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Louie da fly

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  1. Louie da fly
    Hi LegoKing, Several others have already commented on the tools needed to start off with, and I'm probably duplicating what some of them have written, but I've found it's amazing how few tools are really necessary to get started on ship modelling. I wouldn't even think of getting machine tools to start with, except possibly a drill. Plenty of time for that when you find the need for them. In the meantime, I'd suggest a good coping saw, a craft knife or a scalpel with exchangeable blades (a No. 11 blade is the best for modelling, I find). LOTS of clamps - *LOTS* of clamps, of all possible sizes from tiny to fairly big. One of those green cutting boards, glue (I use PVA (white) glue, but others swear by CA (cyanoacetate = superglue - but watch out for the fumes) one of those headpieces with built-in magnifying lenses - you can get them at car supply places. Files and (SHARP!) chisels of various sizes. When it comes to bending your planks, in the real world they use steam. But although there's some disagreement about whether you should wet or heat planks to bend them, apparently the heat is the important factor - it loosens the fibres in the wood and allows it to bend without breaking. You can get specialised bending tools, but honestly I find a cheap soldering iron clamped in a vise (oh, yes, get a vise, too), and gently bending the wood around it works well - see picture below - (you can get really tight curves - those dimensions are in millimetres). If you're building a kit rather than a scratch build, much of the preliminary work (such as getting thin wood for planks) is done for you. The other advice I'd give is to start simple - don't buy a kit of HMS Victory - too many people start out with great enthusiasm but get discouraged by the complexity of their first build. There are really good kits of such things as longboats - see https://modelshipworld.com/.../18657-new-to-ship.../ . Oh, and a good workspace (doesn't have to be big) with good light and where you can safely keep the model "set up" in between modelling sessions. Good luck, and have fun with it! Steven
  2. Louie da fly
    Making fiddle blocks for the mainsail martnet tackles. Holes drilled in blank Cut to shape Glued and clamped after it split Note the tiny plastic pegs (available from craft shops) And with tackle going through both holes (temporary - just to demonstrate). Steven
  3. Louie da fly
    Current state of play: A new pair of blocks on the stay for the two maintopsail bowlines (the pegs are just weights, to tension it all till the glue dries) And with the bowlines in place: And just below the top you can see the two-sheaved block the bowlines run through to the deck. I realised I'd misinterpreted Anderson's book for the topgallant sheets. In fact, they double as topsail lifts; there are only separate lifts on the topgallant yard. So I had to undo the sheets and add a new pair of blocks just below the topmast top to take the sheets/lifts, and run them through those. Unfortunately, I'd made the same mistake on the foretopsail sheets (though I'd added the extra blocks, I hadn't run the sheets/lifts through them). But it would now be much too difficult to correct, so I'm going to leave it as-is, as a reminder to make sure I've really understood the instructions. Steven
  4. Louie da fly
    No, he shows them in the video. They are definitely ducts - square wooden tubes for and aft, angled up at the ends.
  5. Louie da fly
    A few minor points regarding terminology, but overall, an excellent video! Steven
  6. Louie da fly
    More rigging; now I've got the main topsail in place. I had quite a bit of trouble getting the original "parrel truck" (really made out of cotton thread) to fit back onto the mast - it got all mutant on me for a while and I had to pretty much force it into the right shape - not really what I wanted to do. But eventually it worked and I was free to start rigging. First, the topgallant sheets now had a spar to hold them (sorry about the photo quality). The sheets run through a block on each topsail yardarm then along the yard to a block near the mast And down to the bitts Then - disaster! I snapped the larboard topsail yard (they're VERY thin!) and at the same time the block for the clewline pulled away from the sail. Then the sheet pulled away from the sail as well. This photo was taken the next day; I'd already mended the yardarm with CA, but still had to fix the clewline block back in place - you can see the dislocated block in the top right of the red rectangle. This took far longer than I'd expected - several failed attempts before I got it right. Here's the repaired assembly, roughed out: And trimmed: and I've added brace pendants for the topsails A match to show how very thin the yards are - very easy to snap. And the brace pendant on the starboard side (a bit blurry, sorry): And trimmed to length: And I've now started adding a two-sheaved block to the foremast to take the topsail bowlines. A lot of swearing at this point - I was trying to get the strop around the foremast past all the ropes that were already there. Absolute murder, and I finally gave up and just looped a length of cotton thread around the mast (not very visible I'm afraid - all you can see are the loose ends): And added the block to the loop (in the centre of the red rectangle, just above the parrel truck) Adding blocks to the mizzen shrouds to take the main topsail braces: And trimmed off. Lots of fiddly stuff. But slowly getting there. Steven
  7. Louie da fly
    I never fail to be amazed at how strong model hulls are - even though the planking is to scale thickness. Enjoying the ride. Steven
  8. Louie da fly
    I thought you might like to have some contemporary pictures of carracks to refer to in your build. I've divided them into vessels with a single mast (which I like to call "proto-carracks"), and those with at least two. The hulls seem identical: https://www.pinterest.com.au/lowe1847/proto-carracks/ and https://www.pinterest.com.au/lowe1847/carracks/ Steven
  9. Louie da fly
    Thanks, mate. But I have space limitations. Never going to do 1:200 again, but I've done 1:50 and 1:75, and I'll probably keep on with 1:75 as my "default" scale. And of course, if all the models are to the same scale you can compare them. Steven
  10. Louie da fly
    Sounds like you're speaking from experience, Druxey. I fully concur, having done a very comprehensive renovation myself. Can of worms territory! Steven
  11. Louie da fly
