6ohiocav

SHIP’S BELL AND FORWARD PINRAIL
 
Before I encase the bow with rigging, I decided I had better finish some of the last tasks on the deck that I have been putting off. I had previously built the ship’s bell framing, but had not lashed the bell and attached it to the Bowsprit. I also had to install the forward pin rail.
 
I built all of this from scratch from my supply of cherry.

SHIP’S BELL AND FORWARD PINRAIL
 
Before I encase the bow with rigging, I decided I had better finish some of the last tasks on the deck that I have been putting off. I had previously built the ship’s bell framing, but had not lashed the bell and attached it to the Bowsprit. I also had to install the forward pin rail.
 
I built all of this from scratch from my supply of cherry.

All of my kit supplies dowels 1/4 inch or smaller were warped. The "best" one I could find was used for the spanker mast, and I had to straighten it by soaking it a bit, and bending it by hand. Not great but acceptable. Of course, as soon as I stained it, it went back to its original warped shape and I had to "straighten" it again. Acceptable, but a little less so.
 
Still a good kit, just some typical foibles.

Ken,
 
I assume that if you were not going to add sails, that the rings on the spanker mast simply sit there on the ship as you pictured them. I at the very same point on my build and wondered what to do with the rings, as I am not adding sails.
 
I won't ask you what the first thing that goes, as I think I know.

Mike,
 
Those boats are really neat.  You really are a true multi-tasker.

All of my kit supplies dowels 1/4 inch or smaller were warped. The "best" one I could find was used for the spanker mast, and I had to straighten it by soaking it a bit, and bending it by hand. Not great but acceptable. Of course, as soon as I stained it, it went back to its original warped shape and I had to "straighten" it again. Acceptable, but a little less so.
 
Still a good kit, just some typical foibles.

I turned all of my masts and yards from square stock on the mini lathe. It took forever, and the scrap pile was large. But now, All of that work is paying off. I have come to realize that all of those octagon shapes that took forever to file by hand are there for a reason.  A lot of running rigging is belayed to the "shelves" at the top of the octagons.  If I had filed the octagons from the kit supplied dowels, which would have reduced the diameter, there would not be anything to the anchor the rope to. I decided to turn the masts simply for aesthetic reasons. The Cherry tops (oiled) and Holly lowers with the flat black yards creates a great contrast. Gaining a functional advantage was a bonus..
 
Spending the additional funds for quality blocks and ropes has also made a difference.
 
Joel,
 
You have not sent me to the darkside, but you sure have saved me from it many times.  Thanks friend.
 
Bring on your build. I would love to see it.

Mike,
 
I understand your frustration, but Joel is right (he generally always is). You have to rig your ship.
 
It is a challenge for sure, but with that comes a great sense of accomplishment.  Also, the limited rigging I have completed really brings this ship to life. It is a wonderful look. You have spent too much time and your ship is too beautiful to leave "undressed"

Time to start planking the bulworks. And this brought me face to face with paint issues. Consistent with my decision to prepaint strakes with different colors that abutted each other before installation, I had to decide what colors to use. In my previous post, you will note that I prepainted the waterway and planksheer with the Model Export Gun Red Paint that I ordered with the kit.  As others have noted, the red paint is nearly orange-too bright for my eye. In order to darken it, I mixed in a few drops of black. That did not work.  Just a few drops of black turned it a muddy gray. scratch 1/3 of my red paint. In the second batch, I only put in 1 drop and got something that I liked. I then repainted the waterway and planksheer.
 
The green provide by Model Expo for the inner bulwarks was fine.  No need to do any mixing.
 
The yellow was a whole different issue. I have pictures of the original ship and the outer bulwarks are a dark yellow.  The paint kit does not provide anything even close. I searched my local hobby shop and purchased at least 6 different yellow paints before deciding on a Model Master acrylic "Yellow Zink Chromate"
 
The other decision I made was to glue all of the strakes onto the bulwarks from port to stern and then go back and cut out the gun ports and sweeps. I used a diamond tipped cutting bit for the dremel for the rough work and a flat file for finishing.  I had a small mini file that fit perfectly inside the small sweeps that helped clean them up.
 
Before I did all of this, I soaked all of the strakes and pinned them to the bulkheads over night to dry to fix the bends. Then I painted the whale strake flat black for the bottom, the first strake above that with the yellow for the outside. Then painted the first strake with green for the inside.
 
Overall, I was very satisfied with the result.

I turned all of my masts and yards from square stock on the mini lathe. It took forever, and the scrap pile was large. But now, All of that work is paying off. I have come to realize that all of those octagon shapes that took forever to file by hand are there for a reason.  A lot of running rigging is belayed to the "shelves" at the top of the octagons.  If I had filed the octagons from the kit supplied dowels, which would have reduced the diameter, there would not be anything to the anchor the rope to. I decided to turn the masts simply for aesthetic reasons. The Cherry tops (oiled) and Holly lowers with the flat black yards creates a great contrast. Gaining a functional advantage was a bonus..
 
