michaelpsutton2

I presume this sail plan, and so many others show the square sails full width, shoulder to shoulder on the yards, where as in actual real world practice the sheet blocks would be seized on the shoulders and therefore the sails themselves could only be stretched a little less than the full width. To state it differently... the sail plan does not allow for the blocks. These are the kinds of thoughts that trouble me late at night when the house is quiet and I am hesitating to make an indelible mark in exactly the wrong place

I am currently working on a portrait of the brigantine Pandora of 1831 as shown in paintings as a packet. Two questions: 1.) How is the fore gaff hung? Jaws around the mast similar to the main or some kind of swivel like spencer gaffs? Not sure it would even show at 12'/inch.
2..) the sail plan shows the main topmast staysail on it's own stay. Might this sail have been set "flying"? The red numbers on the sail plan are my own additions to remind me of the size  drafting curves I used for those particular lines.

I would love to see the Kearsarge plans! How did you get them?

I would love to see the Kearsarge plans! How did you get them?

I have made fish davits.

Pencil sketch on A4 paper, found it under the printer!. 

Did this a long time ago. I think it was a 'J' class and a QE class Battleship.
acrylic on Mountboard about 16" X 11"ish.

Final Bounce
Based on 'China Clipper' Boeing 314 at Hong Kong. The golden age of Air Travel.
w/c 16" X 11" 

Thinking I was getting closer to masting  and rigging, I realized that I had multiple small items to make first. I decided to start with the studding sail booms and brackets.  
The booms were made from Costello boxwood that I shaped by hand.  I didn’t do a very good job on these, making 4 to get 2.  Good experience at shaping yards; but I’ve got to find a way of making them better.  These were stained with Ipswich pine stain which did not change the color much.  All in all I think these will work alright, not great.  The first problem I encountered was that there are 2 different sizes for the booms given on the plans.  Both the sail plan and the hull plan show the booms longer than the masting and spar plan.  These are significantly longer than EdT’s YA..  I ended up using the shorter boom which I shortened further by 1/8 in for a total length of 6 inches or 48 scale feet. The center band with 4 eyes was made from brass tube cut to 1/16 in wide and drilled for the 4 eyebolts with a #75 drill bit.  The metal eyes were made from 30 ga copper wire which the shanks fit in the drilled holes. These were then soldered together.  These came out well except that the 30 ga copper wire is so fragile that the eyes broke off several times while manipulating the bands to polish, cut off the shanks inside the bands (I used a small chisel as I found it almost impossible to file without bending/breaking the eyes) and fit them to the booms.  This required redrilling and soldering on new eyes which was easily done although frustrating.
The bands at the end which takes the gooseneck fitting was made from brass tube that I tapered and reamed out to fit the end of the boom.  The hook was made from.02 brass wire bent to shape.  All were blackened.  The center band were glued  first with cyano 1/3 of the way in from the outer end as shown in the plans and described by Underhill in his Masting and Rigging book.
The “V” shaped brackets that take the gooseneck were cut and filled from brass sheet.  As always the first one came out well, but it took 3 try’s to get the second one.
The legs were embossed to represent bolts as I was afraid to drill them for real bolts due to their small size.
I realized that these couldn’t be attached to the fore channels before the rear brackets were made and fitted.  I deviated from the plans in that I used brass rod for the struts per Underhill.  The main horizontal strut is 1/32 rod as is the hinge and the supporting strut is .02 in rod soldered to the band.  The brass tube was cut at 1/16 in width
I made flanges for the struts which are extremely small and probably not worth the effort.
The V brackets were cemented with cyano, while the rear brackets are place but not get permanently attached so they can be removed for safe keeping.
I also made the cap for the water tank.  This was turned from brass rodnote , one is soldered and the other to be soldered
 
 

Where I'm currently at:

Note to self: stay focused while shaping masts.

This started a series of mistakes, it took 3 attempts to arrive at the finished items. The second pair were correct.....until I followed Underhill's advice to check the sizing of the mast above before committing yourself on the lower one. I'm becoming quite proficient at manufacturing masts from square stock as a result.
The "lug" on the cap for the crane caused some problems, snapping three 0.5mm bits or off centre holes on the underside while trying to drill holes for the crane pins. Drilling 1.04mm holes through the brass and brazing in 1mm tube sleeves with 0.5mm ID worked a treat.
 

 

Grant.
 