    Thanks, Firdajan. Unfortunately when I first started the model I had no idea what problems the small scale was going to make for me later . . . Steven
  12. Louie da fly
    Old fat spider spinning in a tree! Old fat spider can’t see me! Attercop! Attercop! Won't you stop, Stop your spinning and look for me? Old Tomnoddy, all big body, Old Tomnoddy can’t spy me! Attercop! Attercop! Down you drop! You'll never catch me up your tree! Lazy Lob and crazy Cob are weaving webs to wind me. I am far more sweet than other meat, but still they cannot find me! Here am I, naughty little fly; you are fat and lazy. You cannot trap me, though you try, in your cobwebs crazy. (Bilbo's song, from The Hobbit) Some more cobwebs - main topgallant bowlines, running via blocks on the main topgallant stay to blocks on the fore topsail shrouds and belayed to the upper fore top. And sheets on the main topgallant sail. Now I'm ready to add the main topsail. Steven
  13. Louie da fly
    Now putting those blocks to use. The main topgallant lifts and pendants for the braces: Main topgallant braces and clewlines: They are currently only held in place with weights (those tiny clothes-pegs) until I finalise how all the ropes interact with each other, so they're all tight at the same time (I hope!) And I had another go at the lifts for the fore topgallant, which were loose and crooked. They look better now. And instead of belaying them to the side of the top I've followed Anderson and belayed them to the topgallant shrouds. More to come in due course. Steven
  14. Louie da fly
    Fascinating work, Dick, but I must admit I'm a bit lost with the addition at the prow. Doubtless further progress will clear that up for me. Steven
  15. Louie da fly
    Glen, I've been carving the blocks from pearwood with a scalpel (No 11 blade). I drill a row of holes in a thin sheet of wood, (note the grain us running up and down the page in this photo), using a brass "sequin pin" which is just the right size to let cotton thread through the hole without making the block too big at 1:200 scale. One thing I have to do is put the holes far enough from the end so the wood doesn't split. I still ave problems because I'm using a hand drill, and the holes don't always go through at right angles. Better to use a drill press. The shortcuts are simple - set it up so I do as little carving as possible, as that's the most time consuming activity. 1. I cut the sheet as close as possible to the proposed thickness of the blocks. 2. I space the holes just the right distance apart, and 3. once they're drilled I cut the end off the sheet close to the holes so I don't have to carve it down, and 4. cut between the holes, (again, to reduce the amount of carving I have to do). 5. Then I carve the individual blocks to shape (the one on the right). It doesn't always work and the wood still splits too often (I'm pushing the wood to its limit), but that's the general idea. Druxey, that might be a better technique. I'll have to do some experimenting on a bit of leftover cloth. Steven
  16. Louie da fly
    That tentacle looks amazing! Steven
  17. Louie da fly
    Yes. I'm not sure if I should do it to all the rest of the sails, or leave the others as they are for consistency with those on the foremast (though of course having one sail like this and all the rest the other way isn't all that consistent either). I think I'll be able to form the glued-up sail to the final shape I want, once all the rigging lines are added, by wetting it and letting it dry in the new shape. Steven
  18. Louie da fly
    Well, finally back to work on the Great Harry after more than 4 months without my workspace (in use as a bedroom for a guest). I wondered if spreading PVA (white) glue all over a sail and draping it over a gluestick would give it a better and more consistent shape. It worked - sort of. But once it dried, the back of the sail was all shiny. So I rubbed it with a damp cloth - seemed to do the trick. So I put it in place, using the original parrel truck which I'd salvaged. Next job - to make a whole bunch of tiny blocks for the mainmast rigging. Very labour intensive, though I invented some shortcuts. Here's the first 6. Steven
  19. Louie da fly
    So do I.
  20. Louie da fly
    Looking really interesting, Dick. I'm pretty sure pitch was used. There were petroleum deposits in Asia Minor, which it is thought were also used in the production of Greek Fire. And though it's completely the wrong century, it reminds me that there was a Byzantine Emperor called Michael the Caulker. From Wikipedia (source of all Knowledge); "Michael V Kalaphates (Greek: Μιχαήλ Καλαφάτης) was Byzantine emperor for four months in 1041–1042. He was the nephew and successor of Michael IV and the adoptive son of Michael IV's wife Empress Zoe. He was popularly called "the Caulker" (Kalaphates) in accordance with his father's original occupation." Note how short a reign he had. It didn't end well . . . Steven
  21. Louie da fly
    Yep. Steven
  22. Louie da fly
    Oh, I see. But it doesn't have a railing, and at this point I certainly wasn't going to add one. And cleats at this scale are pretty much impossible. But more importantly, Anderson in "The Rigging of Ships in the Days of the Spritsail Topmast" (which though the period it covers begins 55 years after the Great Harry, is the nearest thing we have to a definitive exposition of the rigging of such ships) basically says there's almost no reliable information on where the foremast braces were belayed, and if anything that it should be to the sides of the ship, just aft of the forecastle. Which is what I've done. Steven
  23. Louie da fly
    I can't remember - it's a long time ago, but I either found the yard or discovered it wasn't missing in the first place. They do. They each pass through a block on the mainstay/maintop stay/main topgallant stay, and then down to the rail at the side of the weather deck, behind the forecastle . Steven
  24. Louie da fly
    You can taper those cables by stripping off the plastic sheathing far enough back to expose the wires, and then gradually reduce the number of them as you get further and further along toward the tip, right down to a single wire. Then cover with clay or possibly some other "goo". I'd recommend you practice that with some cable that you're not going to use until you get on top of the technique. Steven
  25. Louie da fly
    Actually, I'm leaving that to others who are much better at it than I am - Javier Baron for one, and there's another out there whose name I disremember who does amazing tiny WWI battleships.

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