JerseyCity Frankie

I often wonder about the same thing. failing a LOT of Brails, I can't imagine how this could be achieved. I can imagine four or even five brails with their lead blocks but the blocks would be noticeable sitting out there on the stay, they would appear in the etchings.  In order to get a man to be able to bundle the sail up close to the stay, he would need one of those knotted footropes as one sees on jibbooms to stand on. With nothing to stand on, I can't imagine the sailors able to get a neat furl on or be expected to survive the task nine time out of ten. 

....

Thanks

I have only found one picture of a fog buoy in use so far - boxy with the cruciform structure with floats at the end would seem to generate the splashing and noise as described in this picture.
 
http://www.ilnprints.co.uk/Vintage-Transport-Prints-Vintage-Warship-Prints/c338_74/p1230/Warship-Trailing-a-Fog-Buoy-1912/product_info.html
 
Several sources describe it, but perhaps none so eloquently as this:
 
HMS Naneric 3 July 1918 Convoy Mid-Atlantic

"6.0 dropped fog buoy"

(Poetry to the rescue)

"A fog-buoy was a marker float, towed on the end of a fine wire or rope, from the stern of each ship (except the last) of a line in close company, in fog. In line ahead (each ship following in the wake of another) the standard distance apart was 2 1/2 cables, or 500 yards. If the visibility was less than that distance, then the ship ahead streamed (= let out) a fog-buoy to a distance of 500 yards, and the ship astern kept the buoy abreast its bridge. Thus you knew that you were the right distance astern of your next ahead. The buoy consisted of a cross of wood, about 4 feet long, and 3 feet wide, in the form of a crucifix, towed, as it were, from the short, head, end. The cross arms were to prevent it from turning over, while at the foot end was a scoop, made of galvanized sheet iron/steel, which threw up a plume of water, readily visible. But the fog-buoy would not "guide you through the haggard night" in fog - you really would be unlikely to see it even if it was alongside you, no more than 25 yards away: darkness plus fog means adopting some other formation. But "squattering" exactly describes the buoy's motion, jerking, jinking, tunnelling through the waves."
http://www.kipling.org.uk/naval2.htm

Hi Ron -
 
As Remco says, you have to start with some pretty wide stock to get the proper spiled shape for the final planks.   And with clinker planking you don't have the freedom to make adjustments the way you do with carvel hulls.
 
I found it incredibly useful when I was building the hull of the Thames River Skiff to cut each plank shape out of cardstock before committing to wood.  I generated a lot of scraps, but learned where the difficulties were going to be and what wierd shapes I needed to get a fair hull with even and consistent reveals from plank to plank.
 
Best holiday wishes to you and yours.
 
Dan

Thanks, Keith, and Martin, for your comments--you're right, the admiration and inspiration we get (not to mention knowledge gained) from those who work at the highest level is often what drives us to do more, and better, than we ever could on our own.
 
 
Today's minor update:
 
As much as I've rhapsodized about the joys of my little cutter, I'm also feeling a little burnt out!   I didn't spend very much time on it today.
 
But I did decide that it would be better to do the gunwales before the thwarts, just in case I need "elbow room" while gluing the gunwales on, without the thwarts in the way.  (I do try, at least sometimes, to think ahead!)  In anticipation of that work, I also determined that the apron at the stem needed to be cut down from where I initially had it-- 
 

 
 
The gunwales need to be 1 1/2 inches thick, by two inches wide.  Using my rotary tool "thickness sander" I roughly sanded some stock down to approximately 1/16th inch square (about 3" x 3" in scale), wet and heated it, to set the curve. The piece on the left I have started sanding down to final thickness--
 

 
 
The next photo shows the difference between the rough form, and final thickness.   There's also a pretty significant kink in the curve of the un-sanded piece, but I think it will disappear by the time it gets down to its final dimensions.  In the background you can see I also had to re-glue the starboard rising piece.  It had come loose on some of the frames.  This is not a good thing--some earlier varnishing of the interior may have compromised the gluing integrity on the frames-- 
 
  
 
 
I think I am going to stain the gunwale black.  I'll do this before I glue them on.   The other pieces that attach to the gunwale--the breasthook, and a piece and some angles at the transom-- willI also be stained, but not the washboard.   The port gunwale has been sanded to the correct thickness, but not yet the width.  The starboard is still rough--
 

 
 
And that's it for now.
 
