toms10

John,
I ended up cross tying the battens just for appearance. I think the knot adds a bit of realism instead of just a flat intersection of the batten and the shroud. The port side is complete!  Only another 268 more to go on the starboard side but who is counting! 😂


Hope everyone has a great holiday season. 😁
 
Tom

John,
I ended up cross tying the battens just for appearance. I think the knot adds a bit of realism instead of just a flat intersection of the batten and the shroud. The port side is complete!  Only another 268 more to go on the starboard side but who is counting! 😂


Hope everyone has a great holiday season. 😁
 
Tom

John,
I ended up cross tying the battens just for appearance. I think the knot adds a bit of realism instead of just a flat intersection of the batten and the shroud. The port side is complete!  Only another 268 more to go on the starboard side but who is counting! 😂


Hope everyone has a great holiday season. 😁
 
Tom

I have done this on 2 mm brass rod with a good success rate.  My technique was:
 
1. I used a mill to ensure the hole was vertical.
 
2, I used a V bar and centered the drill bit on the V before clamping the rod into the V
 
3. I used a Kyocera bit as they a very sharp
 
4. You can file a very small flat on the side where the drill will enter but I did not find this necessary.
 
John

Presumably the wire is flattened first to widen it. Anneal to soften the metal, then centermark and drill.

Hi Brian,
I just cut off enough line to get from where the line starts to where it gets tied off and then add about another 1 1/2” for tying off to the belaying pin. 
 
One end is usually fixed to a block or eye, then run through whatever blocks are hanging under the tops, trees, etc. the loose end is just coiled up by wrapping it around my finger and then putting a small strip of the sticky note pad paper around it to kind of keep things organized. I also write down what line it is on the paper so I don’t have to go back and retrace which line is which. 
 
Tom

Managed to get all the lower rat lines
or should I say “rat slats” since these are wooden. The upper ones will be rope so I see many clove hitches in my future. 🤪😜. Actually at 1:96 scale, I think I will do some test lines to see if the knots will look too bulky. The rats will be done with .005” diameter thread to maintain scale but I don't want the knots to be the dominant feature. 
 
The picture is a bit cluttered in the background and there are coils of rope with labels hanging everywhere but you get the idea. 😁
 

Tom

Hi Brian,
I just cut off enough line to get from where the line starts to where it gets tied off and then add about another 1 1/2” for tying off to the belaying pin. 
 
One end is usually fixed to a block or eye, then run through whatever blocks are hanging under the tops, trees, etc. the loose end is just coiled up by wrapping it around my finger and then putting a small strip of the sticky note pad paper around it to kind of keep things organized. I also write down what line it is on the paper so I don’t have to go back and retrace which line is which. 
 
Tom

Hi John
They are glued in place. I may cross tie them later just for appearance. 
Tom

Managed to get all the lower rat lines
or should I say “rat slats” since these are wooden. The upper ones will be rope so I see many clove hitches in my future. 🤪😜. Actually at 1:96 scale, I think I will do some test lines to see if the knots will look too bulky. The rats will be done with .005” diameter thread to maintain scale but I don't want the knots to be the dominant feature. 
 
The picture is a bit cluttered in the background and there are coils of rope with labels hanging everywhere but you get the idea. 😁
 

Tom

Hi John
They are glued in place. I may cross tie them later just for appearance. 
Tom

Managed to get all the lower rat lines
or should I say “rat slats” since these are wooden. The upper ones will be rope so I see many clove hitches in my future. 🤪😜. Actually at 1:96 scale, I think I will do some test lines to see if the knots will look too bulky. The rats will be done with .005” diameter thread to maintain scale but I don't want the knots to be the dominant feature. 
 
The picture is a bit cluttered in the background and there are coils of rope with labels hanging everywhere but you get the idea. 😁
 

Tom

Managed to get all the lower rat lines
or should I say “rat slats” since these are wooden. The upper ones will be rope so I see many clove hitches in my future. 🤪😜. Actually at 1:96 scale, I think I will do some test lines to see if the knots will look too bulky. The rats will be done with .005” diameter thread to maintain scale but I don't want the knots to be the dominant feature. 
 
