Jonny 007

I rigged the sail and left a little extra thread on so I could get a wee glimpse of what she might look like... So, without further ado, I give you my Jolly Boat with sails! Tomorrow I’ll take it down and tie on all the correct and extra rigging I have planned. But for tonight I will just bask in all her glory. I have thoroughly enjoyed myself so far and I am quite pleased with the results thus far. Even if I do say so myself.

The instructions are bit vague about how to rig the sail, so I took what I hope is the common sense approach. Im going to do most of the rigging off ship. First up, a knot! Held in place with a dab of super glue. Rig a rig a rosies... And that’s the bottom done! Time for the top.

I have been waiting for the post person to bring me some supplies from a well known shop in south west England. However, it doesn’t seem like they will ever arrive now which sucks the big one. Most of the bits were extras to add a bit of extra rigging detail. So not the end of the world (But was an end to the $50 I had spent). They may still show up sometime this century. The big bummer was I had ordered some replacement dowel to remake my boom and spar thingy so I could use the sails as is. No dowel, no finish I then came up with a plan B: This involved a trip out to the garage and a visit to the box of previous attempts at model boat building. I had a look through the bits left over from the ‘President’ build and low and behold, there was some 4mm dowel! There are also some other bits and bobs that may come in handy for future bashing. One thing I noticed, is the quality of the Mantua thread is vastly superior to that of the supplied AL stuff. So much so that it will be something I look at for future builds. The Mantua stuff isn’t all fluffy like the AL stuff. I might redo the rigging completely on this build sometime. With my newly robbed dowel I proceeded to cut each part to fit the sail not the plans. One advantage of doing things twice is the small improvements you can make. Practise makes perfect! On my first attempt I had already glued in the yoke (?) Which made it really fiddle to fit in the drill and I ran the risk of damaging the wood. This time I did it the way everyone else does. Cut the wood longer than you need so you have a piece that goes into the drill that can be cut off later. Also, this timber was much easier to work with. It’s a darker wood (walnut?) but it sands up beautifully. No lathe required! I just used this well documented method. It works remarkably well and I thoroughly enjoy making these. nice to be making progress again!

Making some great progress and she’s looking good! I love cutters and plan to build this at some point in the future. I’ve pulled up a deck chair and will be following along for the journey.

Nice work on your Bounty! I have the Del Prado version of this part work. I think the Del Prado was based on the AL model. It certainly looks different to yours. I like you colour scheme. I have seen it on smaller pictures, but seeing it on your model really makes it easier for me to paint mine (when I get back to it) I will be interested to see how you get on with the rigging on your Bounty. Apparently this is a bit average with the Del Prado version.

Do you still have the AOS Alert book for sale and would you be willing to post this to NZ? Let me know and we can talk turkey via PM’s. Thanks Jonny

Deck has now been installed via the ‘use all of the clamps’ method. Clamps, clamps, clamps. I love clamps.

Hi Kenna, As a rookie when it comes to building static model ships I can’t be of much help there, But as a 20 year veteran of the RC world, I could lend some advice in that department. I sail 1 metre (or 3 yards) model yachts and there is a couple of key things to know. Firstly, you need to know if there are any radio frequency requirements where you are going to sail. Once upon a time people had to use various different “crystals” to make sure you were not on the same frequency as someone else. These days we all use 2.4gz which removes this problem. You will then need to think about how many channels you will need and how complex your running gear will be. I’m hoping that your dad and you have some idea about R/C stuff already and know all this stuff. If not, sing out and I can help set you up with a good starting point that won’t break the bank. While there are many cheap suppliers of radio gear these days, there is no substitute for good sail servos. The sail servo is what is going to pull the ropes connected to the sails. There will be a lot of pressure on them so you will need good ones. In my own personal humble opinion, there is no good cheap Chinese knock off sail servo. While there are several Chinese manufacturers who (legally) make okay radio gear, there have never perfected the sail servo. Decent ones are not cheap, but you can’t sail a boat without one. Budget some decent cash here to avoid disappointment. And by decent cash I mean a couple of hundred USD’s. Also, it might be a good idea to find out if there is a local model boat club and go and chat with them. Try looking up ‘International 1 Metre’ too and see if anyone sails model yachts near by and go and say hi. Good luck, and please, start a build log here so we can follow along!

