bdgiantman2

Toni, your tutorials here as well as the half-frame model have been such a pleasure to follow, you make a very good teacher on these kits and I say thank you for sharing.  This desk-top model has turned out lovely

Toni, your tutorials here as well as the half-frame model have been such a pleasure to follow, you make a very good teacher on these kits and I say thank you for sharing.  This desk-top model has turned out lovely

Toni, your tutorials here as well as the half-frame model have been such a pleasure to follow, you make a very good teacher on these kits and I say thank you for sharing.  This desk-top model has turned out lovely

Toni, your tutorials here as well as the half-frame model have been such a pleasure to follow, you make a very good teacher on these kits and I say thank you for sharing.  This desk-top model has turned out lovely

Toni, your tutorials here as well as the half-frame model have been such a pleasure to follow, you make a very good teacher on these kits and I say thank you for sharing.  This desk-top model has turned out lovely

Cleats are located outside both quarter blocks.  The length of the cleat is 125% the diameter of the yard.  The easiest way to make two identical cleats is to glue two pieces of the correct width wood together with PVA.  Shape them and then dissolve the bond in isopropanol.  The cleats were glued to the yard outside the quarter blocks. 
 
 
There are three more blocks on each side of the yard: two buntline and one clueline.  These are  single blocks and are stropped just as was done with the quarter blocks except the strops are not served.  I used 3 mm single blocks for them.  Because these strops are not served, it was easier to make an eye-splice on each end to form the loops, just as was done for the futtock shrouds (minus the thimble).  As with the other blocks, the strop seizing is on the fore side of the yard.  The buntline blocks point skyward and the clueline blocks downward, as seen below.

I have temporarily inserted the pin connecting the mast and yard.  The pin passes between the turns of the double strop of the jeer block.

I am wanting to do something similar as I also have this half-hull kit. Nice outcome on your model!!

We just activated it in the store a few minutes ago.  We have an initial batch of 25 ready to go.  If they start going fast we will order more parts right away!
 
Mary

Mary,
    Many thanks. 

The lower yard is specified on the plans as 41.5 feet long, with a centerline diameter of 9.2”.  Just like the mast, the yard is divided into quarters.  There are four quarters on either side of the centerline.  The two center quarters are octagonal and the yard tapers from 9.2” to 7.8” at the end of the second quarter.  Because this is a desktop model, I did not want the yard to extend beyond the side of the hull and made only the middle twenty-five feet.
To make the yard, I started just like the mast, marking the dimensions on all four sides of the dowel.  Because this is such a short piece of wood, a template was not necessary.  The center octagonal section was made first.  Then I wrapped tape around the center quarters to protect them and tapered the outer part of the yards.  Finally, I rounded the tapered portions with sandpaper.  The drawing illustrates the dimensions.

 
A pin was placed in the center point of the yard to secure it to the mast.  The yard sits at the level of the futtock stave so I drilled a corresponding hole in the mast.  You can see the mast hole location in the picture in the previous post, just above the uppermost woolding.
Nine blocks were installed on the yard.  The jeer block is part of a pulley system to raise the yard.  Its configuration changed several times in the eighteenth century and varied with different sized ships.  This configuration is appropriate for a ship smaller than 28 guns in the last quarter of the 18th century.  Quarter blocks carry the topsail sheet falls.  Clew lines run from the corner of the lower sails (the clews) through the clew blocks.  The buntlines raise the foot of the sail for furling and run through the bunt blocks.   

 
The quarter blocks were installed first.  The kit will include 5 mm blocks; mine were slightly larger to be the correct length of 5.2 mm.  These blocks are stropped with served line.  This is my technique.  Serve a piece of line that you think will be the right length; on my model this was 1.6”.  This is running rigging so the serving thread is natural color.  I used Gutterman sewing thread.  Leave a long tail of serving thread on either end.

The first step was to make a loop at one end.  Untwist a short segment of rope next to the end of the serving on one side and cut the untwisted threads at a 45-degree angle to decrease the bulk.  Form a loop, with the untwisted threads laying alongside the served part of the rope.  With the tail of serving thread, wrap the untwisted threads and previously served line.  In actual practice, the untwisted line would be laced into unserved rope and then the service would continue along the loop, terminating at the throat of the loop.  Temporarily seize the block and measure how long the strop should be by wrapping it around the yard.  The loop ends do not meet; a seizing will run between the loops to secure it to the yard.  Make a kink in the rope to mark the spot.  Remove the block and make the second loop the same way.  Measure the length of the finished strop so you know how long to make the strop for the other side.
 
