amateur

I know Ed is a big boy, but even big boys are better safe than sorry...
 
Jan

I know Ed is a big boy, but even big boys are better safe than sorry...
 
Jan

What kind of rope do you have. Twisting is often a result of rope that has some stretch in it.
The less 'elasticity' there is inthe rope, the less twisti g there is.
 
Jan

I'm getting there - 10 frames glued together, 7 left to go. To hold each frame in position I use double-sided tape to stick it to the template, and then hair clips to keep the joint tight until it dries. Like I did with the full model, I'm using scarph joints in the port side and chocks in the open starboard side :
 

 

 
  Danny

That's strange, the book is not readily available in the Netherlands (there is no Dutch edition).
In stead, it is sold by seawatchbooks in the USA, and they still advertise on their website that is is sold WITH the plan-set.
No idea what the bookstore in Amsterdam sold you.(and at what price...)
 
Jan

Hi Ed,
 
How did uou do ,the treenailing of the deck?
Is that real treenailing,or is it some kind of clever faking?
 
Jan

Hi Piet,
 
Yes , you sure are going to get some priegelwerk. I like it, but it is not a job that you can do fice minutes a day. You need some serious time. And that's where other life interferee....
But i'll get there, eventually....
 
Jan

Hi Piet,
 
Yes , you sure are going to get some priegelwerk. I like it, but it is not a job that you can do fice minutes a day. You need some serious time. And that's where other life interferee....
But i'll get there, eventually....
 
Jan

Long time ago, I did sometimes post an updat ehere.
Let's continue that tradition.
 
I did some work on the Mizzen:   The mizzen-yard has a halyard(?) using a tripple block. The parrel has to come around the strop of the lower block, to get the whole thing slightly closer to the mast. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-b6oUhGBUNvA/VkNafExV2uI/AAAAAAAABys/gP0vdGbftWQ/s800-Ic42/IMG_1057.JPG[/img] The parrel is slightly too short, I have to put another bead on the rope. Next it has to go round the mast, the ropes through the deadeye, and a violin-block attached to it. (fun to do: the block can only be fitter after the parrel is installed (wish my eyes were better, and my fingers less thick:) ) The bowlines were a bit opf a problem. Andersson shows tham attached to the last aftmost shroud. (as most of the contemporaneous models do) However, the distance between the mizzen and the shrouds is relatievely large, so fitting them to the shrouds was visually not so pleasing. Therefore I followed Ketting, in attaching them to a block attached to the railing, just in front of the half-deck.     Last puzzle: getting all ropes on a fair amount of tension, results in the mizzen going up and aft, while it should go (by sheer laws of gravity: down and foreward). (not too much, otherwise it touches the great capstan, and that should be left free)   To be continued .....(sometime in the distant future  :mrgreen:)      (pics are a bit fuzzy, because macro and flash don't go together too well)   Jan

I think you don't need the multipluing part: it is the tension it the shroud that makes it twist, not whether or not you fit the lanyard partially or completely.
 
Jan

That's strange, the book is not readily available in the Netherlands (there is no Dutch edition).
In stead, it is sold by seawatchbooks in the USA, and they still advertise on their website that is is sold WITH the plan-set.
No idea what the bookstore in Amsterdam sold you.(and at what price...)
 
Jan

Long time ago, I did sometimes post an updat ehere.
Let's continue that tradition.
 
I did some work on the Mizzen:   The mizzen-yard has a halyard(?) using a tripple block. The parrel has to come around the strop of the lower block, to get the whole thing slightly closer to the mast. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-b6oUhGBUNvA/VkNafExV2uI/AAAAAAAABys/gP0vdGbftWQ/s800-Ic42/IMG_1057.JPG[/img] The parrel is slightly too short, I have to put another bead on the rope. Next it has to go round the mast, the ropes through the deadeye, and a violin-block attached to it. (fun to do: the block can only be fitter after the parrel is installed (wish my eyes were better, and my fingers less thick:) ) The bowlines were a bit opf a problem. Andersson shows tham attached to the last aftmost shroud. (as most of the contemporaneous models do) However, the distance between the mizzen and the shrouds is relatievely large, so fitting them to the shrouds was visually not so pleasing. Therefore I followed Ketting, in attaching them to a block attached to the railing, just in front of the half-deck.     Last puzzle: getting all ropes on a fair amount of tension, results in the mizzen going up and aft, while it should go (by sheer laws of gravity: down and foreward). (not too much, otherwise it touches the great capstan, and that should be left free)   To be continued .....(sometime in the distant future  :mrgreen:)      (pics are a bit fuzzy, because macro and flash don't go together too well)   Jan

Time for an update. Did some rigging at the main mast (destroyed the falgpole on the mizzen while doing so....)
 