The picture is a bit cluttered in the background and there are coils of rope with labels hanging everywhere but you get the idea. 😁
 

Tom

I reached the standing rigging completion milestone. Well sort of. All the lines are attached but most of the back stays are not secured. This will give me a bit more room to get to the belaying pins. 

There are a lot of lines hanging from the blocks under the tops and trees  all coiled up and labeled. It is much easier to thread the blocks when the masts are off the model. It gets a bit scary looking now but since each line is labeled it is actually pretty easy. 
 
 
I also finished all the rigging on the bow sprit (I think).  Time to start thinking about the jib sails. 

And finally I put in the cutting tackle today. 

Next I need to start making and mounting sails to the yardarms. Then mount those to the masts. Should be a piece of cake!😂
 
Tom

Managed to get all the lower rat lines
or should I say “rat slats” since these are wooden. The upper ones will be rope so I see many clove hitches in my future. 🤪😜. Actually at 1:96 scale, I think I will do some test lines to see if the knots will look too bulky. The rats will be done with .005” diameter thread to maintain scale but I don't want the knots to be the dominant feature. 
 
The picture is a bit cluttered in the background and there are coils of rope with labels hanging everywhere but you get the idea. 😁
 

Tom

Managed to get all the lower rat lines
or should I say “rat slats” since these are wooden. The upper ones will be rope so I see many clove hitches in my future. 🤪😜. Actually at 1:96 scale, I think I will do some test lines to see if the knots will look too bulky. The rats will be done with .005” diameter thread to maintain scale but I don't want the knots to be the dominant feature. 
 
The picture is a bit cluttered in the background and there are coils of rope with labels hanging everywhere but you get the idea. 😁
 

Tom

Managed to get all the lower rat lines
or should I say “rat slats” since these are wooden. The upper ones will be rope so I see many clove hitches in my future. 🤪😜. Actually at 1:96 scale, I think I will do some test lines to see if the knots will look too bulky. The rats will be done with .005” diameter thread to maintain scale but I don't want the knots to be the dominant feature. 
 
The picture is a bit cluttered in the background and there are coils of rope with labels hanging everywhere but you get the idea. 😁
 

Tom

It’s been a while since I posted anything. I have managed to get some things done such as all the yards. I needed to take a couple of weeks to make 21 table centerpieces, 80 place card holders for table assignments, and a bride and groom’s table centerpiece for my daughter’s wedding in January. Why did I agree to doing all these things? Oh yeah, I have a hard time saying no to my daughters. Between cutting down birch trees and getting pine cones and everything else I didn’t think I would see my Morgan model ever again. 
 
Now that wedding stuff is complete, I’m back to modeling. Currently working on laying out the sails so I can attach to the yards and then install those assemblies to the masts. 
 
Here are some pics of my various projects. 



21 table centerpieces 

 

80 place card holders 
and finally the newlywed table centerpiece. 

Tom
 

Hi Johnny
I went the ultra low tech route or should I say ultra low cost route with regards to a lathe, at least for now. The Morgan is only my third build and I did not want to spend money on all sorts of tools if i wasn’t sure I would continue. I seemed to have been bitten by some bug that makes me want to continue so in the future I will most likely make some investments. In turn that may also help speed up some of the processes instead of doing a lot of things by hand. 
 
Herre are some pics of my lathe investment. Scrap wood I had laying around for the bed and gibs. A $15 drill from Harbor Freight and a left over electrical box and light switch from a previous house project. Full disclosure, I have an old Toolkraft table saw (was my dad’s and is now 50+ years old) that I used to make the wooden items. 


Note the high tech speed adjustment screw set up on the drill trigger. 😂😁👍. I had to use all that engineering college stuff for something!
 
Tom

Hi Rookie
One of the problems with building at 1:96 scale is it is hard to buy anything that is proportional.  But then again I enjoy scratch buildIng.  On the plus side the scale allows for a model that more easily fits into a room for display. Everything’s a trade off. 😜. This is the first time am I am building at this scale and for me, this is definitely as small as I want to go. 
 
