lionfish

Thanks everybody !!

 
Once hull and the standing rigg are completed, there are two major challenges left.
 
Sails and flags.
 
There may be some 500 or even more pulleys of different size and shape, but in the end this is a question of diligence. :-)
 
Sails and flags are a question of texture.
 
Most models are shown without sails because sail making is painstaking and often the final output doesn´t look like sails at all...
 
Even the thinnest tissue has the appearance of corrugated cardboard or worse. That rises the obvious question: is fabric tissue the ideal material?
 

It´s definetly not! But....
:-) Well, there are certain conventions in the honorable business of historic model ship building....
 
So I humbly took the thinnest fabric available and started with the gigantic Spanker.


 
As sail making is awfully time consuming, I had to overcome my concerns to bath the precious thing in ordinary potato starch before giving it a stiff breeze with the hot hairdryer...

.. witch resulted in swelled sails which concerve their form.
 
meanwhile the main course is ready for action. I replaced conventional seams with liquide fabric glue to avoide stiff multi layers of fabric.
 
But when it comes to flags, even the thinnest fabric doesn´t work. The texture of a flag is destinctively different from a sail.
In this case, I didn´t give a damn on conventions and looked for an unconventional alternative.
 
In the end thin copper foil proofed very effective. It was prime coated, using white enamel paint, was fixed on a sheet of paper and send through an ink-jet printer.
 

 
You just look for a beautiful "white ensign" in the net, download and print it on the copper foil, which is the ideal material to bend and twist it to a convincing "Flag". The wrinkles of the real flag (which are extremely difficult to achive) are simply printed on the plane surface and look quite realistic.

 
 
 
 

My Cheerful is now complete. I have mounted the anchors, which was the last remaining work to be done. As I indicated earlier, I was having trouble coming up with a mounting plan with which I was happy. My solution, after reviewing photos of contemporary models, and trying out various configurations, was to mount the two anchors differently. On the congested port side, I chose to go with lashing the anchor to two timberheads, without a cable or cat block. On the more open starboard side, I went with the anchor hanging from the cat block, with a cable leading back to the windlass and being tied off to it, as shown on the Rogers collection model. 
 
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you on MSW who have followed this build and provided the kind of support, encouragement and friendship that we have come to expect from the members of this site. I also want to thank Chuck for coming up with this project and the products to support it. It has been one of the most enjoyable builds that I have done.
 
Attached are photos of the anchor installation and the  model's completion portraits.
 
For those interested, my next build will be the Caldercraft Granado. A full description of the reasons for the choice and my plans for the build will be set out in the log that I will be starting today in the kit build section ( how's that for a cheap ploy to get all of you to look at the new log      ).
 
Bob

Hi All,
 
A small update as I've finished the first part of the stern framing.
 
First step as usual was the clean off the laser char and here I went very light given the stern timbers have complex curves I didn't want to alter by mistake. The stern timbers were then glued in place, making sure they were firmly seated against bulkhead 8 and that their angles matched the template.  I copied the paper templates onto clear transparency film so I could see the timbers completely and so line them up easily. I did double check there was no scale offset when I copied them as Chuck warns in his instructions. The film is also much stronger than paper so I could use clips to hold the template against the frames without risk of tearing.
 
The upper side pieces were then chamfered so they fit snugly against the stern timbers and, together with the hull frames, were glued in place following the laser etched reference lines. I used my steel rule to make sure the upper pieces were not tilted in or outboard, again as warned in the instructions as these pieces form the bottom sills for the aft cannon ports. Once the glue set, my final check was to overlay the window template to double check the spacings.  Seems to be OK, but please sing out if you see anything amiss so I can correct it! 
 
Next up is some careful fairing of the upper pieces and then adding the sills and lintels to complete the window framing.
 
Thanks for reading and again for all the kind comments and "likes".  
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

And at last it is finished now
See pics below for result. I hope you all like it.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Next project is unknown yet.