Hi Eamonn, I have just been looking through your build log. Thanks for posting all the detailed updates! Lots of great ideas and inspiration for my own build.

I have glued the frames in place and used the deck to align things. I will leave it for 24 hours and then look to glue the deck down and insert some filler blocks fore and aft.

Today I marked the bottom of each frame to give me some idea of where the rabbet was likely to be. I followed @egkb‘s log and have decide to only complete the rabbet at the completion of the first planking. But I did reduce the amount of material at the stern. I then partial faired frames 1-3 and 8-9 using my improvised sanding station in the laundry. My little red Mazda did not like getting covered in dust. I will need to attend to her tomorrow...

Some of my goodies have shown up. Still waiting on wood though so I can finish. Not all of this is for the Jolly Boat. Some will be used on a future build too. But I guess it can’t hurt to have spare bits lying around.

The first two frames are a little loose. This will require some Lego when glueing. The rest are snug which is great. I now need to mark the boarding line and carve the rabbet. It’s has also been mention that feathering the bulkheads prior to glueing can ease the process so I will try that. I will also be adding mast supports with some scrap wood.

First up is to get familiar with all the plans and locate all the various pieces. Seems simple enough. The next thing I did was vacuum all the sawdust out of the frame and bulkhead sheet. I saw this on another build log and it seem a great way to reduce the amount of sawdust I was going to get. I then went and labelled the bulk heads as per the instructions. Now it’s time to remove them all and test fit.

I won’t spend a lot of time talking about what’s in the box. Mainly because I’m not really that sure what I am supposed to report on. The timber strips all look good, not a lot of ‘fur’ The CNC pieces look okay too. Now for some pictures. Stuff in the box There are several sets of plans and a small instruction booklet to explain the different build sections. There are 3 pages to explain the build. The plans are excellent and provide a lot of detail. Glad I have a vague idea what I’m doing...

Hello, and welcome to my second model ship build. As I wait on the arrival of some additional parts to finish my Jolly Boat, I though I would get a head start on my next project. As normal, There will be a bit of a preamble before the actual build log, so feel free to skip ahead to the next post. I thought long and hard about my next boat build and decided on HM Schooner for a number of reasons. Some of which are: a) It seemed like a good next build as it isn’t too complicated. b) Double plank on bulkhead construction (Jolly Boat is single PoB) c) As a smaller kit I should be able to finish it in a reasonable time frame (kit instructions say 1 month of evening work) d) Has a deck to plank and deck features to build including Cannonades e) Has slightly more complicated rigging but not too much of a step up f) Some other good build logs for inspiration g) Cheap (came in the same as my Jolly Boat) h) I like Caldercraft kits and have two more to build after this Having other quality build logs to follow really helped a lot with my first build. There are several for the Ballahoo that I have been looking at. I will using these as a reference and source of inspiration. I also learnt a valuable lesson building my Jolly Boat. I like smaller boats. I like the quicker build times and I like having room for them. I can built them in my office inside. Bigger boats may mean a move to one of our garages (which is another story...) I also like the look of a bit of paint. Paint hid a lot of my mistakes in my first build! Don’t get me wrong, I still hope to build Caldercraft’s Diana kit some day and maybe even the victory. But I am fully aware that my skills are a long way away from those dreams. Or the 8000 hours it can take to build one!!! So, here we are. Build number two...

