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EJ_L

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Everything posted by EJ_L

  1. EJ_L
    The majority of my ship modeling books have come from either Amazon or Barnes & Noble. I have a couple that are on my wish list with Ancre too. Most of them I have found new but a few have been used. I just keep my eyes open for them and when buying used I try to stick with third party sellers affiliated with reputable websites like Amazon or Barnes & Noble as they tend to keep the third party people more accountable to what they are selling. Shop around when looking. I was looking up the pricing for Masting and Rigging of English Ships of War 1625-1860 last night and I found it ranging anywhere from $899 all the way down to $70. Best I could tell the book was out of print and when that happens you get a lot of price gouging. I have seen this with many other books as well. Just keep a wishlist and check up on it periodically and you can usually find one in an affordable range.
  2. EJ_L
    I agree and fortunately so does the Admiral! We are both huge readers which means I usually have no opposition to buying more books.
  3. EJ_L
    That one has also been on my wish list. I'm slowly collecting them and I'm sure I will have a very full library one day soon!
  4. EJ_L
    Good morning! The weather is quickly becoming very beautiful here today so I wanted to get my ship building in this morning so I can spend the afternoon out in the wood shop working on some furniture. So I have been hard at work on the crow's feet for my fore stay. I did manage to finish it but I am still unsure if I am completely happy with the results. Overall I am satisfied but there is one area that is bothering me with the slack in the forward crows foot. I have already redone it twice as the first time was awful and the second I only had to redo two of the lines. Now I have to step back for a few hours or maybe longer and then decide what I want to do. May let it sit while I work on S.R. for a while. Anyway, enjoy the pictures and suggestions are always welcome!
  5. EJ_L
    I may look into getting that one as well. I have leaned heavily on the Vasa and it's research in building La Couronne. The French did use a lot of Dutch influence in the early 17th and from hat I have been seeing, there are many very similar practices common in the two ships. Plus I am sure that one day I will get around to build the Vasa as it is a must have for the time period.
  6. EJ_L
    Studying up on how to rig crows feet and euphroe blocks tonight. So far I have learned that they are complicated pains in the ***es that took a century for people to realize there was a better way to rig things. But they do look cool! By the way, this would be a nice thing if the prints actually showed how the lines were ran or even showed the euphroe blocks to help one figure this out. My plans make a person think that all of those lines simply run through a single block and somehow magically separate into 8 individual strands. So, after a couple of hours I now know what I have to do. Now to figure out how to do it. Keeping tension on the lines and keeping it in the proper places on those lines is going to be tricky. That may be a weekend project more than an after work one. Luckily the weekend is almost here! A huge thanks to mar3kl and his wonderful Vasa build for helping me to see how those crows feet actually work and how to tie them off. His build is truly inspirational and his photos clearly show many of those little details that are not well explained. While the rigging is not identical to La Couronne, the basics are close enough that I can adapt them to the patterns needed for her rig.
  7. EJ_L
    I am thinking that the book Les Vaisseaux Du Roi Soleil is quickly moving up my list of books to buy soon. The more I have been reading your log the more I am thinking it may be an invaluable resource for my own S.R. build. I did see that Ancre does have an English copy of it too!
  8. EJ_L
    Doug, you are correct. A pair of shrouds starts with the foremost pair on either the port or starboard side. They form a loop seized around the mast and drop down on the same side to connect to the deadeyes. In fact I have read that very thing several times recently and just skipped over it as I was really looking for other information and not thinking about it. Thanks for pointing that out or I would have kept making them wrong. The end results looked great and I have been so focused on other details that I was not really paying attention to what I was doing in the present. That is why I never say there is a "dumb" or "beginner' question as sometimes we get so involved in trying to work out a new detail or challenge that we mess up something very simple. The funny part of this is while I was building the back stays earlier, I was looking t my shrouds and thinking that there was something not right about the way I had them running around the mast. While I will make sure the rest are made correctly the existing ones are not going to be replaced at this time. Fortunately by the time all the rigging is done that whoops will not be very noticeable. With that, I think I am going to go to bed before I overlook something else.
  9. EJ_L
    Welcome to MSW Brian! Good to have you with us. I wish you the best of luck on your Chatham build an look forward to seeing pictures of her!
  10. EJ_L
    Welcome to MSW JJ! Very nice work on both those models. Glad to have you with us and I look forward to seeing that Victory model progress along.
  11. EJ_L
    That is a good idea Michael. I think I know where some old captains chairs are at that I could easily get a hold of one. May have to look into that as it sounds like it just might do the trick and be very cheap to modify. Thanks Don! I think I am starting to develop a good pattern now to tying them. Of course I will completely forget what that is by the time I get back around to them on the next ship but that just seems to be the way the cycle goes. Zoltan, what I do to keep the tension on my shrouds is mostly work one side at a time. I pull my rope down through the lubber's hole and secure the deadeye to it. Throw the rest of the rope over the opposite side of the top and place a hemostat clamp on the line for weight. Any weighted clamp will do, you just need something to provide resistance when you rig the deadeyes. Then I run my rope for the first set of deadeyes, making sure to keep tension on the opposite side (side with weight) so I can set the desired elevation of the top deadeye. Once I am satisfied I secure the deadeye rigging and dab a little glue on the ends to make sure nothing slips. Next, remove the weight and cut the rope to the length needed for the opposite deadeye. Be sure to leave a little extra to make adjustments with. Pull the rope through the opposite lubber's hole and check to make sure that the rope is laying where and how you want it around the mast. When happy with the position I add a little glue to hold the rope in place to the mast. this keeps the right amount of tension on the side I have already done and keeps the shrouds in alignment so they do not bunch up on top of each other at the top. Now just repeat the process on the remaining side. I don't try to get a perfect alignment with my deadeyes. I do try to get close but if some of them are off a little I don't worry to much. I have seen both sides of this debate on keeping them aligned and I lean towards the side of since they are designed to keep tension on the shrouds and are meant to be adjustable, they would probably not always have been perfectly even. Granted this does not always a cosmetically pleasing effect which is typically what we are trying to achieve in ship models. So to each their own on that. So basically, weight and lots of glue make tight shrouds. Well, I didn't spend much time in the shipyard tonight but I did get started on the first back stay. More to follow soon I hope!