I've now mounted and rigged the boom and gaff. Before describing that work, I present a cautionary tale. This about not thinking far enough ahead and simply following plans without research or thought. I had chosen to mount and rig the yards before the boom and gaff. In the past, I have done this both ways without much difference. In mounting the yards, I decided to use simplified trusses, as shown on the plans with a note that many cutters did not use them and they are optional. I chose to use them because they help to hold the yard to the mast securely during rigging. Not until all of the work on the yards was complete did I notice on the the plans that the gaff is shown as being above the lower yard on the mast. Since the gaff slides up and down on the mast, this seemed an odd and improbable situation.
 
At this point, I contacted Chuck to get his input on this. He agreed with my conclusion, but provided persuasive evidence from contemporary models that this was, in fact, the way it was done on many cutters, particularly those that did not employ trusses on the lower yard. I was going to try to remove the truss and mount the gaff above the yard, when it became apparent that the only way to accomplish this would be to remove virtually all of the rigging to the yards that was now in the way. I chose not to do this, but go with mounting the gaff below the yard, as shown on some models with trusses. It also seems, from my exchange with Chuck, that if a truss was employed and the gaff shown below the yard, the fore and aft braces on the lower yard, one of the most visually interesting features of the cutter rig, would not be used, but only the forward brace.
 
In any event, the boom and gaff are now in place and rigged. Mounting involved making parrels for each from black beads. The boom rigging consists of a topping lift and the boom sheet. The gaff rigging involved the peak and throat halliards and the flag halliard. All of the blocks had been attached to the boom and gaff and the masthead before mounting the boom and gaff. After completing this work, I permanently tied off a number of lines that had previously been only temporarily done and added rope coils.
 
This completes the rigging except for the lower yard braces. While I understand that it is probably accurate to use only the forward braces, given what I've done, I really like the look of the double braces.   What should I do?
 
Bob

one thing that comes to mind is deck conditions, i would imagine that coiled rope on the deck would roll and move, especially if the ship was in heavy seas. hanging would seam logical for busy ships or rough weather, or anything other than at port or a special occasion. then again, its up to our own interpretation 

one thing that comes to mind is deck conditions, i would imagine that coiled rope on the deck would roll and move, especially if the ship was in heavy seas. hanging would seam logical for busy ships or rough weather, or anything other than at port or a special occasion. then again, its up to our own interpretation 

one thing that comes to mind is deck conditions, i would imagine that coiled rope on the deck would roll and move, especially if the ship was in heavy seas. hanging would seam logical for busy ships or rough weather, or anything other than at port or a special occasion. then again, its up to our own interpretation 

i would assume most artists would do exactly that, the recoil rope is almost taught save for the ring that attaches the recoil rope to the bulwark. unless they took all the excess robe and hide it on the other side, plus i would imagine that natural fiber rope has some give. interesting illustration though

i think most if not all coppering is done keel to water line, at least on the real ships, ive seen many people start with the stern keel and work towards the bow, next line of plates stern keep to bow and so on.

i would assume most artists would do exactly that, the recoil rope is almost taught save for the ring that attaches the recoil rope to the bulwark. unless they took all the excess robe and hide it on the other side, plus i would imagine that natural fiber rope has some give. interesting illustration though

i would assume most artists would do exactly that, the recoil rope is almost taught save for the ring that attaches the recoil rope to the bulwark. unless they took all the excess robe and hide it on the other side, plus i would imagine that natural fiber rope has some give. interesting illustration though

Hi Chuck - 
 
Breeching rope looks good, and the rest of the carronade is up to your usual excellent standards.
 
I don't know if you have seen this, but E.W. Cooke did a drawing of a 12-pounder carronade on an English brig of war in the mid 1800s.  Although I usually trust an artist to reproduce what he sees, the breaching rope here sure looks like there wouldn't be much recoil allowed, unless the excess line is coiled at the bulwark.
 
Following along with interest.
 
Dan
 

The breech rope was made using a technique I saw on an actual contemporary model.  The splice for the button of the Carronade was simulated.
 
As mentioned I am using Syren .035 light brown rope.  All of my .035 size rope is four strands.   I dont think it would look as nice otherwise.  Four stranded rope just make it work nicely.   But essentially,  the entire breech rope is made to length....3" long.   (addendum) After consideration I think the breech line should be no longer than 3".  It looks a bit long in the photo. The eyebolts and rings were slipped on before the end was finished off.  You can see that in the photos.   The eyebolts were 28 gauge wire while the split rings were 24 gauge.
 