Ron

The following sequence shows the way I have made the rope Gaetan.
whirl end with threads twisted I added the arrows to remind myself of the correct turn

spinner end ready to rotate

The beginning of the rotation of the spinner end

Notice the three twisted lines at the centre of the span

The rope unhooked at the spinner end

the finished spin at the whirl end

The cut rope on the bottom is the same rope that was used for the original test that was laid up left handed and too loose the bottom rope was unwound and rewound using the drill and resetting for the right hand lay,  the bottom rope is still not perfect as it is unraveling a little so the equal tension is not quite right yet

the two coils of rope to show the progression of the method that I am getting a little better at.

 
Michael
 
 

Thanks Guys, really enjoying the deck...  Adding another 4 hours to log...
 
I am wondering about gangway and skylight.  Is it most realistic if decking goes underneath or do they sit on top of the decking like most other deck fixtures such as windlass?
 
Thanks for looking and Merry Christmas and holiday season to all. Happy crafting..  Ollie

The Halifax has six small 3-pounder guns on deck. On a 1:80 scale they will be very small, so I started work on one of the carriages to see if it is feasible.Well, it is   That's a 5 eurocent coin for reference
 

Here's a overview of the work that has already been done.
 
The keel and bulkheads were sawn from 3mm plywood (by hand with a fretsaw). The decks are made of 1mm plywood. I use high-quality birch plywood.
 

 

 
A dry-fit of the bulkheads. So far I'm satisfied with the result
 

 
A dry-fit with the decks.
 

 

21:00 And first hand of first phase of first side of hull planking is finally over.
 
Why it is impossible to attach files from android with Opera app. ? With froyo 2.1. fabric inteerenet app it is slow slow slow
 
Sorry, pictures will be shown later when family battle for laptop finish. What do you think: who will be a winner of that battle? And most important question : when ? And another question : how much computers are enough for four members family? Ahh ... never ending story of our life.
 
23:00  Laptop is fortunately captured, pictures successfully transferred  from FB and here is today progress vrom different angle view.
 
Obviously. there is much work left to do with sanding and filling to get proper shape, especially in transition area between hull and the plank. But first, to finish another side of ship at same way. I think this is important to achieve symmetry as much is possible 
 
But she began to look powerfull ( or dreaming ?)
 
side wiew
 

 
front wiew
 
 

 
from down
 

 
 
and the nicest view - from up
 
 

 

Jay,
I have those pics for you.
It looks like the bentinck shroud legs are middled through a thimble eyespliced into the shroud, the splice served.  There are 4 legs, the center pair are not actually shroud legs but they look like a long seizing, frapped, between the middle futtock shrouds and the bentinck shroud thimble.  The other 3 legs have a thimble spliced into each end with a frapped seizing attaching them to the futtock stave. The shroud legs are served their entire length.
 
The lower end of the bentinck shroud is seized around a heart with a throat and four round seizings.  The lower heart is stropped double with two eyes. The eyes are held with a pin through an eyebolt in the waterway.  The lanyard starts with an eye splice in the upper heart and the end is hitched round the shroud at the throat seizing end the bitter end seized to one of the parts of the laniard.
 
Also visible in the photos is the attachments of the catharpin legs.  You can also see that the bentinck shroud is served where there may be chafe from other rigging.
 
Hope this info helps.
 

The flat spiral coils in question are known as Flemish Coils and they do have a place on sailing vessels. They are used in places where there are a combination of factors: a long line that needs to be stowed yet instantly available if needed and no good place to hang them, they are also best in places where there is a lot of foot traffic as they are the only type of coil that can be trod upon without ruining them. They are in fact deigned to be walked over although it is likely not encouraged. The yacht your building would have had a large crew which would mean every space on deck would see a lot of foot traffic. Also with no bullwarks there aren't too many convenient places to hang a round coil and keep it off the deck so the Flemish Coil is your only answer. Some long lines are flaked down in figure eights as suggested, but they make a larger "footprint" on the deck and when accidentally kicked they lose their shape and their ability to run without fowling becomes suspect. The Flemish Coil does soak up water and hold it against the wooden deck and that is bad for the deck so if the vessel is not underway the coils would be made up and hung off the deck. The Flemish Coil's precise form takes a lot of effort to get right and they do look "fancy" and on a working vessel they are considered "yachty"-a pejorative term- but you will see them at any marina being used as the best way to keep the long ends of docklines from cluttering up the docks making them unsafe to walk upon. Picture the tackle on a cannon: the lines are long and they can't be made to pins on the bullwarks so they are either gasket coiled and hung on the gun itself or they are Flemished on deck. Incidentally the Flemish coil is always laid in a clockwise direction with the bitter end at the center.