Reinsert the block and secure it with a throat seizing.  The seizing is located on the fore side of the mast and the block hangs below the mast.  This picture incorrectly shows the legs the same length.  Finally, the strop was wrapped around the yard and the two loops were seized together.
 
 

The futtock shrouds are attached to the futtock stave below and the futtock plate above.  An eye with a thimble is spliced into the upper end of the futtock shroud.  A double hook connects the shroud and the futtock plate. 
To make the stropped thimble, I took some line and unfurl the end.   Using a blunt needle, I made an opening in the line approximately the circumference of the thimble away from where the unfurling stopped and fed the unfurled end through the opening.  Once the line has been passed through the opening, the opening will naturally retwist itself.  A piece of  brass tube (the thimble) was inserted into the eye and the splice was glued.  The thimble was blackened after it was stropped because handling would have caused the patina to rub off. 

The brass tube is slightly wider than the diameter of the rope.  To keep the thimble from falling out of the splice, I placed it on an anvil and tapped each open end with a center punch.  This added a slight lip to the thimble. The double S-hooks are 1/8” long and were made from 24 g wire, using round-nose pliers.  The picture shows them attached to the futtock plates.

The futtock shroud was attached to the futtock stave by wrapping around the stave and securing it to the lower shroud with two round seizings.  In the drawing, the futtock shroud is shown in red and the lower shroud in blue.  After they were installed four rows of ratlines were added.

  

Great demonstrating this project, Toni, your model is looking fantastic! With doing the lanyards, as well as cross seizing and others, is it easier doing these with a curved sewing needle or a straight sewing needle?

Thank you for this information,  don't know how I missed that before.  So then the royal mast, on a real ship, would be 2" approximately in diameter if same size rules apply??

There are several holes in the top, which are marked in the picture below.  On the curved rim are eleven holes for the crow’s feet:  two between each slat and one through it.  There are three rectangular openings on each side rim for the futtock plates.  The four marks on the aft rim are for the railing stanchions.  Finally, there are four openings on either side of the center opening for the buntline and leechline blocks. 

Futtock plates are the metal straps that surround the lower topmast deadeyes.  The topmast shrouds are two-thirds the size of the lower mast shouds.  The deadeyes are 3” thick and 6” in diameter.  The futtock plate is one-third the thickness of the deadeye and three times its diameter long.  At 1:48 scale, that would be .02” x 0.375”.  They were made from 22 gauge wire.
 
The sequence of construction can be seen in the photo.  First, heat-soften the metal and wrap a piece around the deadeye.  Remove the deadeye and solder the ends of the two legs together.  Reinsert the deadeye to confirm the location of the throat and mark it with a Sharpie.  Determine the correct length for the plate by measuring 0.375” down from the throat and mark this measurement as well.  Remove the deadeye and  solder the legs together closer to the throat.  File the legs flat and cut the legs to the correct length.  Round off the end and drill a hole for a hook to insert into.  Pickle the plate and insert the deadeye.  Hammer or squeeze the legs of the futtock plate together for a snug fit and blacken. 

The holes in the top were enlarged and the plates were temporarily inserted.

Before the futtock shrouds can be installed, eight blocks must be stropped and installed on the undersurface of the top.  All my blocks are made of boxwood.  Blocks are not commercially available for all sizes.  For example, the quarter and truss pendant blocks should be 6.5 mm but the closest available block is only 5mm.  A good reason to learn how to make your own blocks!  The kit comes complete with all of the necessary blocks except the jeer blocks, which the modeler will learn how to make. 
 
Determining the dimensions of blocks is not difficult; all you need to know is the size of the line that passes through it.  The width of the sheave opening is 116% the diameter of the line.  For simplicity, call that  “1”.  The relative dimensions are as seen in the drawing below.  The only difference between a single and a double or triple block is/are the spacers between the sheaves The size of the strop grooves on the sides of the block varied; the relative size of the strop decreased as the size of the block  increased.
  
 
There are four leech line and four bunt line double blocks mounted under the top.  The bunt line blocks are closer to the center opening and the leech line blocks are closer to the rim.  The difference in the size of the blocks is small, so the kit will use the same size blocks for both.  They are secured to the top with a strop and peg.  To make the strop, I took a piece of 1” rope and untwisted both ends.  I cut across each untwisted end diagonally to decrease the thickness of the splice, wrapped the two ends together and glued the splice.  A simple knot was placed over the splice.  The block was inserted into the strop and secured with a throat seizing, hiding the splice.
 