Situation at the foot of the mast. Discovered that I needed an additional strop around the mast to get the parrels rigged. (the pins are there to prevent the little eyes in the rope from disappearing)   Than the parrels of the main yard. My ideal was to get them working, but that didn't turn out possible. So I went just for the looks. Trust me: without the macro it is better   And one from the front-end. I redid the crowsfeet: thinner and darker thread. The light one was to prominent. (I even don't know why they rigged this ship with one, I don't think the original had them)    No time for rigging in the remainder of the week (month), so don't expect an additional update soon. (But I guess that you didn't expect one at all )   Jan

Long time ago, I did sometimes post an updat ehere.
Let's continue that tradition.
 
I did some work on the Mizzen:   The mizzen-yard has a halyard(?) using a tripple block. The parrel has to come around the strop of the lower block, to get the whole thing slightly closer to the mast. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-b6oUhGBUNvA/VkNafExV2uI/AAAAAAAABys/gP0vdGbftWQ/s800-Ic42/IMG_1057.JPG[/img] The parrel is slightly too short, I have to put another bead on the rope. Next it has to go round the mast, the ropes through the deadeye, and a violin-block attached to it. (fun to do: the block can only be fitter after the parrel is installed (wish my eyes were better, and my fingers less thick:) ) The bowlines were a bit opf a problem. Andersson shows tham attached to the last aftmost shroud. (as most of the contemporaneous models do) However, the distance between the mizzen and the shrouds is relatievely large, so fitting them to the shrouds was visually not so pleasing. Therefore I followed Ketting, in attaching them to a block attached to the railing, just in front of the half-deck.     Last puzzle: getting all ropes on a fair amount of tension, results in the mizzen going up and aft, while it should go (by sheer laws of gravity: down and foreward). (not too much, otherwise it touches the great capstan, and that should be left free)   To be continued .....(sometime in the distant future  :mrgreen:)      (pics are a bit fuzzy, because macro and flash don't go together too well)   Jan

Not the best of pictures, but I'm still working on him....
 

Today, I managed to do some work on the standing rigging of my Prins WIllem.
I made some pics, but one way or the other, there is no way I can get a link copied into this post
(pics are taken with a very direct flash in a dark room, so there wasn't much to see anyway \
 
I managed to snip of all loose ends of the ratlines in the fore mast (wothout doning any damage to other lines) Standing rigging on the fore is finished now.
I also finished rattling down the main mast and secured all knots by a small dab of dilluted white glue, and I made the last stay on the mizzen.
 
 

Hope to continue tomorrow, and also to show you some pics.
(I hope I will figure out by tomorrow why I can't copy-paste any links into my postings. ...
Ah well, IE11, stupid microsoft....Google Chromedoes the trick. I suspect uninstalling IE11 also)
 
Jan

After a long and busy (and not so model-productive) I've been doing some little knots....
 
Mainmast finished (apart from some glue and a pair of scissors) on one side, started working on the other side.
 

 
Hope I can find the time (and motivation) to do the remainder of the standing rigging before Christmas....
 
btw on a Dutch forum Arjan68 showed that the scale of this kit is not 1:100 as Corel claims, but should actually be around 1:87. I'm not going to redo my ratlines, but they should be slightly wider apart than I placed them. (as should be the stairs and some other details)
 
Jan

Beleive it or not: I did something today!
Ratlines on the futtock shrouds of the main mast (port side only )
 

Not much, but at least a hundred times more than the previous three months!
 
Jan

After stays and shrouds, backstays are to be installed.
 
The most interesting of these is the one one the spritsail topmast:
 

 
getting the tension in this one right is almost impossible, as the tension of the forestay is far too low for a proper tensioning of the fore stay: either the fore stay is pulled forward, or the topmast backward (or both ) As the crowsfeet are attached to the stay at both ends, the tensioning of these was tricky: it should be straight, but not exert any force on the stay. The fun of it was to get all strings at a comparable tension. I did not completely succeed, but I'm content with the result.
 
The other backstays are attached to the hull (not to the channels), the lower one by a tackle (upper violin block ,lower a single block), and the upper backstay is attached to the hull by a somple lashing, which is attached to the stay through an eyesplice:
 

 
And the fiddle-block:

 
The 7 mm fiddle block is not quite according to Dutcj standards, but it will do for me (at least, I don't have the patience to make my own blocks. By doing an seizing in the middle of the block, I try to cover up the mismatch in seize and proportions, but it remains suboptimal. However, I am not capable of doning a large number of these things by hand, and at the same time make them uniformly, and I don't know of any ready available ones like these:

(If you do, please let me know, so I can use them for my next build )
 
Jan

First those at the bowsprit, which gave a small problem in the attaching of the chain plates:
I used a method showed in Andersson: small eyebolts in the bowsprit, and rope lashings:
(my first seizings, took me ages to do)

 
 
 
 
 
It was only later that I discovered that the Ketting-models uses long iron chains for these deadeyes.
 