The flat spiral coils in question are known as Flemish Coils and they do have a place on sailing vessels. They are used in places where there are a combination of factors: a long line that needs to be stowed yet instantly available if needed and no good place to hang them, they are also best in places where there is a lot of foot traffic as they are the only type of coil that can be trod upon without ruining them. They are in fact deigned to be walked over although it is likely not encouraged. The yacht your building would have had a large crew which would mean every space on deck would see a lot of foot traffic. Also with no bullwarks there aren't too many convenient places to hang a round coil and keep it off the deck so the Flemish Coil is your only answer. Some long lines are flaked down in figure eights as suggested, but they make a larger "footprint" on the deck and when accidentally kicked they lose their shape and their ability to run without fowling becomes suspect. The Flemish Coil does soak up water and hold it against the wooden deck and that is bad for the deck so if the vessel is not underway the coils would be made up and hung off the deck. The Flemish Coil's precise form takes a lot of effort to get right and they do look "fancy" and on a working vessel they are considered "yachty"-a pejorative term- but you will see them at any marina being used as the best way to keep the long ends of docklines from cluttering up the docks making them unsafe to walk upon. Picture the tackle on a cannon: the lines are long and they can't be made to pins on the bullwarks so they are either gasket coiled and hung on the gun itself or they are Flemished on deck. Incidentally the Flemish coil is always laid in a clockwise direction with the bitter end at the center.

I was going to wait until I had the brake pumps completed, but here are some quick snaps of the current state of things:
 
I've got the bitts completed (except for some rings for the stoppers that'll wait until after the initial painting):


 
Also have completed the cisterns and covers for the chain pumps - still need to fashion some handles:

 
Just for a bit of extra fun... I've left off the cover on one of the cisterns to "expose" the underlying chain wheel:


 

 
It started with me strolling through the model train store for something to use for my capstan drumheads.  I didn't find anything suitable, but this little packet did catch my eye:
 

 
And I thought, hmmmm...
 
So after forking over too much hard earned cash (I think each wheel ended up being over a buck!) I trimmed them up slightly and glued on some small lengths of styrene rod then snipped off the ends.  I suppose some spare PE railings or scale ladder bent around the circumference would've worked as well:
 

 

 
They are really cable sheaves and aren't quite perfect for the job, but at this scale, and barely visible thru the openings, it should suffice well enough.  I'm just gonna paint it black then leave well enough alone - I don't fancy trying to replicate the chain.  That'd be too fiddly and would likely diminish the effect.
 
And just to make sure people know these things don't all work out on the first try... Here is my debris field:

 
Thanks for following along

Now it is on to the deck details - starting with the capstans.  The one provided in the kit sucks and begs for replacement. I also need to provide one for the gun deck.
 
But how to do the drumheads - especially when using styrene?  I pondered and pondered and finally came up with an approach that worked reasonably well.  The key was to visit the local hardware store to acquire some metal washers of appropriate size - 1/8" (#6) did the trick.  The washers will serve as the outline of the circles as we spin everything around on the drill press and use a file to shape the drumhead.
 
Here are the raw materials:

 
After outlining the circles on some sheet styrene (using the washers as a template), I punched the centers and rough cut the shapes.  Those were then mounted on a bolt sized to the washer opening with two washers sandwiching each side of the styrene.  Everything was then clamped tight with the nut:


 
I mounted the set up in the drill press, gave it a whirl, and filed the blanks even with the edges of the washer templates:

 
After removing the styrene from the bolt - viola!  


 
Next I snipped some small styrene stock (.040 x .080 Evergreen 144) and glued them around the perimeter leaving spaces in between to represent the bar openings:

 
After sandwiching those between two of the styrene "washers" I nipped off any protruding material, mounted the rough drumhead back in my bolt assembly and gave it another spin with some light filing to clean the final shape.

 
The whelps were easily managed - just stuck some short pieces of .080 x .080 (Evergreen 164) styrene to some tape and used a round file to carve out the centers:

 
Everything was glued to a small length of styrene rod (6.4mm - Plastruct 90864) and a few small details were added to complete the effect. Coincidentally, the rod fit exactly into the center openings defined by the washers.
 
