JerseyCity Frankie

If I had ANY of the series of these books I would not part with them. They are rather expensive and difficult to come by and these attributes are matched with spectacular comprehensive content that is beautiful. Its on my list of "if I ever win the lottery" things I would buy for myself if price was no object, in fact they would be near the top of the list.

I am very fortunate to own two original ship paintings by Geoff Hunt, the artist that painted the book covers of the original series. 

Kevels use the same friction principle as Belaying Pins and Cleats do. The end of the working line is taken to the Pin, the Cleat or the Kevel and three figure eight turns are taken around the two projections each of these things have. Its assumed the line is under strain or will be under strain. When the strain comes on the line, friction occurs where the line crosses over itself at the center of each figure eight turn. There is also friction where the line makes the 180 degree turns around the projections, but the main holding power comes from the line being made to press down on itself at the center of those figure eight turns.

Kevels use the same friction principle as Belaying Pins and Cleats do. The end of the working line is taken to the Pin, the Cleat or the Kevel and three figure eight turns are taken around the two projections each of these things have. Its assumed the line is under strain or will be under strain. When the strain comes on the line, friction occurs where the line crosses over itself at the center of each figure eight turn. There is also friction where the line makes the 180 degree turns around the projections, but the main holding power comes from the line being made to press down on itself at the center of those figure eight turns.

This topic is covered pretty comprehensively in another thread here somewhere. In short, the flag is tied to a Flag Halyard that is run through a very small block or sheave at the very top of the mast. If its a sheave its set directly into the cap on the masthead. The flag halyard material is some of the thinnest line on the whole ship so on your model make it the thinnest stuff you have. its one long line that runs all the way up to the masthead then all the way back down to the deck, this way the flag can be set or struck by someone standing on the deck, you don't have to climb up there to get it. It will belay immediately aft of the aftermost line coming off the mast it is on. No other line coming off the mast in question will belay behind this line. Its the highest line on the mast so it will be the aftermost line on the pinrail.

Kevels use the same friction principle as Belaying Pins and Cleats do. The end of the working line is taken to the Pin, the Cleat or the Kevel and three figure eight turns are taken around the two projections each of these things have. Its assumed the line is under strain or will be under strain. When the strain comes on the line, friction occurs where the line crosses over itself at the center of each figure eight turn. There is also friction where the line makes the 180 degree turns around the projections, but the main holding power comes from the line being made to press down on itself at the center of those figure eight turns.

They strike me as odd ropes to have around too. If you need to have a purchase aloft, why not just put a line around the masthead over the Trestle Trees? I guess you would need twenty more feet of rope to do it that way, if you didn't have the tackles hanging there. And I suppose the fact that they are there on every ship speaks to the fact they must have tried getting along without them and came to the conclusion they were better to have than not.

In a remarkable coincidence I was just this very evening reading an account of the shelling of Hartlepool in Robert K Massie's excellent Castles of Steel. Reading it for the second time. Its even better than I remembered it. I think all MSW people interested in Steel Navy should certainly have it on their shelf.

Hi to all out there,
 
Just to let you all know a little of my history, I'm a widower (having lost my wife to cancer 4 years ago), am 66 years young and disabled, served in military uniform for over 36 years and am now retired, hence the start of this hobby, I used to be one of the directors at the Heugh Battery Museum, until I resigned to look after my wife in her last days, so I am now a volunteer there, and the Heugh Battery is where the first person in England to be killed duringf World War One, and we have been restoring it from a run down car park and 'vagrant' area since the year 2000, we are now open to the public, and have lots of artifacts (that you would expect from both World Wars) 'plug for the Museum', see us on www.heughbatterymuseum.com.
 
One of the artifacts we have acquired is the model of the HMS Warspite  (Queen Elizabeth Class Battleship), she was built in 1912, launched in 1915, the over the years went through a lot of refits. The model we got from the Imperial War Museum was in a terrible state when we received it, (lots of parts missing and broken) it turns out that she was originally (the model) built by some shipyard apprentices to a very good state, but when some of the refits took place, the model was also updated, only not always by the same apprentices and this shows.
 