  12. EJ_L
    Finished ratting down the fore top mast shrouds! Always a good feeling when those are done. So here is where she sits. Starting to get some of that height going which is making me have to stand up to do a lot of the rigging as my chair doesn't adjust any higher. May need to get an adjustable stool so I don;t have to stand for all the rigging. Plus S.R. is even taller! Next up will be the stays. As I mentioned in my earlier post, the back stays are straight forward and familiar however, the fore stays are rigged differently than ones I have done before so those will be an adventure. I'm ready to get started though not till after I have had some sleep. So with that, I say good night and enjoy the pictures!
  13. EJ_L
    Elijah, Doug, thank you for the compliments! Had a good weekend for working on the top mast. Got it in place with shrouds and half the ratlines done. When I finish the remaining ratlines I will update a picture or two. Hopefully I will reach that point tonight or tomorrow.
  14. EJ_L
    Those are some very well made blue flags that she is flying! Seriously, well done on that rigging! Excellent details, nice and clean so we can easily see where and how the ropes are running. The furled sails look fantastic up there as well.
  15. EJ_L
    Michael, I've been rather fortunate this past year with my free time. My Admiral has been in a 2 year clinical internship for her Masters degree and so while she is doing 70-80 hour work/school/internship weeks I have been left by myself a lot at home. Yes, my workload has picked up around the house as I am the only one available to do things there but, I still have lots of free time and since she is too busy for us to do much out or with friends I get more hobby time. Life will be returning more to normal though after she graduates this summer so I am sure that I will slow down then. Plus with my wood shop up and running I have a few projects out there that will be taking up some of that time. Admittedly though there are some things that I should slow down and do a bit better and plenty that I wished I had taken more time on. Changing those stubborn habits can be a bit of a challenge though. I still have a lot of stuff to build on her though so there is hope for me yet!
  16. EJ_L
    Fairing those frames will be a bit of a challenge to do without breaking them. Going to have to be gentle which is probably why they suggested doing it one at a time. Keel does look a lot better and hopefully you can pull out that last little bit of curve and keep things straight.
  17. EJ_L
    So today marked the one year anniversary of building La Couronne. Spent time rigging blocks to the fore top mast to roll over my 710th hour. Wow! Time sure can fly when you are having fun! Plus it makes the Admiral happy to see that large financial investment stretch out as long as it does and keep me happily occupied. Money well spent she has told me. I just happen to send her links to many of our fine sponsors with my wish lists as my birthday is next month.... So here are a couple of pictures of her to celebrate. The first is the very first stage in her build and the second is how she looks today minus the blocks I rigged tonight. I will update pictures of all of that in the next day or two.
  18. EJ_L
    Very cool project you have here. I admit I was drawn in by such a small scale as I was curious as to what you could do with wood at those tiny dimensions. Impressive so far! The smallest I have gone with wood was a 1:150 Bounty model. It was a solid hull with minimal detail. It was a fun build but a bit to small for my comfort. Looking forward to seeing your Surprise come along!
  19. EJ_L
    Welcome to MSW Rob! Glad you have decided to join in more directly. You will get even more out of the site that way with good companionship and answers to those questions that arise. Good luck to you and I look forward to seeing your Mayflower!
  20. EJ_L
    Much better looking! You should be able to get a nice straight boat out of that.
  21. EJ_L
    Welcome to MSW Constant! Thank you for sharing that link to your work. You have a great talent and there are some very nice models there. I will echo Anja's statement in that I hope you will start a build log on your next project as I would love to follow along with you as you work. Great job and again, welcome!
  22. EJ_L
    Welcome to MSW! Best of luck to you on your Bounty build. I look forward to seeing her progress once you get a log up and going and learn how to upload those pictures.
  23. EJ_L
    This will be a fun build to watch. I have not seen that style of tug before but I can honestly say I have not really studied up on them either! I do enjoy seeing R/C builds and getting to see a new to me ship design is even better. Looking forward to this build!
  24. EJ_L
    I too am thankful for double planked hulls to help cover my mistakes and I have also broken many of those extended frame parts off when she is upside down. I just mark where they came from and reattach later when I am done planking the bottom. It is good to see more work being done on the actual ship! Smart of you to wait till you had a lot of planking to do a bunch at the same time.
  25. EJ_L
    New update! It took a bit longer than I was planning as I have been sick for the past week and didn't feel up to much ship building. However, I had managed to get work done prior to that and some more tonight. The fore top mast is progressing nicely. Finishing up the wood work on it now and getting ready to start installing eyebolts, blocks and deadeyes. Shrouds will follow soon as well, plan is this weekend. The stays will be where the rigging gets interesting. The backstays are straight forward enough and I am not concerned but the forestay will be a new rigging challenge for me. The way the stays are rigged on 17th century ships is a lot more complicated than those I have done before with their spread webbing (not sure if there is a better term for this) at the bowsprit to contend with. I am still reading up on how they all connect to try to figure out my plan. I've got an idea but we will see. Definitely getting some good use out of Mr. Anderson's books. I think once I figure out this first set the others, there are 5 total on this ship, should be easier.

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