 

I had always hoped as well for a follow on volume to include up to the end of the Napoleonic period as well. This is obviously the moment for someone to step up[ in collaboration with the esteemed Mr McLaughlin and the new proprietors of Sea Watch Books. One wonders if a more general reference work might find a larger readership than a work on a single vessel. I swear with Bob as my witless if I were a younger, smarter, more affluent man, and lived within drinking distance of the NMM, I would at least pretend to try it myself.

I had always hoped as well for a follow on volume to include up to the end of the Napoleonic period as well. This is obviously the moment for someone to step up[ in collaboration with the esteemed Mr McLaughlin and the new proprietors of Sea Watch Books. One wonders if a more general reference work might find a larger readership than a work on a single vessel. I swear with Bob as my witless if I were a younger, smarter, more affluent man, and lived within drinking distance of the NMM, I would at least pretend to try it myself.

I had always hoped as well for a follow on volume to include up to the end of the Napoleonic period as well. This is obviously the moment for someone to step up[ in collaboration with the esteemed Mr McLaughlin and the new proprietors of Sea Watch Books. One wonders if a more general reference work might find a larger readership than a work on a single vessel. I swear with Bob as my witless if I were a younger, smarter, more affluent man, and lived within drinking distance of the NMM, I would at least pretend to try it myself.

I had always hoped as well for a follow on volume to include up to the end of the Napoleonic period as well. This is obviously the moment for someone to step up[ in collaboration with the esteemed Mr McLaughlin and the new proprietors of Sea Watch Books. One wonders if a more general reference work might find a larger readership than a work on a single vessel. I swear with Bob as my witless if I were a younger, smarter, more affluent man, and lived within drinking distance of the NMM, I would at least pretend to try it myself.

I've had a reply from the author Ian McLaughlin and summarised below with permission.
 
"... I spoke with the publisher of the existing volume. He intimated that it is now difficult, from a commercial point of view, to publish and sell books on the age of sail. There are other factors as well, one that I am now partially disabled and getting to the National Archives, the Caird Library and Chatham would be difficult not to mention the exhorbitant cost of staying in the London area whilst I read into the subject. 
 
.... no volume about the period 1763 - 1850 would make sense without a serious American input, since the contribution the the Americans made to the concept of the Sloop of War was massive. The French contribution came in the form of Brigs and Cutters but more significantly in their privateers, many of which were captured by the Royal Navy and classed as Sloops."
 
So, sadly, from the author there will be no more follow up volumes as he is personally unable to the research, cover the cost of research, and get the publisher interested.
 
He is, however, the chairman of the Society of Model Shipwrights, based in the UK.
 
 

As I said in my own review a fine book and a welcome addition to my shelf. I will positively purchase any future volume in the series. So many other books seemed focused on the larger units of the fleet.
 
It would have been nice if there had been at least one example of the "brigantine rig" in the chapter on masting and sail plans. Also the tables of spar dimensions that were calculated by the author from Steel were at best put in the next volume and at worst unnecessary as anyone could generate those for him or herself.
 
As always I wish that the plans did not straddle the gutter between pages.

The compound curves up to the counter a superbly articulated

Close enough for government work: about 12"
 
 

Can anybody give me the dimensions of the reducing stake above the wale for this ship sloop. She was 96' on the gundeck, 313 tons, 16 guns.

So when can we order Rogers Collection Volume Three ?

Deciding on the arrangements of the cloths linings, reef bands, gussets, et al is a major head scratcher  on my drawings. I will oft as not, make a separate drawing for each sail before attempting to do it on the final piece. Unlike you model guys I cannot make a new piece. Very little is correctable. Prior planning can be a worthwhile investment of you time.

Deciding on the arrangements of the cloths linings, reef bands, gussets, et al is a major head scratcher  on my drawings. I will oft as not, make a separate drawing for each sail before attempting to do it on the final piece. Unlike you model guys I cannot make a new piece. Very little is correctable. Prior planning can be a worthwhile investment of you time.

Deciding on the arrangements of the cloths linings, reef bands, gussets, et al is a major head scratcher  on my drawings. I will oft as not, make a separate drawing for each sail before attempting to do it on the final piece. Unlike you model guys I cannot make a new piece. Very little is correctable. Prior planning can be a worthwhile investment of you time.

Every time I see a new comment on this post, my pulse races thinking that it is an announcement for the release of the third volume of the Rogers Collection by Grant Walker.