We received the model in a massive wooden box (where she had been stored during the Second World War, (for safe keeping), evidently this box had not been opened since about 1940/42, so a decision was taken to restore her to her refit of 1942, so the hunt was now on to find both plans and help to  put her right again, we received her in July 2013, we then asked around the volunteers as to who would like to take on this mammoth project, after a lot of 'head scratching etc'., it was decided that three of us would do it, Glenn (myself) who would do the most of the metal work (as I have a full workshop including a Lathe and Milling machine along with other machines) and the repair and replacement of some of the parts (which we have to source), along with painting and all the other 'mundane' work, Ken who took on the job of project leader, and works very closely with me, and Allan, who only wanted to do the ' deck planking' and a really good job he is doing of it, including putting cotton between the planks to give the nice black line between them.
 
I am going to copy all this onto another page when I post some of the photos that we have taken, (as I'm not sure that I'm doing this right.
 
So folks, that's all for now, if anyone wants more information, please don't hesitate to contact me and I'll try my best to answer you, thank you for reading all this, I hope I have't 'bored' you all to tears,
 
Sargofagus
 
Thought I'd add some photos of the progress, we have taken loads of the parts we have been able to strip down, but there is lots of 'bits' that we are going to have to source, the plans we are using is a book produced in Poland and is in Polish (also in English) and this has helped us immensely, we have to work out the scale as the full size, then reduce it to 1/48th scale, (but it is working), if anyone out there has any 'better' plans that you would let us have this would be fantastic, we are restoring it to around the 1942 period. Thanks again for your interest,
 
Sargofagus 
 
OOps forgot to add the photos, (you can tell I'm new to this) lol
 
I'm the one on photos 11, and 12, Allan is the other person on the photos,
Thanks
 
 

Hello Sam welcome to Model Ship World. I see this is your first post, congratulations. Flying Fish is a nice subject too. I did a quick web search and found this amazing treasure trove of information: http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/News/BDA/BDA(1851-11-04).html
 
According to this source, the Fore is 70', the Main is 80' and the Mizzen is 59' long.
 
You have not mentioned the scale of the version you are building but if you know the scale, you should be able to do some simple math and come up with the measurement in inches the model yards should be.

Lettie stopped in Jersey City for fuel a month or so ago and I got a few snaps. Here is a shot showing the boltrope. I blew up the detail and inserted it in the oval inset.

Lettie stopped in Jersey City for fuel a month or so ago and I got a few snaps. Here is a shot showing the boltrope. I blew up the detail and inserted it in the oval inset.

Hi everyone. Ingomar's construction is nearing an end. This has been a very enjoyable and challenging ship to build. I hope I've made Hereshoff proud!
 
Ok, so, the bits that I've just completed are the railings on the stanchions and the boarding ladder. I've added more rigging and a red cove stripe to highlight the sheer line, as well as gluing the boarding ladder onto the hull.
 
Things still to do are very minor, but include finishing the davits, completing the simulated blocks in the rigging and hanging the three ships boats.
 
Hope you enjoy the photos.
 
All the best!

Hi all.  Thanks Steve, Bob, Piet and everyone for your Likes and comments.
 
Ingomar's rigging continues.  However, tonight, I was mucking around with the camera and accidentally took a silhouette shot.  Didn't look too bad, I thought; so I ended up taking a few more.  Anyhow, here's what Ingomar looks like when you're chasing shadows!
 
All the best, everyone!

Hi Bob, Nils and everyone for their likes and advice.   I'm still jury-rigging rigging all over the place in order to see what works and what doesn't look right.  Bob- I'm sorry, but at this small scale, I'm going to have go with a simplified rig, without the detail that you're able to achieve.  Sort of like sacrificing accuracy for what looks right.  
 
Here're the latest photos.
 