Spending the additional funds for quality blocks and ropes has also made a difference.
 
Joel,
 
You have not sent me to the darkside, but you sure have saved me from it many times.  Thanks friend.
 
Bring on your build. I would love to see it.

Mike,
 
I understand your frustration, but Joel is right (he generally always is). You have to rig your ship.
 
It is a challenge for sure, but with that comes a great sense of accomplishment.  Also, the limited rigging I have completed really brings this ship to life. It is a wonderful look. You have spent too much time and your ship is too beautiful to leave "undressed"

ROYAL, TOPGALLANT, AND TOPSAIL YARDS
 
In another small milestone, I dressed up and hung the Royal, Topgallant, and Topsail yards on my foremast in a lowered position.
 
I started with seizing all of the blocks to the yards by stropping them on a vice and slipping them over the yards. I seized blocks in my lift lines and tied bracing blocks.  Once they were all attached, I then installed the footropes and jack stays. I pinned the yards to the mast with straight pins and a drop of CA. The lift lines were then belayed to best secure them.
 
I seized all of the blocks for the clewlines, sheets, and buntlines, even though I am not going to attach any sails.  My plan is to run rigging to these blocks and tie them off on the yards somewhere.
 
I believe I have now reached a point where I will be stepping my foremast to the ship. That will then allow me to tie off the front stays and finish the bowsprit rigging and attach my lower shrouds and ratlines. If I attach the course yard in advance, I think it will be in the way when I work on the shrouds and ratlines. I will prepare the mast and yard with the pin in advance so that the installation will be as easy as possible.
 
The size of the bird nest of loose rope is alarming. There is plan for all of this... I think!!!

Joel,
 
I am definately banking on the experience gained on the foremast to guide me through the work on the main mast.  It is however pretty daunting as I look at the "very bare" main mast knowing that it has taken me nearly an entire month to just to get the foremast to this point. I am trying my best to hit the authenticity marks. Thanks for noticing.
 
As for speed, it must be in the eye of the beholder. This work takes forever. I spend hours just looking over the plans before I even pick up a tool or a piece of rope. I feel like I am going at an excruciating slow pace, like I have strapped on full sails, with stunsails and royals, and am only making 7 knots when I feel like I should be cruising at 25 knots.  
 
Scott,
 
The decision to use tan ratlines was based on a few points. I understand that standing rigging was tarred in order to preserve the rope fibers, ergo the black look. My amateur research indicated that ratlines were not always tarred.  I perused a number of build logs and found that many shipwrights used tan ratlines. Aesthetically, I very much like the look and contrast in colors. Spacing was based on using a 14inch range transferred over to the 1/64 scale.

ROYAL, TOPGALLANT, AND TOPSAIL YARDS
 
In another small milestone, I dressed up and hung the Royal, Topgallant, and Topsail yards on my foremast in a lowered position.
 
I started with seizing all of the blocks to the yards by stropping them on a vice and slipping them over the yards. I seized blocks in my lift lines and tied bracing blocks.  Once they were all attached, I then installed the footropes and jack stays. I pinned the yards to the mast with straight pins and a drop of CA. The lift lines were then belayed to best secure them.
 
I seized all of the blocks for the clewlines, sheets, and buntlines, even though I am not going to attach any sails.  My plan is to run rigging to these blocks and tie them off on the yards somewhere.
 
I believe I have now reached a point where I will be stepping my foremast to the ship. That will then allow me to tie off the front stays and finish the bowsprit rigging and attach my lower shrouds and ratlines. If I attach the course yard in advance, I think it will be in the way when I work on the shrouds and ratlines. I will prepare the mast and yard with the pin in advance so that the installation will be as easy as possible.
 
The size of the bird nest of loose rope is alarming. There is plan for all of this... I think!!!

Joel,
 
I am definately banking on the experience gained on the foremast to guide me through the work on the main mast.  It is however pretty daunting as I look at the "very bare" main mast knowing that it has taken me nearly an entire month to just to get the foremast to this point. I am trying my best to hit the authenticity marks. Thanks for noticing.
 
As for speed, it must be in the eye of the beholder. This work takes forever. I spend hours just looking over the plans before I even pick up a tool or a piece of rope. I feel like I am going at an excruciating slow pace, like I have strapped on full sails, with stunsails and royals, and am only making 7 knots when I feel like I should be cruising at 25 knots.  
 
