trippwj

Agreed Bob! There were quite a few visual repairs that were done while shooting the movie (Hell took almost a year to shoot!?) so those have to be taken into consideration also.
 
 
Did work on the Upper Helm this week.......
 
Got the walls glued into position and got the majority of the inner framing done. Still need to do some clean up on these and some angled relief cuts on the framing edges, Some bracing under the dash still needs to be built and there's a secondary dash that holds the instruments and wheel that I still need to construct.
 




 
Here's some screen captures from the film.......
 



 
 
 
 
Decided I'm going to be lighting this model, so I need to start planning that out. I'm hoping to have all the running lights, flood lights, interior lights and instruments to light.
 
One piece of reference material that I picked up this weekend was a copy of the paperback book, "Jaws, Memories from Martha's Vineyard". Has some GREAT photos of both boats and some of the props in it. Kinda pricey at $49 dollars, but I love the behind the scenes books on movies.
 

Sir Mobbsie - WOW!!!  Looking mighty fine now.  And look at you putzing around making tools, too!  Watch out for "you know who" - purty soon he's gonna want you to build him a sett as well!

Thanks Grant and Mark.
 
Sort of got tired of working on the cannons so decided to work on something different and this time the rudder. I built a rudder earlier from a plan I got from the NMM and unlike the TFFM rudder this one is a little different. I sort of built two of them and this is the second one. The first one I ended up having a knot in, which the main piece is made of boxwood and figure that the knot would end up in the waste, at least that's what I thought. ( O well, it was fun making another one. Have finally got a chance to really use my little smith torch and it's a blessing to have it. Don,t believe that soft solder would have stood up to the abuse of all the cutting, filing and twisting that it took to finally come out with the finally braces. Still have some clean up to do, due to the metal work. Funny how even small metal work makes a mess. Any way hope you enjoy the photo's. I didn't add any small planks under neith the braces and to me it doesn't look to bad.
 
Gary


 
 
 
 
 
 

Hi Guys and thank you.
Guy,your very welcome sir and glad that you are enjoying the photo's hopfully more will come.
 
Thank you Chuck,the hooks and blocks are a nice addition to the gun's. Thank you for them and should be ordering some more in the next couple of weeks or so.. Am sure you told me this but can you remind me of what type of metal you used? They seems to have a lot of strength.
 
YaRus, According to the contracts I have, it gives the height of the orlop deck to the gun deck as being 6 foot 6 inches from the beam of the orlop deck to the bottom of the gun deck planks. The gun deck from the upper deck as 7 feet, which was from the top of the plank of the gundeck to the top of the upper deck plank. The upper deck height was at the quarter deck as 6 foot 9 and at the forecastle as 6 foot 6 1/2 inches which was taken from the upper part of the deck planking to the top of the quarter deck and forecastle deck beams.
 
Remco your cannon's was a big help sir in the way that you rigged them. Your's gave me some thing to shoot for.
 
Thanks Brian, do hope she is of some help to you as you build yours. I take it that you are following the practicum by Romero. It does give one good ideal's but I sort of went down a different path of building Montagu. For me I wanted a more accurate Montagu then what you would get using Harold's and Romero to build one. If you have any question along the way let me know sir. I do take it you will be framing it using Harold's type of framing and jig? Good luck and look forward to your build log.
 
Well folks here is another update on Montagu and this time it's in making rope for the cannons. I have had a rope walk which was built by a good friend, of mine, Tom Nance, and purchased it from his wife after he passed away. It sort of been stowed away until I have had a need for some rope and after spending some time expertmenting I manage to make some rope for the cannons along with the messenger that you saw in the last post. It is based on the same rope walk that Frolick used in his book The art of shipbuilding. Another one of the photo's shows the pile of parts and pieces setting on the work bench waiting to be installed on the gun carriages, that is as soon as I have a little time to work on them. As you can see in another photo, my rope walk can be any length which at the moment is about ten feet long. .
Gary

Bob & Sam- thank you for the wishes!  Yeah, it's been an up-n-down type of spring/summer for everything (build, job, home, everything).  But I'm still staying positive and focusing on things to settle and return back to normal, although in a better position than before.  
 
Did not get structures installed yesterday- was cleaning and making travel arrangements (prices weren't too bad considering it's only a week's notice).  
 
But I'll be checking in this week, so perhaps not too much building going on.  (Plus, if things turn out well on Friday, it'll be wham-bam load up a truck, list the house, and then hit the road!)
 