I’m waiting on the post person to deliver some of my extra goodies I ordered, including some timber so I can finish up. Sooo close now. I finished rigging the dead eyes. It wasn’t till I did the fourth one that it looked like they are supposed to. Practise will make perfect I guess. I also ran into the problem of adding tension to one line, could cause another line to slacken off. It only happen to one line (and only a little) and you can’t notice it. But it will be something I keep an eye on in the future. I’ve also been looking at my technique and it might not be the best option for rigging larger ships, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it. One is longer than the others, but it was also the neatest. At this point I am going to leave it as is. My rational is that this is a learning curve, and this will show my learning. While I’m waiting on the postal person I started wrapping up some of the other details. Like lashing the oars. I have also had a look through Chuck’s rigging guide for the Midway Longboat. It has really cleared up a few rigging questions I had. My plan is still to add a lot of additional rigging, but this is just going to be for fun and to add some extra detail.

@HardeeHarHar and @Modelkiwi thanks for stopping by and kind words of encouragement. And thanks to everyone for all the likes!

kia ora! Welcome to MSW. There are a few Kiwi’s lurking around on here and quite a few people from the West Island. @StuC I have spent a lot of time surfing Maori Bay, so much so, at one stage my nick name was Mr Mudbay (Maori Bay’s local name). I still have lots of friends that live out Muriwai. It’s a awesome beach. Not much of a fisherman myself, but here in Wanaka there are lots people that do. Apparently there is a local here who makes the best fly fishing rods in the world (world famous in NZ?) Personally, we use the lake for wakeboarding or Jetskiing! I look forward to following your build log for Lady Nelson.

Hello and welcome! I am currently working on my Jolly Boat and am at the rigging stage. Yours looks great! I can’t help with your sail question but there could be some answer in one of the sub sections on here? Anyway, I’d love to see some more pictures of your Jolly Boat, and look forward to seeing your next build.

First sails hoisted. It’s pretty exciting! A couple of pictures to document the momentous occasion haha. I also had a bit of a tidy up of my work station... Profile picture. Now it’s back to rigging the dead eyes.

I did the port, then starboard side dead eyes. They did not turn out to flash so I decided to move to something else to rest my nerves. I have also ordered some extra bits and bobs for my rigging which should arrive this week. In the mean time I thought I would hoist the jib sails. This involved adding a double block on the mast above the (insert actual term) and then adding little brass eyes to the sail cloth. Was a bit niggly at first and part of my wondered if I should have added them to the rope first. But all it took was a bit of trial and error but in the end just used to pairs of small needle nose pliers and I was away. Although one of the 3mm brass rings pinged off into the abyss never to be seen again. I feel that 8 rings per sail is not enough, and then picture on the box shows a lot more. So I ordered a lot more. 8 a sail gets them hoisted though. And the first sail is hoisted! Hooray!

So this is niggly... My first attempt at rigging dead eyes. First I connect the bottom dead eye to an eyelet. Next up I used a dab of superglue to locate the top dead eye roughly where I want it, allowing a bit extra for it to pull closer with tension. Once the super glue dried, I used PVA and a clamp to hold the line in place. Next up was using the ‘pin threader thingy’ to start pulling the line through. I need practise doing this. Half way there!

Welcome to Jonny 007’s newbie attempt at rigging a jolly boat. If, like me you find the rigging instructions vague at best with this kit you are not alone! So this will be my step by step guide to how I attempted the rigging. I also invite any tips or tricks that may help a newbie rig a jolly boat. Including corrections for terminology! First up is the rigging for the jib sails. From the pictures they require a twist at the top. I did this and then held it tight with a bull dog clip and added some watered down PVA to lock it in place. I then looped and glued them to the bowsprit and added a bit of weight to add to the tension. Once the watered down PVA dries I’ll do some lashing.

It’s now time to start rigging my little jolly boat. I have decided that I will add extra rigging to my model to make it look s bit more interesting. I have ordered some extra blocks, some rigging hooks, cleats and some belaying pins to help. This was not the original plan but looking at other builds on here it really helps lift the model. I ordered this book to help with future kits and will add some elements to my jolly boat. Some of my rigging will be simple for looks and will have no actual use in the real world/may not be historically correct, but only you and I will know! I also plan to do a step by step guide so that it may help other newbies.