Tom

At last I finally have an identity!

 
Just make a couple of stars and what I am sure will be countless attempts at the eagle carving and the stern will be pretty much complete. 😁
 
Tom

Finished coppering the hull. Just need to do the rudder which won’t take long. Make some hinges and assemble. Well, at least it sounds easy! 😜

I also need to assemble the cradle pieces I made earlier so I can mount it to the hull and the work on the model right side up for a change. 
 
Tom

The first layer of the background is complete.
We need to move on.
 

 

 
The next phase began with a mental tragedy. And it was my own fault. What happened?
I knew that there would be a lot of details in this project that would require a milling machine. And it is needed now, because the next layer has shaped edges. And they need to be made with shaped milling.  At some point I tried to replace this machine with a vertical drilling machine. But it turned out to be a bad solution, the drilling machine still had a backlash and the cutter cut not evenly. And the idea of doing without the existing equipment did not work. So I gradually saved up money to buy an MF-70. This is the most budget option, maybe you can find something from other manufacturers, but I have not met a suitable option. 
Buying a new machine is still too expensive for me. I don't know how often I will perform projects of this level in the future, so I don't really want to spend money on something that will just stand on the shelf. But I can't do without a machine either, because I need to do the work now. So the most logical option is to look for a used machine. Yes, there are also a lot of questions and problems. What condition it is in, suddenly it will be caught after a breakdown or with serious errors? From the photos you can not always understand it.
But one day I saw an ad that I really liked. The machine was sold as brand new and had not been used. 
The photos show that the machine is straight in the packaging, the mounting bolts and nuts are in separate bags, the work table is not attached to the machine bed. In short, everything is just like a brand new tool. And I immediately got in touch with the salesman and bought this machine...
I've always considered myself a balanced and calm person. I'm not prone to ventures and rash moves. But now I acted exactly like an unthinking baboon. A vague doubt arose as soon as the money was sent. Why didn't I think about it an hour ago? Why didn't I pay attention to the fact that the buyer asked me to transfer the money as a parcel to a friend, not as payment? You've already figured out what happened. An hour later, I decided to search the Internet photos of this ad and very soon saw them on a completely different site, and this product has long been sold. I got on the scammer, who simply put in their ads someone else's photos. So after an hour I realized that I would not receive any machine, and I would not get back the money I sent. Needless to say, my mood was disgusting.
So what do I do now? The task remains. And I have to do something about it. I couldn't spend more money looking for a second machine, the very thought was impossible.
 
There is only one option left. To work in the same way as shipbuilders did in previous centuries, when it was impossible to imagine any milling machine even in dreams. You have to make shaped planes by hand. I don't know if the translator's translation of this tool is correct. In my language, it's called a cyclay. In my case, I made a shaped chicle with the cut I wanted. That's what I used.
Now I needed to mill radiused areas, so I decided that it would be easier to make a mold on the very edge. The small radius was quick enough, but the larger radius took a bit of work.
I decided to make the parts in the form of segments, if to do, so to do as close as possible to the real manufacturing. But because of this, the edges of the segments interfered with the passage of the cutter. In these places it went jerkily and I did not like the result. 
The solution was simple. I am lucky that I am making a radius and not a wavy line. That means I just need to find the center of the radius and make it so that the cyclic moves strictly along the desired arc tied to the center. Like a circlet. 
And now the result is much better.
 

 

 

 

 
There is nothing to write about the rest of the work.
It was only necessary to measure and cut accurately.
And to join them.
 

 

 

Using the correct tools you can create the *belly* of a sail.  I used the steal ball rounding tool...that fondant flowers are made with....a tool used by cake bakers to make cake flowers. 
 
Drawn across and rolled, I was able to form the billowing belly of my sails.  With paper.  Not all the sails are treated this way to provide a natural inconsistency in sail activity.
 
Rob

Hi John
From what I read, I guess early on they used to carry the gasket ropes up with them when furling sails. I guess somebody got smart and just left them tied to either the yard or jackstay if there was one. 
Tom