Have a great Labor Day weekend!!  

For those wondering if I was ever going to get started -- I finally have gotten underway. Part of the problem was spending some time over a few days on the computer going over some issues with the kit with Sam Cassano, the kit designer. To make a long story shorter, Sam designed an alternate in the kit to allow opening up the gun deck and building up portions of the deck below. There were problems with the plans and the bulkhead former in doing this.  Sam will comment here on how he and Model Expo will address these issues.
 
I have now cut the former to do the deck drop downs, cut the bulkheads from their sheets and done some cleaning up on them, attached the rabbet strip, chiseled and sanded to the bearding line at the stern and attached the stem, keel and stern post. Since I am sort of the guinea pig on this kit, I have some comments for those following. The plywood for the former and bulkheads was difficult to work with: one of the sheets was not cut through by the laser and I have requested a replacement because the parts could not be released; even on the sheets that were fully cut, the tabs holding the parts to the sheets were large and hard to cut through -- I gave up on a knife and ended up using chisels; the slots on the former and bulkheads required considerable filing to open them sufficiently to fit; cutting the deck drop downs and the new slots for the affected bulkheads, after I figured out what to do, was hard work with saws and chisels ( hopefully this will now be resolved for the future).
 
Having said all of this, I'm still eager to go forward. Sam is intent on solving any problems and I believe that he will. Next up will be attaching the bulkheads.
 
Bob

Sir Mobbsie - WOW!!!  Looking mighty fine now.  And look at you putzing around making tools, too!  Watch out for "you know who" - purty soon he's gonna want you to build him a sett as well!

thanks Mick and Randy. I will fight it but don't hold much hope
 
today my new jigsaw puzzle arrived and this time there are ships in it
will work on it when the glue is drying
 
almost finished the 3rd deck now just some sanding and the clear windows to put in

Hi Sjors,
 
Nice ratlines mate, just keep going.
 
Hope all works out at the hospital today and the company nurse, speak to you later on Skype.
 
NOW STOP READING THIS AND DO THOSE RATLINES    
 
mobbsie

Hi Chris,
Really, beautiful in so many ways  .  Greg is so spot on with his comments.  Also, as one of the other members wrote, it would be interesting to follow next steps as Amati works to bring this masterpiece to the market. Your log has generated tremendous interest and it would be a shame to lose the momentum for the "launch" of the kit.
 
I guess all you need to do now is figure out how to get the fork lift into the back garden without ruining the verge so you can load the monster onto the van for the trip to Italy.    That trip will be able to generate an adventure log of its own I am sure.
 
Meanwhile, I am trying to decide how to break it to my loving wife that I want to build a model that might require a room addition. She is very very supportive of my hobby but this might cross a line in the sand.
 
Best
Jaxboat

Latest as of today - pics not very good, but anticipate another 2 weeks' work..
 

 

 

 

With the mastcoat in place the mast provided made for a reasonably good fit, but to aid in its location I cut a slot in its heel, which secured it over the keel piece. I then tapered the mast from about half-way up its length using a small modelling plane, being careful to take just a thin sliver off with each stroke, and finishing off with a fine-grade sandpaper. (Btw, it is important to always have a sharp blade in the plane which, I find, also tends to reduce ’catching’.) This procedure took a little while, but I didn’t want to give the mast too much of a taper – and I think it resulted in a nice-looking spar. The kit’s topgallant mast was also, to my mind, a little on the thin side and I wanted to both beef it up and lengthen it. I therefore substituted my own from a suitable piece of dowel. Both the topgallant and the lower mast were made of similar dimensions to those given for the Alert, in the AOTS book.
 
Because of the above changes I was unable to use the ’cross trees’ and mast cap from the kit but I had decided to replace these in any case as, from my point of view, they were too small. Both parts are in fact the same, with similar-sized holes drilled for the lower mast and topgallant mast. Initially I attempted to adapt them but, when endeavouring to drill out one of the holes to enlarge it to take the head of the lower mast, it split in half – so that was that, I had to scratch them! The replacements turned out reasonably well, with separate ’trestle trees’ and ’cross trees’, into which the lower and topgallant masts fitted snugly, the lower ’cross tree’ structure resting on a pair of bibbs either side of the mast. I refer to them as ’cross trees’ and ’tressle trees’, but this is really a misnomer as they do not seem to have been fitted on cutters at this date. The structure I made more resembled an oblong-shaped ’box’, open at the top and bottom, with an off-center division passing between the two masts reflecting their differing circumferences.
 
