davyboy

Hi Maurys,I can't believe there would be any acid content in brown wrapping paper. Not much use for wrapping things then is it ? Anyway,my mast hoops haven't rotted my mast yet 

Dave 

Hi Maurys,that's very labour intensive. Get a dowel of suitable diameter wrap it in clingfilm then glue several turns of

brown wrapping paper around the dowel. When dry slide it off the dowel,you can then slice off the number of mast 

hoops you need,then give them a couple of coats of clear varnish or paint if required.

That's how I made the mast hoops for my Cheerful build. Much easier and quicker than using wood shavings.

Dave 

Good evening Maurice,

That clinker planking is shaping up nicely,I'm certain the end result will be tip-top as normal.

Had a problem with the aft bulkhead on Speedwell. The transom area has no instructions as to how

one addresses the fashion pieces below the planked area. Just a note to round this area forward 4" (.084")

Plenty of info for the POF version but not much use for the POB one. After some thought I made my

fashion pieces from 3/16th pear and marked their placeon the bulkhead. Then I very carefully freehand

milled out a 3/16th deep area to fit them. Worked fine and when the transom is planked and after fairing

it will look very like the Cheerful transom. I hope  

Regards.

Dave   

Hi Phil,

Heres how I do it :- Get a suitable size of needle and pass one of your threads through the other. Then do the same by passing the other through the first. It should resemble then the lower example in your pic. The ends can then be served to the threads. If you're really fussy you can taper the fake splice by thinning the strands of the through piece to simulate the taper then serve and glue. Thats how I do cut splices on odd numbers of shrouds etc haven't had one pull apart yet.

Hope this helps.

Dave 

I made the mast hoops for my Cheerful by glueing turns of brown wrapping paper around a suitable diam dowel. When dry just pulled it off and cut off slices as required and gave them a couple of coats of matt laquer,job done and no messing about with wood shavings. I did of course wrap the dowel with some plastic first to prevent sticking.

Dave 

Good evening Maurice,

Excellent mod's there. You always make significant improvements to your kits,great stuff. I've finished the keel and stem assy for Speedwell (all 18 pieces) except for some "fine tuning" of the stem taper. Hopefully I will shortly have it fixed to the spine then it's bulkheads glued in followed by the dreaded fairing later this week.

Regards,

Dave 

Good evening Maurice,

I like your idea of using the first planking as practice for the second planking,good thinking. Now that pic of your fish 'n' chips has made me very jealous,also the glass of Yorkshire Bitter  I'm finding out there's much more to my Speedwell POB build than I first thought. The stem assy build up for instance has components of 3 different thicknesses,12",10" and 8",I now know that 2" at 1:48 is 0.041666",I called it 0.042" I'm not building for a Museum lol. My hat's off to folks that can build POF,that's way out of my depth I'm afraid.

Regards,

Dave 

Druxey,I assume (hopefully) that your research is for the second volume of your HMS Speedwell 1752. I wish you every success in this. I started on the POB version a couple of weeks ago. I've much to learn but looking forward to the challenge over the next few years.

Dave   

Hi mispeltyoof.

I built their Cruiser years ago,same problem. I made new masthead and bowsprit caps from the leftover material which the masthead caps were cut from. Did the same for the topmast caps,easy enough to cut a mortice in them. Be aware that the bowsprit cap should be perpendicular to the waterline not the bowsprit. (don't know if that's shown on your plans) The upper and lower faces should have the same angle as the bowsprit as should the hole for the jib boom Easy enough to cut a tenon on the bowsprit and a corresponding mortice in the cap. Don't forget to angle the bowsprit end to match,don't ask how I know that  

Dave 

I watched the documentary about this last Monday evening on a UK TV channel. Very interesting as was part 1 shown the previous week. They proved it was Greek by using a vacuum on the ROV to clear the sludge from the Rudder. The shape matched exactly that pictured on ancient Greek vases. They also found among other wrecks a sunken Roman ship laden to the "gunnels"with Amphorae.

Dave 

Hi Bill,just for info. A Spanish galleon of 1588 would definitely not have chain anchor cables,they were a 19th century innovation.

Dave 

Good evening Maurice,

Looking good as usual. Enjoy your holiday and the Fish and Chips,something I really do miss living here. I'd give my eye teeth for a plate of fresh caught battered Cod and chunky Chips with brown sauce and vinegar. Steak and Kidney pie would also go down a treat.

Dave  

Good evenjng Maurice,

She looks very nice,her lovely lines are showing already. Rapid progress indeed. How do you find it working with 3mm MDF ? I've heard/read that the dust from it is very toxic due to the resin used in its manufacture.

I have the bulkheads,false keel and the pear for the keel,stem and sternpost cut for my Speedwell but all have still to be sized correctly etc. Messy  work which I do on the balcony as the missus would have a fit if I did it indoors.