All the best!

for construction i use pear wood.

i start to build the orlop deck , 

adnd now the lower deck

Dear colleagues, although a member of this forum for some time, this is the first post.
I started building model while hms leopard 1790 1/300 scale. i use drawing from the book of rif winfield.
here are some pictures of the model .
 

The 10th edition of Marryat's assigns every ship a number.  The numbers are assigned in groups of 10,000 - 0-9999 with each group headed by a designator or some other grouping flag
 
BTW: 3rd and 4th from  the left of the top row in your collage are duplicates.

 
I checked Marryat's 1847 and 1855 for the ID in your collage - neither book uses the number 3 designator pennant, it's probably a later code.
 
Going by the 1847 book (warships aren't listed in the 55 edition because the French didn't want to play any more)
I'll assume the sloop of war Constellation retained the number of the frigate she replaced; 564, so I'll fly this hoist from the model's mizzen head:

I photograph the flags in maritime paintings whenever I come across them. I have been adding to this collage now and then. These shots are nearly all of commercial ocean carrier type cargo ships of the late 1800's. Note that in many cases the hoist starts with a number and there are nearly always four letter flags beneath.
Not sure if this helps but I am throwing it in there.

Folks
 
I've been neglecting my build for many weeks... Late summer travel and life adventures.
 
I did manage to make my way to the Charlestown Navy Yard for an Old Ironsides fix. As many of you know, she'll enter the yard in early 2015 for an extensive three year restoration so this was a last chance to walk the decks for awhile.
 
I got some more photos of the correct carronade:

 
Also a good shot of the interlocking planking on the gun deck:

 
The kids are at an age where they can appreciate the interactive displays inside the Constitution museum. They were put to good work:
 
Hoisting livestock onboard:

Holystoning the deck:

And shortening sail:

 
They will make good topmen one day!
 
The bell that Constitution carried into the Guerriere battle was cast by Paul Revere and sadly destroyed. Here is the one requisitioned from the Guerriere:

 
And here is a shot of my favorite artifact in the museum - a hand drawn diagram by one of her lieutenants of the battle with Java. You have to find a little box on the wall and open the door:

Many folks don't realize that Java stern raked Constitution TWICE during the battle.
 
Here are some interesting detail shots from a series of paintings of the Java battle done by George Ropes Jr. - the deaf/mute apprentice of Michel Felice Corne. I hadn't seen these paintings before:
 


 
These also suggest a pale yellow stripe and five stern windows for those who care to ponder such things.
 
Altogether it was a great day in the Navy yard. The only disappointment was not being able to make Henry's acquaintance. I flubbed up the coordination with our rendezvous. The kids and I got caught up in the long queue inside the Bunker Hill monument... By the time we got down and over to the Navy yard the 1812 Marine detachment had decamped for the day and Henry wasn't able to hang back.
 
We've had brutal heat and humidity for much of the past few weeks here and it has only just now abated enough for me to venture back into the garage workshop. Fiddling with the 24-pdrs...
 
Thanks again to those who follow my build log.
 
Evan

The rigging of the foresail was a rather painful process. My paper-sail turned out to be not quite fit for the purpose. They would be good to represent sails billowing in the wind. However, for representing sails that are hanging limp from the rigging in order to dry this technique is not quite suitable. In the past I made similar sails from ‚silk-span’, i.e. the silk cloth that is used to cover model airplane wings. These sails could be draped quite well, but the material would have been still too thick for sails in the 1:90 scale.
 

The foresail set for drying
 

Details of the foresail rigg
 
So I toiled, sweating blood, but am still not really satisfied with the result. The foresail simply looks too stiff. I also had too cheat a bit in the area where the sail is pushed together above the dead-eye. Due to the rather forcefull procedure of folding the sails some of the hoops on the which the foresail runs on the stay were ripped off. There are many area where some touching up is necessary.
 

