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tkay11

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  1. tkay11
    PREPARING THE BELAYING Just to show how I approached the rigging, I held the various lines down with clamps 1. to keep them separate 2. to hold them taut against belaying pins whilst the knots were drying after being dabbed with dilute PVA. Next up: Overall appearance Tony
  2. tkay11
    STAYSAIL In addition to the discussion about the type of horse to use for the staysail sheet, I spent some time trying to figure out the rigging of the tack tackle and the downhauler. Eventually I worked out Steel’s descriptions as follows: Next up: Preparing the belaying Tony
  3. tkay11
    TRUSSES One thing that amazed me was how strongly the yards attach to the mast using just trusses and braces. I used the simple truss described by Marquardt for the crossjack yard, reeved through blocks on the deck as follows: The topsail yard has an even simpler truss which is not reeved through blocks on the deck. Next up: about the staysail Tony
  4. tkay11
    YARD HORSES I used 0.2mm black wire twisted round itself and passed through the back of the yards as follows (the picture shows the practice I did on a matchstick): Next up: Trusses Tony
  5. tkay11
    STAYSAIL AND JIB HEAD STICKS Following Steel’s diagrams I used Head Sticks for the jib and staysail. I made the headsticks using my Proxxon wood lathe as follows: Then, using the same techniques described earlier for the making of the mainsail, I attached the headsticks as follows: Next up: the making of the yard horses Tony
  6. tkay11
    TYING TO BELAYING PINS I used a simple jig as shown below. Note that the holes for the dressmaker pins are over-sized to allow simple removal Next up is about Head Sticks for the Jib and Staysail Tony
  7. tkay11
    THIMBLES Instead of cutting brass tubing, I decided to make my thimbles from coiled rope soaked in CA glue and then cut into sections. I did this for two reasons: 1. It allows me to make any size thimble I want 2. It has a similar colour to wood You can see the process in the following pictures: Next up is about belaying pins
  8. tkay11
    RIGGING PLAN The general plan I followed was that depicted in a plate in Volume 3 of David Steel’s Elements and Practice of Rigging, Seamanship, and Naval Tactics. One advantage of this (i.e. not having a squaresail or topgallant) is that it leaves the model more open and lighter in appearance, as well as making it look (to my eyes) speedier. In addition, and after the lengthy discussion about the horse for the staysail, I adopted the style of horse used on the model of the Diligence which I found at http://www.shipmodel.com/models/diligence-full-hull-nav- I also found Marquardt’s book on 18th Century Rigs and Rigging really useful for the diagrams. Next post is about making thimbles Tony
  9. tkay11
    Looking forward to it. Tony
  10. tkay11
    Glad you're making progress, and looking forward to the photos -- but not too gruesome of the injuries! Tony
  11. tkay11
    That was really funny! It shows that I'll have to learn to read the headers as well as the text! Tony the Dodderer
  12. tkay11
    I'm also looking forward to this build. It looks great so far. What scale are you using? Tony
  13. tkay11
    Another thing that might help at the very early stages is not to fix the stem, keel and sternpost until you have finished the planking. That way you will not damage those parts when sanding down and finishing off the planking. I had to spend ages taking off the scratches on all three once I had done my planking. This applies especially to the stern post as you have to make a bearding line and place the edges of the planks in line with the edge of the sternpost. There are lots of things like this that were not covered in the instructions given with the kit I'm building. It may be that the Lady Nelson instructions are slightly better, but as they are from the same company and have a very similar construction, I'm taking the liberty of giving my own experience! Tony
  14. tkay11
    Looking forward to your log. There's no shortage of cutters now on this forum, so you'll get plenty of interest and as much information as you want. The first steps may be the most daunting but you should soon find your feet. As Antony said,don't be afraid to ask about anything you find puzzling. There's no such thing as a stupid question here. Everyone has at some stage gone through the same learning process and very happy to help others through the inevitable problems that arise. Just one word of advice which may make no sense now but you should pin somewhere for future reference: it's better to leave the mast cap off until you've finished the shrouds and other ropes that have to go over the top. I really wish someone had given me that tip for my own model as right now it's proving very fiddly to tie ropes between the mast and topmast. Tony
  15. tkay11
    Thanks, Henry. My confusion was that I didn't see how the direction would be changed since the channels are about the same height as the gunwale. So the line from a block which is raised from the channels would then feed to a block that is attached to the gunwale and then to a timber-head which is also at the same height. I hadn't seen any advantage over simply pulling the line inboard from a block that was already at or near gunwale height when it was placed on a channel. I hope that helps you see why I was confused! Tony