I wont redo them
 
Thane cam ethe tackles and shrouds of the fore mast:
 

 
 
I had some discussion on the so called 'spreeworsten' (translation?) in the shrouds
Ketting shows them in such a way that they are spreading the shrouds. I followed this Ketting setup (which he aslo used in his model of the Prins Willem). However, some fellow modellers made it quite clear to me that this setup could never ever hold the strains that they woudl take in real life. However, too late to redo  

 
After setting up the shrouds the rattling down started. I finished teh foremast, but when clipping the loose ends, I managed to snap one of the futtocks. That forced me to remove the ratlines on the futtocks and do some surgery on the shroud. Still visible in the rightmost futtock, but acceptable when not viewed in 'macro-mode'
 
At the moment: shrouds is still work in progress:
 

 
As is the rattling down: foremast done, main still to be started....
 
Jan

I tried to do some rope-work today, but it's just too cold at my bench ....
 
Therefore: just an old update on how things were two years ago.
 
After the masting, I had to start the rigging. After some thinking, I deceided to replace all Corel ropes with other material (as the thicker Corel stuff tended to be very uneven in thickness). I ordered Amati-stuf at Chantelle Wattons 'On-line hobby' store (I' ve no clue wheterh or not she is still - or again -  in business. I also ordered lots of blocks, again, as the Corel stuff was a bit lousy made (holes not ending in the grooves, and double blocks that were single on one side.....)
 
For the stays, however, I had to do some home-made things. Starring my old lego (ropewalk) and meccano (serving)


 
Using this machinery, I succeeded in making some nice stays, of the (almost) correct thickness.
I used beige thread, and stained it using some waterbased stains. (dark brown).
The serving is done with 0.15 mm Guterman thread (dark brown)
On the resulting rope, I made a mouse (using 0.5 mm thread).
 

Nice eye (not a real splice, but some variation on what dafi has once posted under the titl eof 'power splice': use a needle to get the rope back through its own strands. No-one knows, due to the serving:

On the lower end, I made the large 5-hole blocks (later on I decided to stain them as well)

 
Finally, the crowsfeet were installed at the lower top:

 
The more observant readers amongst you may notice that the crowsfeet were done after the shrouds were installed, and the main stay was in place (but recreating a log gies the advantage of sorting out things a bit by topic )
 
Ofcourse, the same was done for the main stay, and the top-stays.
The main stay is attached using a block in a collar that is attached around the bowsprit:


This is in line with the model in the Rijksmuseum Corel took as an example for this kit (see second pic),
but it should have been installed through a heavy knee at the stern. (however, when I discoverd that , it was too late to change....)
The crowsfeet for the main are not done yet.
 
The mizzen stay differs from the main and fore stay, as it is attached differently to the mast: not using a large 5-hole block, but a three-hole deadeye (5 mm diameter), stropped in a strop around the main mast:

 
The uppermost stays are not installed using a mouse, but a fixed eye:

 
After taking this photo, I cleaned up a bit (removing the small strands of the rope coming out of the serving)
Literature is not quite clear on whether or not there was a mouse on these stays. Both methods are mentioned, and as my mousemaking ability was not good enough, I went for the splice...
 
Jan

The original model has flat chainplates

 
However, the book by Ketting suggest linked chainplates. I don't know why, but I liked the idea (atleast: better than I liked the Corel provided flat plates, that did not fit at all, as I changed the dimensions of the channels) So I started out experimenting and soldering:
First on the small ones for the shrouds on the spars:

These were relatively easy, as there were no links below the tops, so a one-part thing would do.
I did not solder the thing after putting the deadeye into place. I used a small drop of CA for those
irons that did not close tightly enough. (for the scale: these are for the 3 mm dead eyes)
 
The dead eyes on the mast are 5mm ones, and these have links to attach them to the hull.
As there is quite s sheer in the hull, and a number of shrouds fanning out from the mast top, there was no way to go
into mass production of the links: only the lower link is more or less mass-produces. the others are all individuall measured and modelled.