Cutter lower masts and topmasts were in one piece at this date, hence the separate upper mast is referred to as the topgallant. The topgallant mast was also fidded abaft, or behind, the lower mast which meant that backstays were not normally required and could therefore dispensed with. Standing and running backstays were only fitted to the lower mast.  As a further historical note, Sherbourne was very likely one of the last of her type to have this masting arrangement. From around 1780, cutter masts followed the practice on larger ships, with which we are perhaps more familiar, and were rigged with a lower mast and longer topmast, complete with proper crosstrees, trestle trees, bolsters, and backstays. There are also some differences with the shrouds. On Sherbourne these terminate just above the position of the gaff (fitting over a shoulder or stop) rather than going as far as the doubling, but with the later rig the shrouds passed around the lower masthead. The number of yards and their hoisting arrangements also differ from later practice, but more about these later, except to say that pins were inserted into the masts to take the yards when fitted.
 

 
The after side of the lower mast head was fitted with eyebolts to take the blocks for the throat and peak halliards and the boom topping lift, and stops were fitted in various positions for some of the rigging, such as the forestays when they they are fitted. At the base of the lower mast, I fitted a saddle around the aft side of the mast on which the boom jaws rest, whilst below them five cleats were equally spaced around the mast, to take the falls of the running rigging which might be belayed there. I’m not quite sure yet what all of these lines will be but, as I mentioned before, there is an overall lack of belaying points – so I think providing a few more will be an advantage. The cleats were painted black, as were the crosstrees, caps and masthead, whilst the mast itself was stained a reddish brown.
 
The topgallant mast, as mentioned, was a replacement. As with the lower mast, this was carefully tapered at its upper end, and given a snug fit at the heel to fit the crosstrees and mastcap. Not immediately obvious to the eye is the fid, made made fom a small cut-off nail, which passes through a hole drilled through the heel of the mast, and which rests on the upper edges of the ’trestle trees’. As mentioned it is not that noticeable, especially as the whole assembly is painted black – but at least I know it’s there! Just below this is the sheave hole for the toprope, the rope itself being made fast to an eyebolt on the port side of the mastcap. There is a corresponding eyebolt on the starboard side, for the toprope block.
 
At the upper end of the mast there are again stops for the rigging, and at the very top I fitted a truck. This was not provided for in the kit, but I think any mast looks unfinished without one! This was easy to make, being merely a suitably sized piece of dowel rod, with rounded edges and a small capping on the top. Four small holes, two on each side were then drilled, which will take the flag halliards when they are rigged. The topgallant mast was finished off similarly to the lower mast, with the lower end and masthead being painted black, and the spar itself being stained a reddish-brown colour. The masts were then lightly treated with beeswax.
 
I decided to glue the topgallant mast to the lower mast before stepping them as one unit – and in the process completely forgot about how I was going to fit the mast hoops, since they would not now of course, fit over my nicely-made crosstrees! This actually didn’t prove to be such a disaster, when I gave it a little more thought, and the problem was satisfactorily resolved as I will mention later.
 
I opted to glue the mast in place, with a smear of glue around the partners at deck level, and with a spot on the heel where it fits over the keel piece. The actual stepping of the mast went quite smoothly, and it made a close fit. To locate the cut out in the heel onto the keel piece, I had made a small pencil marks on the mast at deck level, which showed the fore and aft position. By slightly twisting the mast this way and that, as I pushed it home, I felt the heel ’lock’ in place. The mast was pretty much vertical in the athwartships plane, according to my homemade plumbob gauge, although to be sure I put some gentle pressure against the top end of the mast whilst the glue dried. The rake fore and aft was, of course, fixed by the kit design.
 

 
We now come to the boom. The dimensions, from the AOTS bible, called for a spar of 62’ in length, which works out to a model length of 27.62 cm. This was not much longer than the length given in the kit instructions, but again I opted to make my own spar, it being a little thicker at 9.2 cm at it’s maximum girth. Both ends are tapered from this point, approximately a third of the length of the boom from the mast. The sides of the boom at the mast end are then chamferred, to fit the jaws. Since the kit supplied jaws would, of course, no longer fit the thicker boom (but which I otherwise considered suitable) I first split them in half, shaped the tail end to fit, and then glued them to the spar on either side. Finally, I drilled a hole in each side at the tail end of the jaws, to take a couple of belaying pins for the mainsail brails. With the boom thus shaped I painted both ends black, including the jaws, and gave it a beeswax finish.
 