The openings in the top were enlarged with a #11 blade, working from both sides of the top.  A thread was passed through the strop loop and both ends of the thread were inserted through the under surface of the top, pulling the strop through the top.  Wood pegs were used to hold the strops in place.  The futtock plates were inserted through the openings in the rim.

It's been a slow year in the making with progress, but here is a snippet of my attempts so far using AutoCAD doing a 3D edition of how Eagle would have looked and getting shapes of her ribs.  I am open to feedback concerning this and suggestions how to proceed.
 

I used to have a copy of that article from Coffins of the Brave, until the USB I had it stored on decided to cease working for me without giving any warning at all.  I will have to get a new copy downloaded.

Hello Roger, thank you for the input. Some of the information I did know, others I didn't. The knees being omitted, for example, I did know about which Dr. Crisman described well in his thesis papers.  I have tried studying in more depth and details the sonar pictures provided of the wreck looking at areas such as the possible hawse timbers in the bow which has either completely deteriorated or maybe buried in mud. And while it is very well documented that  many construction short-cuts were taken as possible to speed up the building process, I personally can't imagine the Browns altering the standard construction especially about her bow. Many of the models I have seen of Brig Eagle show her with bow timber construction more like what you find on modern steel vessels, which I don't believe would be historically accurate which is why I am drawing her with traditional hawse timbers. If I remember correctly I do think that many clipper ships have same bow timber used real life that the models of Eagle show, but the clippers were half a century out still during 1814 war and the Browns were gone in history by then as well.
 
It is amazing learning increasing details about this project. The population of Vergennes, VT, at the time when the ship was constructed is estimated to have been 700-800 individuals including lumberjacks and carpenters and fur hunters -- so the Brown brothers had a good supply of workers to recruit for the project. It is quite a feat that they built ships that size that fast, had to be working around the clock all hours. And despite having used a lot of unseasoned wood for the project, the ship was floating reportedly for a decade following her famous moment in history before nature did its thing and Eagle slipped under the water entirely. This tells me  she may have been rebuilt with better planks after the war although the wreck doesn't provide such information that we can tell, or else there was a big enough furnace that was at the construction site must have dried the starboard side of the ship enough to keep that side intact for more than two centuries. 

Great demonstrating this project, Toni, your model is looking fantastic! With doing the lanyards, as well as cross seizing and others, is it easier doing these with a curved sewing needle or a straight sewing needle?

I didn't time them but it was not really appropriate. As I was designing the files virtually every one is print first one, test fit, check appearance, place in bin, adjust drawing and reprint.
 
The parts were designed in 1/50 then rescaled to 1/200. The rescale has to then be adjusted to produce a printable part. Some detail is lost, other detail exaggerated to get it to print OK.
 
When I am designing the files I tend to not have  the luxury of being able to add lots of parts to the same print job, they tend to to be small jobs with one or 2 parts (remembering a lot of them go into the bin)
 
Now that the parts are right, you can load the Resin printer with as many parts as can be fitted to the build plate as the print time is always the print time of the tallest part. That dramatically speeds things up a bit.  
 
Not so with the filament printer, extra parts means a longer print time.
 
A straight up print with the current files would take around 2 weeks on 2 printers (One Filament, one Resin), around 1.5kg of filament and 2 kg of resin.
 
 

Amazing outcome of this ship!! I am seeing an increasing crowd for doing 3d printing and the quality has been vastly improving. How long did it take to print up all those pieces?? Looks like at least two weeks worth of printing continuously in my estimates.

It's been a slow year in the making with progress, but here is a snippet of my attempts so far using AutoCAD doing a 3D edition of how Eagle would have looked and getting shapes of her ribs.  I am open to feedback concerning this and suggestions how to proceed.
 

Amazing outcome of this ship!! I am seeing an increasing crowd for doing 3d printing and the quality has been vastly improving. How long did it take to print up all those pieces?? Looks like at least two weeks worth of printing continuously in my estimates.

Great demonstrating this project, Toni, your model is looking fantastic! With doing the lanyards, as well as cross seizing and others, is it easier doing these with a curved sewing needle or a straight sewing needle?

It's been a slow year in the making with progress, but here is a snippet of my attempts so far using AutoCAD doing a 3D edition of how Eagle would have looked and getting shapes of her ribs.  I am open to feedback concerning this and suggestions how to proceed.
 

It's been a slow year in the making with progress, but here is a snippet of my attempts so far using AutoCAD doing a 3D edition of how Eagle would have looked and getting shapes of her ribs.  I am open to feedback concerning this and suggestions how to proceed.