davyboy

For members who live this side of the Atlantic  found this supplier on one of the German forums. 

                        www.modellbau-holzleisten.de

There are several suppliers on the first google page,the one you want is Massiveholzwerkstätten Horschig.

He has a very good selection, eg 5mm x 100mm x 1000mm Birnbaum (pearwood) & Nussbaum (walnut)

plus others at 7 Euros per plank. Well worth a look IMO.

Dave

Jason,

There would certainly be train tackles and trucks as are shown in the Trincomalee pic. To save me writing go to the Scratch build logs and look at Rogers´ Syren build log on page 3. That is how it should be set up. Your Snake is looking very good. Breeching rings should be easy to make from brass or plastic tubing,cut off small slices and with a little filing to fit and thick cyano you are in business.

Hope that helps.

Dave

Ken,why not just push your drillbit into the pin vice chuck until only .175" protrudes. That´s what I do to control depth,no need to glue tubing on then.

Dave    

Hello,

Laverys´ AOTS The 74 Gun ship Bellona has a considerable amount of info on rigging. eg. Sizes and length of all standing rigging. There is very little in Whites´ AOTS The Frigate Diana book,so not of much use to you.

Dave

Ian,

The main topsail sheet bitts were often a gallows bitt or sometimes a gallows was fitted just fwd of them. Spare topmasts and spars were stowed on these,the fwd ends resting on the aft edge of the forecastle. The largest boat would be stowed on top of these with possibly the smallest boat stowed upside down on it. There was not enough width to place boats side by side. If your capstan is aft of the mainmast it may be possible to stow a third boat on the deck underneath the others.

TBH,Lavery is a bit vague on all this giving lots of possibilities. As his book is 25+ years old maybe further research has turned up better info. Perhaps one of our knowledgeable members will be able to give you a better answer,I´m no expert    Stern and quarter davits were a late 18th century development on large ships and skid beams (Lavery calls them boat booms) across the waist from the gangways also late in appearing on frigates. Around 1800 according to Laverys´book.  

Hope this is of help to you.

Dave

Hi Ian,

I found this in Laverys´ Arming and Fitting of English Ships of War. " Probably the most important order was that of 1769 which regulated the boats issued to ships of 10 to 36 guns." 

Frigates of 28 to 36 guns had three boats each,a Longboat,a Pinnace and a Yawl. Ships of 28 guns had longboats 21 or 22 ft, Pinnaces of 28 ft and Yawls of 22 or 23 ft. That would seem to fit roughly with what you are looking for.  

Dave

Hi Hamilton,have you looked at the NMM website ? Type in `20 gun ship models´ in the search box,you will find several good photos on pages 3 & 4. You can enlarge them which may give you some other ideas rather than using the Blandford book.

Have fun  

Dave

Hi Bob,good question.

I think that both types of pin were in use all of the time. Lees quotes wood pins (lignum vitae I would think) for small blocks and Iron or Brass pins for large blocks used in English ships. Marquardt quotes pins being made from Lignum Vitae,Cog-Wood (Laurus chloroxylon),Greenheart and Iron in his book 18th Century Rigs & Rigging which covers other countries as well as Britain. Neither of these books mention anything about dates of change from wood to metal.  

Hope this is of help to your question.

Dave

Hello Gil,

What a superb job you are making of this build of the Victory. I have read somewhere that attaching the Topsail Halliard Blocks to the Backstays as shown in the HMS Victory pic was a safety feature so to speak. This was done to prevent them falling onto the deck if the Ties were severed during battle,they could just slide down the Backstays to the Channels. A falling 26" double block could do a lot of damage :mellow: Not sure if this was a permanent fixture though. The Ties did run through trucks on the Backstays as you have done.

Keep up the good work

Dave

Hi again Hamilton,

Glad to read you have found a copy of Lees at a reasonable price. All the belaying info for a 20 Gun Ship is on pages 170 - 172. No cleats were fitted to shrouds for belaying in this time period on 20 Gun Ships. 

Regards,

Dave

PS,see you´re Canadian. Are you in Hamilton Ontario ? My sister lives there.

Hi Hamilton,

In Lees Masting and Rigging Book there is belaying information for a 20 gun ship circa 1719. The only belaying pins called for are 3 per side on racks at the foot of the Mizzen Mast and 7 per side on racks attached to the Mizzen Shrouds. Re Staysails,Lees quotes Jib,Fore and Main Topmast Staysails,Main Topgallant and Mizzen Topmast Staysails.  

Hope this is of some help to you.

Dave

Glad to have been of help Peter. As you wrote,much easier to correct now rather than later.

Dave

Hello Peter,

I have been following your build for some time,excellent work indeed. One thing though,it appears that you have rigged your mainstay collar wrongly. It should be lead through that hole in the Stempost (you  can see the hole below the Bowsprit in your 3rd pic) and not around the Bowsprit. Maybe an error on the plans showing how you have done it.

Keep up the good work

Dave

Sjors,

I bought one of these Cooltool I classics several years ago. It is ok for turning down masts,spars and other small wood items only. As others have said it is underpowered and also inaccurate in its other applications. Much better to look on Ebay or similar sites for a good second hand Unimat SL or similar lathe.   

Dave     

I always polish up brass or copper parts with fine (green) scotchbrite before cleaning and blackening. I´ve found this gives a good surface for the blackening process as doing this removes any oxidisation on the part. I use a 5 to 1 mix leaving the parts in for 5 minutes,or longer if required. Never had any problems with flaking.

Dave    

Hi Jay,

That is a very fine model you are building. One thing I have noticed is that your jeers have treble upper and lower blocks. In this case the standing part of the jeer rope should start from the mast head and not the yard as you have done. When the standing part starts from the yard only double blocks are required on the yard.  

Regards,

Dave

Pat,

Lovely job on your masts and tops,however I have a question. In your photo of the fore and fore topmast the top rope sheaves are running in the fore and aft  plane. Is this how they were fitted on the Endeavour ? Lees says that top rope sheaves ran diagonally,the lower sheave fwd port face to aft starboard face and the upper sheave fwd starboard face to port aft face. Not criticising,just curious. 

Kind regards,

Dave

Hi Tom,

Have a look in the HMS Sphynx scratch build log by Alex M. It shows how he makes his mouldings.

Dave.

Daniel,

Was nice to see this again,saw it last year on the Bolitho & Co forum. 

True Dafisimus

Dave.