 
As these are expected to get more strains that the small ones, the upper and the lower link is soldered. The connecting one is not.
The lower one is soldered at the positionof the nail (and so connecting it to the nail). The upper link is soldered just below the dead eye.
As I'm not into slver sodlering, it is all soft solder that is used.
As to now (feb 2013) everything seems to take the stresses quite well. No deadeyese coming loose (just one or two nails that keep coming loose, but after a drop of CA, they don't)
 
And in place (starboard main channel), before painting black:

After more or less finishing the hull, I came to the masting of the ship.
I decided to make a few changes to the Corel setup. A bit encouraged by the fact that Corel gave me some non-straight wood to do the masts and spars. I used slightly thicker wood than Corel provided. Corels wood is a bit underscale, minie a bit overscale, but I like the overscale version (especially while the rigging thead by Corel is also overscaled in thickness)
 
I started with the bowsprit, and the top at the end of the bowsprit was the first thing I made. While starting on the kit-provied version, I got the feeling that it wasn't correct, and that I could do better.
Corel-version to the right, mine to the left. The Corel-provided clamps are way to heavy, and clumsy in form. I decided I could make my own by using some spare 1x3 mm walnut strips. I also used these strips to form the base of the top. (the version to the right also has a home-made base, as the plywoodversion of Corel didn't look right at all)
 

By "scaling down" the parts of the top, I had also to scale down the trestle trees.I liked the finished result.
The ring around the top is 0.5mm walnut, in stead of the 1.5 mm flexible beach Corel prescribes.
Soaking it in ammonia made it very easy to bend around a small bottle with the correct diameter.
 

 
 
After succesfully completing this beta version, I did all the tops in this way.
To the left of this picture there is a plank I created to make the base of the top: four 1x4 walnut strips glued together to get the correct width, and doubled were necessary. Four of these composite planks formed a rectangle, with a hole of the correct size in the middle. I just had to make a circle out of it to get the base of the top, as shon on the right. The thickness of the base is slightly overscale, but as everything in this kit is, there is no problem (actually, now the topbase is 2 mm thick, using the 1.5 mm plywood, and covering it top and bnottomside with the 0.5 mm strips as per the manual, woudl have resulted in a thicker base.)
 

 
And the finished main top (march 2009):

 
Final decission with respect to the tops: to paint or not to paint. After consideration of the pro's (hiding of ugly glue residue) and con's (no wood structure visible) I decided to pain all the tops, and the mastheads black (as per the book of Ketting). As an example: the fore top, in a slightly later fase of the build.
I used balck acyllic paint, quite dilluted. A light sanding was necassary between cats, as the wood fibres tended to react to the water.
Due to the strong dillution, the tops are black, but quite a lot of the wood (both structure and colour) is still visible through the paint.

Still updating on my build log (in stead of making any progress on the ship herself )
 
When I was this far in the build (september 2008) I came across the buildlog of Chuck of the Mayflower. 
Apart from all very usefull info in this log (which is gone by now, and will not return, I'm affraid) was some info on how to build a little boat.
Chuck used a number of stacked layers, to form the basic hull, smooting and thinning it up, and use that as a base to add exterior planking, and interior framing.
As Dutch ships (as all ships) should have at least a small boat stowed on the deck, I decided to add this little boat as an extra to the kit.
I downloaded the plan Chuck had in his log, and gave it a go. It worked out pretty well, and was very easy to do (much easier than e.g. working from a plug).
The basic structure:

Outside planking: using walnut, 3.5mm wide.
Flush planking on the bottom, clinker on the sides.
 

Inside framing, using 1x1 mm walnut strips, bend using a soldering iron (there was only a thin
line between severe burning of either fingers and wood and giving them the correct curvature )

 
Bottom planks, and the aft seat installed

I had some problems to do the topside of the railing: it should be around 1 mm high and 3 mm wide (to hide the thicknes of the base-shell), and it should be left-right symmetrical. In the end I opted for the laminated version: I made a mold, and attached three layers of the standard 1x3 mm walnut planks provided with the kit. After drying of the glue, I used a sawe to divide this into two symmetrical 1 mm thick and 3 mm wide planks in the correct curvature.

 
After attaching a details (seats for the rowers, keel, sterns and railings), I decided that this was as far as I would go at detailing the little one. I know that there shoudl be metal work, oars, rudder and so on on the boat, but I though it best to keep the level of detailing of the boat in line with that on the kit in general.
 

 
 The lenght of the boat is 7 cm overall, which nicely fits in with the empty space on the main deck where I stowed her.
 

 
Jan

Hi Michiel,
 
As my planking isn't completely flush, and not at all level, wuite a lot of the underlying structure is coming through. The wood used for the planking is walnut, and that has little structure visible in itself. The main structure is the gaps between the planks.
 

 
The white paint itself is Talens Van Gogh acryllic paint, white, with some added yellow, brown and black.
I gave it two coats, so the underlying woodcolour is not visible.
I used cellotape to mask the waterline at the first layer, removed it when still wet. The second layer wasn't masked, and was done by eye (and a steady hand)
 
Jan