  16. tkay11
    Yes, Dave, that is of help. It also tallies with Petersson's drawings in Rigging Periood Fore-and-Aft Craft, where the fall goes directly to the deck. Thanks very much! Tony
  17. tkay11
    Another question while I try to figure out the rigging for my yards. I'm trying to figure out how to rig the topsail yard tie. Steel says the following: "Tie reeves from aft, through the sheave hole in the mast-head, comes down, and clinches round the slings of the yard: the other end has a double block spliced, that connects by its fall to a single block hooked in the channel; the fall leads through a leading block on the gunwale, and belays to a cleat or timber-head." I'm ok as far as the single block hooked in the channel, but I can't work out the subsequent route of the fall. Thus I see it as: So could someone help me as to how the fall would go to the timberhead? The way I see it is that if it does go through another block on the gunwale, there would be no mechanical advantage at all. Of course I may be missing something obvious, so that's why I'm asking the professionals! Thanks Tony
  18. tkay11
    I agree with Druxey. But let's have a hypothetical to see if that helps any further. Suppose you were to dismantle everything, start all over again, correctly place the scarf, etc. Then, a few weeks down the line, oh no! You find yet another mistake of the same order that only you have noticed. AAAARGH! Would you then yet again dismantle the whole thing and start again? I don't think I have ever seen any build without a booboo somewhere. But indeed, yes, some people do go and start again -- but generally once lots of others comment on the difficulty, or when it makes future progress impossible. Then you have to think about how accurate it all is. Was that treenail 0.01mm out? Are the frames exactly spaced as the original? (Well, no, they're the wrong size to start with since they're at scale, and you then worry you can't get the grain to scale, and you haven't seen how the original plans were interpreted fully). Of course, only you can decide on your level of acceptance, and, as others have said, along with the great unlikelihood of anyone else ever noticing whilst standing in awe at the beauty of your craftmanship. Tony
  19. tkay11
    Thanks, Frank. I agree totally. My comment was just to point out that this has nothing to do either with being 'sissy' or with being 'a solid tough breed' -- whatever those might mean. Tony
  20. tkay11
    Wonderful! I've much enjoyed this one, and look forward to the next! Beautifully finished. The sails are especially pleasing and well crafted. Thanks very much Tony
  21. tkay11
    Cholera and the other illnesses causing death among the passengers, like TB and plague, caused death amongst all types of people. Well-fed officers were as prone to these problems as the privates in the various wars of the time. The major problem was not the starting health or fitness of the people but the extent of contamination. The major variables are exposure, duration of exposure, concentration of bacteria and frequency of exposure. Tony
  22. tkay11
    It's great to see the sail set. Well done, done well! Tony
  23. tkay11
    Lovely detailed explanations, Frank. Thanks a lot. Just to help those who might like this saw but are in Europe (so no VAT or customs), the holder can be bought for €7 from Ireland at: http://www.radubstore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=77_112&products_id=312 The blades (4 types from superfine to coarse) are €3.70 each and the links for each of them are at the above address. The holder needs the Swann Morton ACM1 handle for another €4.95 (also linked at the above site). So the total cost with 4 blades without shipping would be €26.75. Tony
  24. tkay11
    Good advice, Daniel. I don't know if this has been mentioned in the discussions you refer to, but just in case some might not want to use CAD or Photoshop because of the expense, there are some free CAD programmes available (TurboCAD 12, Draftsight, SketchUp) as well as the free version of Photoshop CS2 which will scale pdf and jpg files very accurately. The reason for mentioning this is that I have found some scanners distort differently in the x and y axes, and these CAD and Photoshop programmes allow you to scale each axis to a different degree. Tony
  25. tkay11
    Thanks a lot, Niklas and Clare, although I must admit to some embarrassment when I compare what I have done with so many other builds. I score myself about 8 out of 10 for perseverance, learning, explanation and experimentation, but probably 2 out of 10 for finish. Comments such as yours reinforce the wonderful ethos of this forum where people critique and support one another for our mutual benefit and learning -- all in the understanding that we all are our own severest critics and all go through these same initial learning steps. It goes to keeping us all motivated and striving to do our best. As for learning how to build a ship model the right way, Clare -- that really made me smile after I have been following the probing intelligence you have been using on the Alert and your exquisite builds of Japanese boats. Thanks again Tony

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