Regards,

Dave 

Steven,

Your second photo looks remarkably similar to a spritsail sheet block as fitted to English warships from the late 17th to mid 18th centuries. The drawings of these blocks in Lees Masting and Rigging book look almost identical. Just a thought but perhaps it had something to do with sail control.

Dave 

Good evening Maurice,

I look forward to following your build of the cutter Alert. She should "keep you out of mischief"for a couple of years.

One thing puzzles me on this ship,what is the purpose of the yard between the lower and the topsail yard?. I can't see any lifts,braces or blocks attached to it in the pix in the kit review. Likely a silly question but..........

Kind regards. 

Dave 

Hi Steven, 

Continental sheet blocks had an upper sheave at a right angle from the lower sheave. They were somewhat pear shaped. This was used for the Topsail sheet and lower yard lifts. Of course your Dromon was Lateen rigged so it will be interesting to see what purpose a block with sheaves at right angles was used for there.

The amount of research you are having to do for this build is extraordinary considering there is so little info from this period. Great stuff,I really enjoy following your build.

Dave 

Hello Nicolas,

I don't know whether you intend to build Triton POF or POB but you can find all the info on masts and yards you need here:- Google  The elements and practice of rigging and seamanship. This takes you to the website of the San Francisco Maritime National Park Association which shows Steels book. Scroll down to page 50 all the size info on masts and yards is there for a Frigate such as Triton.

If you scroll down to the bottom of the main page you will find the Tables and Dimensions of Standing and Running Rigging,again all you need to know is there. Just saw your last post,pages 208 - 211 should be of interest. Hope this helps.

Dave 

Congratulations Maurice,she looks beautiful. Looking forward to following your next build. I received my HMS Speedwell book & plans last week now looking forward with some trepidation to building her POB. A good deal more difficult (for me anyway) than my Cheerful (finished) was.

You should be getting an email from me later this week,Admiral has been away in Germany visiting friends hence the delay.

Dave  

Hi Caleb,

You might consider Chuck Passaros' HMS Cutter Cheerful from Syren Ship Model Company advertised here on the forum. He sells the POB plans at 1/48 scale for this ship and excellent plans they are. There is a practicum on his site showing all stages of construction,he also sells various mini-kits et al for the model.

I've just finished scratch building this ship excluding the Windlass (didn't have a mill then when I ordered the plans) Took me over 3 years but I'm well pleased with the result as it's only my second build.

Welcome on board MSW.

Dave   

Hi Vossie,

I had the same problem on my HMS Cheerful and I pinned mine which worked a treat. Or you could try some rapid curing epoxy resin which will adhere to brass providing you roughly score the inner face. Lovely job your making of this build 👍

Dave 

18 hours ago, SHIPSCAT said:

 

Hello

I am an Australian and some of my family members were at Gallipoli, I would just like to say DON'T BLAME THE BRITISH FOR EVERY THING, take a good look at your backgrounds first and do your research before making one line comments.

 

Nice paintings Jim.

 

Jo.

Hi Shipscat,

I am British and also an ex serviceman so I reckon I can make a one line comment if I wish. And what I said is in the main true. Incompetent General Staff Officers had much to do with the many debacles including Gallipoli in WW 1. Donkeys adequately sums many of them up. 

My apologies to Vegaskip for posting this in his  thread.

Dave 

Hi Jim,you might consider using Birch,It's light coloured with little grain. I used it for the deck planking on my Cheerful and am well pleased with the result.

Dave 

Good evening B.E. She's looking very nice indeed.

Do you intend to make the Lower Mast,Topmast and the two Yards to display in front her alongside the Bowsprit you have already there ? I had a good grumble earlier today dozy beggar that I am  I noticed that I'd run the Topsail lifts wrong,they should run down between the Topmast Shrouds. Have to replace them as I had to cut them. Not a big deal as I'll just slip the footrope eyes off the yardarms and rig the replacements. #### happens.

Hope you're having better weather than us. It's p'd down nonstop since I got up this morning.

Dave  

Mike,

Google this :- the elements and practice of rigging and seamanship. All you will ever need to know is in there,you'll have to scroll down a fair way to reach the part about tactics. That part starts on page 347.  This online version was placed by The San Francisco maritime national  park association and is a direct copy of the 1794 edition of Steels' book.

Dave 

Nice job on the "ground tackle" B.E. Have to agree that the anchor sizes look good. I made mine up using Caldercraft anchors of approx the same size Chuck shows on the plan. The stocks I made as shown in Laverys' book from Box and pinned them with 1mm copper wire which I blackened. Like your idea of using heatshrink for the stock bands,I used black card which is a hastle. Must remember that. My replacement Red Ensign came in the post a couple of days ago and my Speedwell book (hopefully) is on its way from the (far side of the world ) Having a little break just now,my left hand is giving me a hard time,sods law as I'm left handed 

Just a question but why have you shown the anchor cables running straight off the windlass top to the stowage holes in the gratings ? I would have thought they should sag onto and run along the deck 3 feet or so aft of the windlass. Your "normans"have reminded me I've yet to make windlass levers.

Regards,

Dave