Fittings include: a preventer tackle beneath the boom, consisting of two double blocks fixed to two widely-spaced eyebolts, the fall of the line rove between them coming off of the after block, and being belayed to a small cleat on the side of the boom; two stops on top of the spar at its after end, between which the upper double sheet block strop is fastened; a sheave hole for the mainsail clew outhaul, which also belays to a small cleat on the boom; an eyebolt on top of the spar at the aft end, for the topping lift; another eyebolt, near the jaws, for the tack of the mainsail; there is also a small cleat for the ensign halliards.
 
Having finished all these fittings, it was then time to fit the boom to the mast. The mast end would rest, and be glued to, the boom saddle and I would further secure it (as with the yards) by a pin positioned in the mast. The aft end, however, could still move if not fixed so I decided, since the sails would be furled, to make a boom crutch. I had no reference for this (other than more modern ones I have seen) so I made it out of two simple, substantial-looking cross pieces, with a pin through them where they cross. I have it in mind that they fold when not in use, and can be stowed away. It is simply glued to the deck, behind the two lockers, but it made for a stable support for the aft end of the boom.
 

 
Two jobs remained to be done. The first was to fit the parrels, connecting the jaws to the mast, and here I opted to use the black parrel beads supplied with the kit. Then it was simply a case of tying a length of black rigging thread to one end of the jaws, through the hole already drilled, threading on the requisite number of beads required for it to pass comfortably around the mast (being careful not to make it too tight) and fastening the other end of the thread to the opposite jaws. A small touch of glue on the knot would prevent it from untying.
 
There was one other small job to do before the boom was finished. I thought a small footrope at the after end, overhanging the taffrail, might look the part. This was made from a length of black rigging thread, with simple overhand knots tied at intervals, and fastened to the spar. I fitted another stop to anchor the inboard end, the outer being fastened by a simple loop over the boom.
 
Next time: Some items of rigging, the gaff, and the mainsail.

Just getting a quick fix before the day's activities Sjors. Just enough to keep me going. Man, this MSW addiction is tough!

I just wasn't happy with the spacing of the gun ports on the starboard side. So, remembering, after all, that the model is wood, I spend a couple of hours (or so) moving gun port five about 5/16" aft. I think that it came out OK. (Photo attached) Onward to the inboard planking.
 

Wow,
 
Early in the morning history classes     
Thanks Trafalgarhero !
One little rectification ( difficult word so early ) I thought it was the twin sister.
She has the same lines and furniture.
I found a site where it is saying that her name was the San Ildefonso and after the capture by the British she's got the name HMS Ildefonso…...
http://3decks.pbworks.com/w/page/915106/HCMS%20San%20Ildefonso%20%281785%29
But thanks anyway Trafalgarhero.
 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Popeye           
If I'm to late then this is for next year so i can not forget it     
Any updates with pictures from the Goth??????
 

Good job Robbin ! It's get better once the ratlines are done.... Wait I'm still on the ratlines I'm hopping its gets better :-)

Progress at last!!!
I took everyone's advice and took a work/stress break today. I am still behind as far as school is concerned, but tomorrow is another day   Besides, every once in awhile you just gotta say what the heck and do something for yourself!
So all the lower shrouds and ratlines are complete...not perfect, but at this point good enough for me!
Now I am back to where I was before I ripped everything out lol. Need to spend some time reading the instructions again and figure out what I need for the upper rigging, then I can say I have made some real progress!

