Ryland Craze

Ch. 6 Seat, Pt. I
 
Seat construction in progress. Here's a shot of the basic seat and some of its components still to be added. . .but not all of them. 😮
 

 
And here is the cause for my most recent headaches . . .
 


 
Now to get back to the fun!

Thanks for that!  A very small bend did the trick.
 
I have finished everything I plan to do, although I still need to get a better base board.  I have taken some informal photos which I will post soon, but I thought I would share one very useful hack first.  As I mentioned previously, the supplied nylon line is very springy.  It will happily untie itself from any knot or belay that isn't well secured.  When I was belaying the various halyards to the mast cleats - access is pretty limited in there compared to elsewhere - it was very difficult to keep the turns on the cleat and especially to secure the belay by looping it on itself.  Any relaxation of tension would immediately result in the line flying off the cleat, putting me back to square one.
 
I finally came up with tools and techniques that allowed me to get the initial turns on the cleat without relaxing tension, but the final loop was defeating me until I found a bit of scrap wood that had a nice wedge shape.  With the line temporarily tensioned with a clamp hanging from it, I slid the wedge in under the cleat.  The wedge then held the line in place while I completed the loop.
 

 
I'm glad I pinned all the cleats to the mast, because if I hadn't, I surely would have knocked them off.
 
I also mentioned previously the need to use CA to secure seizings, knots and belays.  The line is too slippery to hold on its own, and white glue is useless.

It's been busy for me past 2 days but I did manage to get the inwales bent, cut and glued in, and I also started working on the stern quarter knees. A bit at a time is OK with me. 
 

The breastrail....
 
Its pretty straight forward.  All parts are laser cut for you.  But you will still need to prepare them and shape them.  You must do so in the same way you did for the various laser cut columns during this project.  Sand off all the laser char carefully if you dont plan on painting the uprights.  I left them natural which meant they had to be pretty clean.  Use some files, sandpaper and small chisels...or even a #11 blade in my case.   Duplicate the overall shape on the fore and aft sides which was laser cut for you.  Remember to get these clean, although you can paint them black if you wanted to.  I have basically just laser cut and etched the general shape of these uprights and its up to you to finish them with care.  Take you time as the breastrail is a feature element on the model and your eye will be distracted at one that looks sloppy.  
 

The lower rail is a 3/64" thick piece of laser cut boxwood.  It slides onto each upright.  Keep in mind that the angle on the top and bottom of each upright changes as it the rail moves outward from the center.  This is to accommodate for the roundup of the qdeck.  Make sure you position them accordingly.   The more severe angles are toward the outside of the rail.  The center pair of uprights has the least amount of angle.
 
Then glue the lower rail onto all six uprights.  Slide it down from the top...Make sure its seated properly and do a test fit before gluing.  
 
The top rail is actually made in two layers (top of the first photo).   There is a very thin 1/64" thick boxwood layer with square holes cut out of it.  Glue this onto the solid rail.  You will notice its slightly smaller so it leaves a nice lip all around the bottom edge.  Paint both rails black before doing a test fit of all pieces.
 
You should be able to align the top rail in position by inserting the tops of the uprights into the square holes on the underside of the top rail.  This should also force all of the uprights to be perfectly vertical as the laser cut holes are all lined up.  
 
Then test it on the model....it is very very important to center this rail port to starboard.  You can peg each upright into the margin plank at the edge of the qdeck if you like.   Make sure its straight in all directions.   Meaning its vertical when viewed from the side of the hull....and along the edge of the qdeck when viewing it from overhead.
 

You can see how it looks with the uprights left natural.  You can paint the entire rail black if you prefer.   
 
Also note that I constructed the railings around the companionway and made the ladder leading down to the gun deck....just like the one on the gundeck you already made a few chapters back.  I created the stanchions using 1/16" x 1/16" boxwood strips.  I created what I though was a nice fancy profile.  I kept them square in profile except for the center portion and the little ball on top.   They were painted black.  They were chocked in my Dremel and turned to create the rounded areas.  The horizontal rails were cut from 1/32" x 1/32" boxwood strips.   
 

 
You can also choose not to add this railing at all.  Many contemporary models including the one for Winchelsea dont show such a rail.  But I think it adds a nice detail.
 
Any Questions or comments?
 
Next up the fancy rails along the shear caprail!!
 
 

Thanks, decals and tail fin rigging done

Lou,
 
An airship, zeppelin or blimp is supported by air, not hydrogen.  The hydrogen, or helium filling in US airships, is there to pressurize spheres within the envelope. These displace air and provide lifting force.  If someone could magically invent an ultralight envelope structure that would not collapse, under vacuum the hydrogen filling would be unnecessary.
 
An airship works like a submarine.  Air exerts a buoyant force on the envelope.  This force is equal to the density of the air x the volume of the envelope.  If the weight of the airship, including the gas filling is less than the buoyant force from the air, the airship rises.  If it is more, the airship sinks.  Once it was flying, the crew’s job was to maintain neutral buoyancy: airship weight = buoyant force.  Both of these factors changed over duration of the flight.  The crew responded by jettisoning ballast or venting gas.  Venting gas reduced the diameter of the gas filled spheres  within the envelope and this decreased buoyancy.
 
All in all a fascinating technical innovation that ultimately proved to be a dead end.
 
Roger
 
.
 
 

I giver her a dark yellow wash and it works! Blends it very nicely and makes it look like dirty canvas. What a fluke! 

Painting pretty much done, weathering next. Again, I’m making this up as I go along, how the hell does one weather a blimp! 

My limited reading and the photos in b&w really do show very far panels on top, so a black overspray seems to work OK 

Masking tape off, now to paint it properly I suppose. 

You know when you’re just making it up?

A couple of really cool photos 

So started to paint the blimp, so many panels, and so much more sanding needed, big seams and a lot sine shown up 

Hi Bob and welcome to Model Ship World.  It is always nice when someone acquires a ship model in progress and completes the build.  The Bluejacket Smuggler builds into a nice model.  Please share your progress with us.

Hi Bob and welcome to Model Ship World.  It is always nice when someone acquires a ship model in progress and completes the build.  The Bluejacket Smuggler builds into a nice model.  Please share your progress with us.

Yes, by all means start a build log. When you have finished, I will give you 10% off the next kit you buy from us!
 
Nic

Bob, welcome to MSW. 

Hello Bob. Welcome to the forum!

Hello Bob, and a warm welcome to the forum from 'Down Under'.
 
John

Welcome to MSW!  Be sure to check out some of the smuggler build logs, and start your own when you get going.   There are a lot of helpful people here, including the owner of Bluejacket, in case you get stumped along the way.
 

Welcome to MSW, Bob from the other end of the country.   There are build logs here of that ship which should help you out.  Also, do start a log to bring us up to date.  The build log is a great way to meet other builders and also to get help.

Hi Bob,
 
Welcome. Good place to be for anything ship building. I’m at the opposite end of the country, Washington state, 37 and rainy. Stay warm.

I stumbled onto this site and am glad I did. I just purchased a Bluejacket Smuggler kit on Craigslist. The unfinished manufacturing ends had been sanded off and one single attempt had been made to begin the shape of the rails. It wasn’t until I glanced at the date on the shipping label that I realized the dream had been started in 2002 never to be realized. I’m going to try to bring it along as time permits. I’m finding retirement is busier than I thought.

Very tidy and precise work Glenn,  but after watching your Cheerful, I've come to expect nothing less😊