Forestay set-up with dead-eye
 

Halliard/down-haul belayed on mast-cleat
 
On the botters everywhere half-cleats were used. This makes belaying a bit tricky on a model and somehow doesn’t look quite right, though I followed the sketches in BEYLEN (1985)
 

Fore-sail sheet
 

Forestay set-up with dead-eye
 
A shortcoming often seen on shipmodels is that the running rigging seems to be sticking out of the block, i.e. it doesn’t run properly around the sheaves. The reason, of course, is that usually only a cross-hole is drilled, without attempting to shape the sheave. The rather elaborate procedure of block-making described earlier was intended to remedy this. Looking at the pictures, however, it seems that I only have been partially successful.
 

Fore-sail sheet
 

Masthead with the head of the foresail rigged with a sheep’s head-block
 
And finally here a selection from my arsenal of rigging tools:
 

Rigging tools (from left to right): straight watchmaker’s tweezers, bent tweezers, stamps-tweezers for draping sails and straightening wires, two antique micro-crochet hooks to pull on rigging, pin-vice with forked needel for pushing rigging, pin-vice, sewing needle for making fake splices, micro-scissors, microscopy-scalpel.
 
Next the main-sail will go on. Another problem case ...
 
wefalck

First of all, thank you very much to all well-wishers 
 
 
With many parts of the boat actually now completed, I turned my attention to the sails. I did this before painting the model, as various fitting and shaping actions will be required that may damage the paintwork.
The plan is to show the sails in a sort of semi-set stage, as they would be when the boat is in harbour, in order to allow them to dry. This going to be a much bigger challenge to represent convincingly than fully set or furled sails. As the boat will be shown in its winter rig, there will be only two sails.
The raw material is a very thin tissue paper that I found in my stock. The first step was to draw a sail plan 'as built', i.e. with the actual dimensions of the mast, boom and gaff.
 

Sail-plan ‚as built’
 

Sail-plan ‚as built’ (detail)
 
 
The shape of each panel of sail-cloth was pencilled in also with the help of a french curve. The drawing then was backed with a piece of stiff cardboard and covered in clingfilm. Based on this pattern the individual sail-'cloths' were cut from the tissue paper with the addition of 1 mm for the seam. This is rather wide at this scale, but inconsequential as the sail will not be translucent, being tanned and dressed (i.e. soaked in a broth from bark and smeared with a concoction of tallow, oil and ochre) on the prototype. This treatment prevents the formation of mildew and permits one to furl the sails when still wet.
 

The ‚cloths’ of the mainsail.
 
Using the drawing as a template, panels were stuck together using wood-filler (CLOU Schnellschleifgrundierung) as glue. The tissue paper soaks up the filler, turning it into a sort of compound material. I prefer wood-filler over diluted PVA-glue because it does not swell the paper and the joints can be loosened and re-adjusted by applying a drop of thinner. After completing the basic sails, outside margins and doublings were added in the same way, based on the detail drawings in VAN BEYLEN, (1995) and DORLEIJN (2001).
 

Glueing together the sail cloths
 
To be continued ...
 
wefalck

Finally I feel I know enough to start the rigging.  I did the starboard shrouds, the fore stay and the spring lines.  I had to do the deadeye lacing three times and the spring lines twice.  I made a jig to help make the thimbles but I’m still scrap a lot.  I may have to remake the jig.  Still a long way to go but at least I’m started.
 
Bob
 

                         Starboard side
 

                         Main shrouds
 

                        Fore shrouds
 

                        Main topmast looking aft
 

                        Main masthead
 

                        Fore masthead

I wish I had better photo coverage of the intervening stages of this build. I made the sails out of two or three layers of tissue paper that was dipped in Minwax water soluble polyurethane called Pollycrilic which dries fast and transparent. I made forms of clay in the shape of the billowing sails and draped the wet tissue over them. When they hardened they had the belly shape I was after and I painted them and cut them to size and glued them to the model. The inner face of the sails were too smooth since they were in contact with the forms and there were some air bubbles but I disguised them with “patches” of more tissue.  
 
 

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02488/flag_2488242b.jpg
 
I wish I could tell you more about this image. Its said to be a flag flown at tTrafalgar from the San Ildefonso. Further its said to have been flown over St Paul's Cathedral during Admiral Nelson's funeral.