vertical straightness. A simple knot was used on the outside shrouds and Clove Hitch knots were used on the interior shrouds. Because they were not glued at this point, final line adjustments could be made.
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Very nicely done. You are a better man than me. I'll be very happy just to get the standing rigging in place. Just out of curiosity since I won't be adding sails to my model, what kind of sail cloth are you using and why?
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I was so new to model ship building at this point, I didn't quite understand what I was doing so was following the instructions blind. If you haven't already, I would suggest not cutting the top of the frames off. Hahn's plans are designed for the model to be built upside down with the top of the frames fitting into a jig. Therefore there is extra frame that needs to be cut off. If you know exactly what you are doing and are precise in cutting to exact length, it should work. If not, leaving excess frame to be cut latter while on the model give you a bit more leeway. The extra frame wood will also allow you to align the pseudo frames easier. In my case I had difficulty because I didn't understand what I was doing. I had never seen a wooden boat put together before at this detail level. Some of my resulting frames were too short, tilted at the wrong angle, etc. even though I thought I was cutting as precise as I could be. It is only latter that I understood the process and then it was too late in some areas. As for mistakes in the practicum, there are a number of them, most of which I have documented when I caught them. In the later chapters they get more numerous. If you have looked at the later chapters, you will notice there is not one photo of a completed model. That is because Mr. Hunt never completed it but just showed how things needed to be done...for the most part. He stated somewhere that he was building 4 kits at once and was on a deadline. It appears that he had to cut corners.
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Well then, it still looks like you have everything under control, probably more control than I did at that stage. You're doing good.
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Based on what I can see in your photo, your gun port looks right. When I made these, my skills weren't the best so some of my port lips aren't exact. But at this scale, unless you look real close with a magnifying glass the variations vanish (at least with my eyes). You may want to prepare the gun ports for the port lids at this point. The upper frame of the ports needs to be notched to accept the lid hinges The hinges are the only gluing surface you have to attach the lids to the ports and they don't provide much surface area for glue. I have already knocked half of them off since. I used CA glue, but if I were to do it again, I think epoxy might be a better choice. You may even want to postpone their attachment to a later time when they are less prone to be hit.. Nice job so far Jon
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From my experience, whatever pitfalls the model kit doesn't have, I make myself !! BTY, the transom looks real good. Nice job.
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The transom gave me problems. Bob ended up with 5 planks because it appears I may have chopped too much off the stern so I ended up with 4 planks. I thought I followed Hunt's instructions to the letter (as well as I understood it). How I messed up I don't know, but my stern was too short. Therefore there were repercussions down the road. I had to squeeze the rudder post into position, make adjustments to the deck were it protruded as well as adjust the "horse" behind the tiller. To be honest, I don't remember exactly what I did to ensure the plywood and framing that made up the transom, adhered solidly to the deck (it was 6 years ago - Have I been working on this for that long?), But looking at my photos, it looks like I was lavish with the glue knowing that this part of the construction would be covered up and that the side planking would eventually provide full strength. I don't think I pinned in place or I would have mentioned that in the log. You can see my initial progress on the transom and the problems I had. Part 1 Post #10 Part 2 Post #24 Part 3 Post #38 All I can say is be very careful here. Jon
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I'll be curious as to how you'll handle the ebony. I've never worked with it before and I understand it is tough wood to work with especially bending. In my case I stained some walnut to get the effect.
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Once the proper length was served, it was cut off from the rest of the wire and the two ends were dipped into some brown paint to represent the leather caps (not that you could actually see them) and lashed to the shrouds. There are still some fuzzys that still have to be snipped off.
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Ratlines – Futtock Staves Following David Antscherl, the next activity is the ratlines. In order to do them the Futtock Staves need to be installed first. According to Antscherl the stave was served rope. According to James Lees’ The Masting and Rigging of English Ships of War 1625-1860 an iron bar was used on some ships. David opted to use served bamboo (made with a draw plate the same as tree nails) in lieu of served rope for stiffness because you cannot see the difference. I went a step further, since you cannot see what material was served, why take the trouble to make bamboo staves? I used music wire which is very stiff and it satisfies Lees and follows Antscherl. The model calls for 0.8mm rope so I used 0.02” (0.51mm) music wire which when served should approximate 0.8mm. My serving machine was able to accommodate the wire and served it easily. The alligator clip in the image is applying tension to the line while some CA glue dries.
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I really wasn't suggesting that you make the buckets, but just to look at his technique. You both used the dowel to support the construction. Then again his other stuff looks real neat too.
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Have you seen Salty Sea Dog's build. He didn't make a pump but he did make a bucket starting at post 335 basically the same way you did. He also made a bunch of other miniatures you might find interesting.
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Are those individual slats in the pump barrel body? If so, how did you assemble them? I think they look a bit more realistic than mine. At the time I was following Mr. Hunt's practicum religiously and not looking at the plans closely very much.
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I found the binnacle a fun little project (comment 179): Yours is beautiful. Is there a reason why your scratch built looks about 50% bigger than the cast metal one supplied by the kit?
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There is a short discussion of the Horseshoe Plate in one of our forums here: What is That Thing? There is also a link there to Chuck's Confederacy model (see Chapter 8, last page) where he uses a photoetched horseshoe. It does provide a good visual as to what it should look like.
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I had the same problem bending those #$%^& ribs. I've been thinking it might have been easier to cut out the ribs (and more of them) from airplane plywood or boxwood directly to shape and skip the bending. You would have ended up with a stronger frame and planking would have be easier. That is assuming you knew how to shape the ribs in the first place so you could cut them out.
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Question: Those horseshoes are lovely but would you actually see them once you copper plate the hull?
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Bowsprit jib boom (previously made earlier) and the Fore Preventer Stay installed
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The can ring pulls would be a perfect subject for your other log, Kit-Basher's Guide To The Galaxy
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Scott - Thanks for the praise. Martin - Oh I'm sure there many more little traps like that still to come. I just hope I ketch them early enough so that the "fix" won't be catastrophic.
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Very nice. It may be a small, cheap model kit, but it still takes a lot of skill to build right. I wouldn't let the "blotches" on the inside bother you. When was the last time you saw a pristine working boat? It just makes it more realistic. It's not a flaw, it's an attribute! BTW, I like those oarlocks.
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Fortunately this meant I only had to cut open a few eye splices and lashings, remove the stay from the mast and re-install them properly once the damage was repaired. I didn’t have to reconstruct the complete stays from scratch. The Fore Stay was completed without and problems (as far as I know) and installed. The Fore Preventer stay will be installed once the bowsprit jib boom is installed.
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Fore Stay Back to the remaining stays. The Fore Stay was under construction, i.e., making the mouse, eye splices, and heart when I realized I screwed up on the Mizzen stay, Main stay, and the Main Preventer stays…bigtime. In trying to assemble as much as I could off the model, my lack of experience reared its ugly head only I didn’t recognize it at the time. I had looped the stays to engage the mouse first and then attached them to the mast. The only way that was possible was to thread them through the opening destined for the upper masts. It was just a mind block that this was the opening for the upper mast. There was no way for the upper masts could now fit. Examples of the Mizzen mouse and Main stay:
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