 
Then I used a sharp but wide awl to simulate the splice. It has to be large enough that the splice will fit over the button of the carronade or cannon.  In the center of the breech rope I pushed the awl through so there were two strands on top and bottom.  Hence the need for four stranded rope. Then I applied some watered down white glue and let it dry.  Once dry the simulated splice stayed to shape.
 
I have seen many real splices attempted and they just look to big and out of scale.  I couldnt pull that off convincingly. Even though this is a cheat, I think it looks better because it stays smaller.
 

 
 
I could have just gone with the usual wrapping once around the button of the carronade...but that is tough to do in my opinion.  It wont stay in place and you must use glue so it wont come undone.  This ends up pulling the finish off the barrel etc.  In the end it just looks too sloppy for me.  So I gave this a try.  No glue is needed at all.  It slips right on the button and wont come off.  This allows you more control to set the other eyes into the brackets of the carriage and then place the whole thing on deck.
 

 
Hope that makes sense.   I also stiffened the line with the watered down white glue before starting.  Let it dry.  I just find it easier to work with when its a bit stiffer.  At least with the breech rope anyway.  I started with about a 5" long piece of rope.
 
Chuck

"She has a bluff bow, lovely lines. Shes a fine seabird: weatherly, stiff and fast... very fast, if shes well handled. No, shes not old; shes in her prime."

im convinced you just invented time travel and a shrink ray, went back in time, shrunk the HMS surprise, and brought it back. then "disassemboled" select parts to put back together to tease us. all kidding aside, seriously amazing work, i wish there was more descriptive words for this but i am at a loss.

Thank you!!!
 
Here is a first crack at a breech rope.  I am using my .035 light brown rope.   I think it looks pretty good.   This was just a first attempt to go through the motions and now I will detail how I did it.    You can spend endless amounts of time tweaking how this rope falls so it looks natural.  After a while one has to say it look good enough.    Four more to go and then the tackles are next.
 
Note to self.....paint the underside of that cleat. LOL
 
Chuck
 

im convinced you just invented time travel and a shrink ray, went back in time, shrunk the HMS surprise, and brought it back. then "disassemboled" select parts to put back together to tease us. all kidding aside, seriously amazing work, i wish there was more descriptive words for this but i am at a loss.

im convinced you just invented time travel and a shrink ray, went back in time, shrunk the HMS surprise, and brought it back. then "disassemboled" select parts to put back together to tease us. all kidding aside, seriously amazing work, i wish there was more descriptive words for this but i am at a loss.

Hi All,
 
Welcome Kevin and I really think you'll be very happy with this kit...she's a beauty! My thanks to all as well for the kind comments and the likes!
 
One of the really nice design features of this kit is that it can be built showing some exposed hull framing. First step is to build a shadow box from the laser cut pieces. Two of these have very fine spacers to set the framing separation.  A heads up to anyone with this kit is many of the spacers were not cut all the way through especially at the corners in my kit. It took quite some time to safely release them using my finest Xacto knife as the spacers are quite fragile. After sanding and gluing in place, the shadow box was  painted matt black.
 
The double frames were glued up making sure the tops matched up and then all the frames were glued into place. I used wood glue as this gave me time to try make sure the spaces were even and the frames vertical using my small square to guide my eye. Fairing to the bulkheads was done using my sanding sticks and 220 grit paper. I thought about staining the frames to match the keel, but there was quite a lot of grain visible so I decided against it. I am really glad I left well alone as the frames still took on a really nice, deeper color after a protective coat of poly. Seems when I select planks for hull and deck planking, I will need to really watch how the grain is running and perhaps pre-stain or add a light coat of poly to help match the finish.
 
One last thing is I decided to copy Ed Tosti's board design (link below to his fabulous Young America log)  and added T track's to my board. I can now hold the hull firmly using the simple clamps you can see in some pictures and they also let me square the hull to the board which should be helpful given next up is Chapter 3 and the stern framing!
 
Thanks for reading!
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.
 
Link to Ed Tosti's Young America log.
 
http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/3453-young-america-by-edt-extreme-clipper-1853/page-1
 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, there she is, in full size and something like a weird memorial of the beautiful sailing frigate she may be, when finally finished.