Scott,
 
The decision to use tan ratlines was based on a few points. I understand that standing rigging was tarred in order to preserve the rope fibers, ergo the black look. My amateur research indicated that ratlines were not always tarred.  I perused a number of build logs and found that many shipwrights used tan ratlines. Aesthetically, I very much like the look and contrast in colors. Spacing was based on using a 14inch range transferred over to the 1/64 scale.

ROYAL, TOPGALLANT, AND TOPSAIL YARDS
 
In another small milestone, I dressed up and hung the Royal, Topgallant, and Topsail yards on my foremast in a lowered position.
 
I started with seizing all of the blocks to the yards by stropping them on a vice and slipping them over the yards. I seized blocks in my lift lines and tied bracing blocks.  Once they were all attached, I then installed the footropes and jack stays. I pinned the yards to the mast with straight pins and a drop of CA. The lift lines were then belayed to best secure them.
 
I seized all of the blocks for the clewlines, sheets, and buntlines, even though I am not going to attach any sails.  My plan is to run rigging to these blocks and tie them off on the yards somewhere.
 
I believe I have now reached a point where I will be stepping my foremast to the ship. That will then allow me to tie off the front stays and finish the bowsprit rigging and attach my lower shrouds and ratlines. If I attach the course yard in advance, I think it will be in the way when I work on the shrouds and ratlines. I will prepare the mast and yard with the pin in advance so that the installation will be as easy as possible.
 
The size of the bird nest of loose rope is alarming. There is plan for all of this... I think!!!

Mike,
 
I "whip" as many knots that way as I can. My strategy on seizing stays and shroud lines to the masts by doing them in a vice and slipping them over the mast in a systematic planned method allows me to use these whippings. I can tie these knots pretty well in a vice, not so much so on a mast.  All of my blocks are stropped with whippings. They look much better and hold better. I freeze all of my knots with CA. On some seizings directly to mast heads or the jib, I have actually glued the rope down without any knot, just a single wrapping. I try to avoid that, but have a few.
 
I attached the royal yard last night and just about fully prepared the topgallant yard and will be attaching that later today.  I should have some photos for you.

Mike,
 
I "whip" as many knots that way as I can. My strategy on seizing stays and shroud lines to the masts by doing them in a vice and slipping them over the mast in a systematic planned method allows me to use these whippings. I can tie these knots pretty well in a vice, not so much so on a mast.  All of my blocks are stropped with whippings. They look much better and hold better. I freeze all of my knots with CA. On some seizings directly to mast heads or the jib, I have actually glued the rope down without any knot, just a single wrapping. I try to avoid that, but have a few.
 
I attached the royal yard last night and just about fully prepared the topgallant yard and will be attaching that later today.  I should have some photos for you.

MORE TOPGALLANT RATLINES AND STAYS
 
I finished the port side ratlines on the topgallant shrouds. I also seized more backstays, topgallant, royal etc. stays and slipped them over the mast adding more vines to the assembly. It gave me cause to insert the mast and do some inventory to make sure I had all of the lines set correctly.  So far so good.... I think. I took a few photos.
 
This process is slow and a real mental challenge. I will be working on the foremast yards next to prepare them for attachment. The plan is to attach the royal and topgallant yards before stepping the mast. I will not attach the course yard until I have tied the lower shrouds. I haven't decided what to do with the topsail yard, but will probably attach it before stepping the mast.
 
And when and if I ever finish the foremast, I have the mainmast waiting in the wings.  

There going to love floating that fine ship in the bathtub

MORE TOPGALLANT RATLINES AND STAYS
 
I finished the port side ratlines on the topgallant shrouds. I also seized more backstays, topgallant, royal etc. stays and slipped them over the mast adding more vines to the assembly. It gave me cause to insert the mast and do some inventory to make sure I had all of the lines set correctly.  So far so good.... I think. I took a few photos.
 
This process is slow and a real mental challenge. I will be working on the foremast yards next to prepare them for attachment. The plan is to attach the royal and topgallant yards before stepping the mast. I will not attach the course yard until I have tied the lower shrouds. I haven't decided what to do with the topsail yard, but will probably attach it before stepping the mast.
 
And when and if I ever finish the foremast, I have the mainmast waiting in the wings.  

There going to love floating that fine ship in the bathtub

Not a lot of open seas in Ohio Amish Country, but we do have a lot of wood. I am trying to convince our friends at Keim to get some castello boxwood. That is the only specie they do not offer. I am really spoiled too. Going in person and inspecting the stock is a real luxury.
 
Good luck on the deadlines. Got to save me one of those "signed" 2nd editions.

Using laminated stock is a great hedge against warping. Using stable wood such as cherry and walnut is also a good idea. I also turned masts from American Holly that I milled myself from a stock board I picked up at Keim's. It turns wonderfully and the white grain-less finish eliminates the need to paint them. Probably too late for your Connie, but a good choice for white colored masts.

There going to love floating that fine ship in the bathtub