Hi Popeye,
We have had every bit of 3 inches last night and today, and it is still raining.  We've been just fine, nice dry RV trailer and a good awning.  I was outside cooking bacon this morning watching the people in pop-ups, trying to figurre out how to fold one up in pouring rain.....cold, wet rain.....they were miserable and soaked.  It unfortunately was amusing to watch and not have to be doing it.  I really felt for them, but couldn't help but laugh (with them not at them)  at the unimaginable misery they were going through.  They will have stories to laugh at forever with their kids.   Just thankful that we didn't have to leave today.  Western Maine is flooding.

good afternoon everyone, thank you for the Birthday wishes, very much appreciated
 
had a play with the mizzen mast, months ahead of where i am at present, but fancied a change, if i have to do it again, it's no big deal
 
 
i did the mast in two sections, 8mm dowel, and 5mm square stock, and will pin the two together

 
the mast is tapered on the two sides so as to fit the cheeks. but is banded with styrene before and after they are added, the assembly is then primed

Thanks Ferit,
 
It's almost fun to do the ratlines
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 1 - Decisions 
I took most of the summer deciding whether I would undertake another ship model and if so, what the scope and subject would be.  I had a lot of time to think about this while catching up on neglected home maintenance and repair projects.  After deciding that I needed the challenge of another ambitious project, the decisions on scope and subject kept me busy through July.  I also had to decide whether I could commit to another Naiad-like build log.  We shall see.
 
I received a number of suggestions on subjects and that input is most appreciated.  Since I expect this project to span a number of years, the decision was a big one.  I have enjoyed wrestling through the process of deciding.  I had a number of criteria:  1) significant design/drafting content, 2) fully-framed construction to further explore my interest in structures, 3) a change from the well-trod path of fully-framed 18th Century Royal Navy subjects, 4) avoiding commonly modeled ships, and 5), I thought it was time to do an American ship. 
 
Before focusing on the extreme American clippers, I considered, among many other possibilities, a 19th Century American warship, perhaps steam-sail, and looked seriously at some of the ships by John Lenthall, built locally at the Philadelphia Navy Yard – examples: Germantown (sail), Princeton (screw/sail), Susquehanna (paddle/sail).  
 
In the end, the idea of the extreme clipper was too attractive to dismiss.  To me, this type represents an apex of achievement in wooden sailing ship design and construction – in terms of sleek hull lines, sailing performance, structural development and sheer beauty.  In the design of the extreme clippers, minimum tradeoffs were made to the one paramount design parameter  - achieving the shortest sailing times between far-flung ports.  Speed meant not only sleek hull lines and a spread of canvas, but also the strength to withstand continuous hard driving, day-in, day-out. 
 
After deciding on the clipper – and an American (meaning all wood) clipper - I chose the work of William H. Webb of New York.  It would have been easier to select something from his more popular competitor, Donald McKay, but McKay’s ships built at East Boston, have long been widely modeled – Staghound, Flying Cloud, Lightning and others. McKay’s papers do include substantial structural detail – very tempting.  Webb, too, has left papers, and these have been explored, with information published in the secondary sources I have used.  There are many gaps, but there is a family resemblance in details to all these ships and many practices and scantlings were commonly adopted.  Webb presented more of a challenge – in more ways than one – as I will describe later. 
 
Of Webb’s ships, I chose Young America, built in 1853, his last extreme clipper.  Less is known about her construction than some of his others, so the task of piecing her structure together is more interesting.  I will discuss this, the ship, and the extreme clipper era in the next posts.
 
Below is a photo of Young America, docked at San Francisco, a frequent port of call for her.  She was built mainly for the East Coast to California trade.  In the picture she is rigged with double topsails - a modification from her original single topsail rig.  There are also some paintings of her.  She was considered Webb’s masterpiece – one of his twelve clippers in a list that included renowned ships like Challenge, Comet, Invincible, Flying Dutchman – all of these examples being 200 to 240 feet in length. YA enjoyed a thirty-year career that included fifty passages around Cape Horn.  She set a number of sailing records and earned a ton of money for her various owners – and for those who made money betting on passage times.  In 1883 she left Philadelphia carrying 9200 barrels of Pennsylvania case oil, cleared Delaware Bay and was never heard from again.
 

 
The model may be fully rigged.  I will decide later.  With the hull length involved (240’) the scale is likely to be 1:72, but that is not yet cast in stone.
 
Structural drawings are well along and I expect to start construction later in September.
 
I hope these posts will be of interest and perhaps draw some attention to this somewhat neglected modeling genre.
 
Ed
 
 
 
 

WE will square and level everything??? Rather regal sounding.. or are you cross training the spiders?
 
You are all doing a great job, sir, and a belated happy anniversary!

I have beige shrouds/rats on my HMS Victory cross section from 1988. They still look great. Not only that, she's never been in a case and the rigging doesn't show the dust!!!!
 
Stay healthy now.

Hi John,
 
For me it sounds that you are making a trip around the world !
And that in 80 days?
Or is that another movie