First thing that had to be replaced was the carefully "tail docked" bowsprit I used in the earlier stages of the build.
As a working mast it had to be done completely new.

It may not be the easyest thing to start with, but it´s quite servicable. In the end you have to invent a convincing "look" for the rigg, something like a "used look" in my case.
 

The lower foremast in comparison to the drawing of the massiv 36gun mainmast.
 
In scale 1:48 at least some parts are exposed to permanent stress which could cause significant damage in the long run.

One of this fragil looking elements are the fighting tops. This is the maintop and the smaler mizzentop.

 

The "mouse" of the forestay as a workpiece and in action

Sorry, Greg, to be a curmudgeon and to divert from Chuck's wonderful build on this log, but I'd like to throw in an alternative view.
 
I know lots of people aged 15 upwards who devote their lives to improving their skills so as to achieve as perfect a result as they can (even if it's only to pass the endless exams that will take them to the next step). I certainly would include artists, musicians, engineers, a variety of scientists, amongst the many I know and have known who are like this. In the computing world they are often known as 'nerds' or 'geeks', in the musical world endless practice is regarded as the norm.
 
I don't know on what evidence the 'most' applies to the quoted statement except insofar as model ship building is not a mainstream hobby or profession. We have thousands of members as do the groups in other countries, and there are probably others who make ship models with various degrees of skill, attentiveness and interest; and it may well be that the majority are over 40.
 
Of course there are people old and young who are not going to be interested in ship model making with the degree of obsession, compulsion or mania that others may have. On this forum I have seen examples of the full range, and oft a time have I seen the comment that this hobby is for pleasure, not a competition, does not have a time scale, and is to match the skills and exactly those different degrees of obsession held by each one of us as individuals.
 
'Instant gratification' is hard to define. I have 'instant gratification' the moment I have found a way through a problem. Others have it for their own different reasons. Making love may well be included in the list. As for 'good enough', I have seen that phrase used many times on this forum, as in not bothering to fully frame a model because it won't be seen when the planking is on, or simply because no attempt at replication will ever be successful because it is not exactly the same as the real thing. I have also heard that phrase used by some people in commenting about their love-making.
 
A final aspect is that many young people face enormous pressures in their lives just to make ends meet -- most especially if they have young families to look after. They quite often will be working 12 or more hours a day. I was chatting to a call centre person the other day during a query about my phone account, and she told me she was at the end of a 12 hour shift at 7pm, and was going on to do her other job. To find the time to do something as demanding of concentration as ship modelling after that and before having some kind of mindless break from the pressure might well be a demand too much.
 
Note how many people on this forum have come back to modelling after breaking it off in their teens. I presume they broke it off not because of a sudden failure of their dedication to perfection.
 
In short, I am definitely highly respectful of the skills many on this forum have, and I learn a lot from them, but I'm wary of statements that could be taken to be elitist even though I know that intention was not there in making the statement and was made only as a kind of compliment in response to Chuck's obviously wonderful skills.
 
Chuck, I do apologise, and if you think this comment has no place on your log, I'll be happy to delete it or ask to have it moved to another topic.
 
Tony

Thank You....
 
Its just a matter of slowing down and taking your time.   Not rushing is a huge part of it.  I think everyone can do the same but I see so many folks running through their projects like they are in a race.  Should parts not fit correctly...throw them away and do it again.   It took me about 2 hours to paint the stern after making the seats and adding the cleats.  It took me about 1 hour to just paint one ladder after making it.  Many thin coats being careful not to get any dust on it.  Sanding carefully when imperfections and brush strokes take place.  The key in my mind is to just slow down....my best advice for any model builder.
 
Chuck
 

its by the faucet and sink repair section, http://www.homedepot.com/p/DANCO-6-in-x-6-in-Rubber-Packing-Sheets-59849/203193498

it depends on what kind of mix you have, a mix of pure paint will keep for a while. but its not recommended to return thinned mixtures back into the bottle. you could get some gasket rubber from home depot and a circle cutter to make gaskets for the cap. other than that, reduce the amount of air in the jar and turn them every now and then.