Here is the gun deck capstan:

 
I wanted the spar deck capstan to look more like the one on the Hull model in the PEM - more mushroom shaped and svelte in comparison to the stockier gun deck capstan:


 
Thanks for enduring the process explanation!

I will put in a word for basswood. The original poster said his samples were in a sad state but that doesn't mean all basswood is junk. Where I live its available in all sorts of dimensions at craft and art supply stores and I buy square stock and work it down to the spar I want and if you select a straight piece of wood you will get a straight spar. Kit manufacturers are notorious for providing poor wood.

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.  
 
 

Sophie deck. My favorite ship model photo. You can see the scribed deck in this shot. The black football shaped objects are the smallest seeds I could find. I hope they never get wet and start to sprout one day since they are all over the rigs of a lot of my ship models! Donald Mcnarry describes using "Lobelia" seeds on his miniatures but I have never had any luck finding them. The cannons have a very slight blue color drybrushed onto them. I was watching a film and the cannons in the movie had a bluish cast to them so I said "why not"? It plays off the red nicely and to me it doesn't leap out at you and offend the eye but at the same time it suggests (to me anyway) the reflectivity of a glossy black surface. The coils of line are deliberately all different shades of grey and pale tan to suggest lines of various age and use.
 
 
.

I finished this model four years ago and I have had some trouble finding the photo documentation since I had a computer die on me and files were all over. Likely I will add more as I find them.
This is a scratch built solid basswood hull model of a fictional ship based on the actual brig H.M.S. Speedy made famous by Lord Cochrane and fictionalized by Patrick O’Brian. Drawings were found on the web and the novel itself gives a great deal of useful information including measurements.

On the Lettie the headsail with the spar attached is known as the Jumbo, and the spar is known as the Jumbo Club. Why its not known as a jib I can't tell you. Clubs on headsails are not uncommon, at least not on schooners, and they help the sail maintain an optimal shape. Tacks are not the line your thinking of Themadchemist. Sheets adjust the headsails, The tack is the forwardmost lowest corner of a fore and aft sail and there is a tack line holding it in place but its never adjusted and is more like a lashing. Incidentally I have sailed on Lettie and in the photo its likely she has JUST come about and the photo was likely taken in the instant before the sheets were adjusted. She wouldn't be sailing around with her hadsails like that, this is a temporary condition.

Just to bring the narrative up to date: Lettie G Howard is back from her four month refit in Main and is tied up once again on pier 17 in lower Manhattan-right by the Brooklyn Bridge- with her spars back in place. in Main a new keelson was built, made of purpleheart. This month the South Street Seaport Museum announced a partnership for the vessel with the New York Harbor School and she is expected to be sailing again in the spring. So things are looking up for Lettie. The museum is still of VERY shaky legs though and things could still get dire, but this time last year the damage from the hurricane made it seam like the whole seaport district could have been bulldozed and today there is a plan for Lettie's future and skilled, tenacious people in place who are determined to make things work down there.

Just to bring the narrative up to date: Lettie G Howard is back from her four month refit in Main and is tied up once again on pier 17 in lower Manhattan-right by the Brooklyn Bridge- with her spars back in place. in Main a new keelson was built, made of purpleheart. This month the South Street Seaport Museum announced a partnership for the vessel with the New York Harbor School and she is expected to be sailing again in the spring. So things are looking up for Lettie. The museum is still of VERY shaky legs though and things could still get dire, but this time last year the damage from the hurricane made it seam like the whole seaport district could have been bulldozed and today there is a plan for Lettie's future and skilled, tenacious people in place who are determined to make things work down there.

Just to bring the narrative up to date: Lettie G Howard is back from her four month refit in Main and is tied up once again on pier 17 in lower Manhattan-right by the Brooklyn Bridge- with her spars back in place. in Main a new keelson was built, made of purpleheart. This month the South Street Seaport Museum announced a partnership for the vessel with the New York Harbor School and she is expected to be sailing again in the spring. So things are looking up for Lettie. The museum is still of VERY shaky legs though and things could still get dire, but this time last year the damage from the hurricane made it seam like the whole seaport district could have been bulldozed and today there is a plan for Lettie's future and skilled, tenacious people in place who are determined to make things work down there.

That is when I realized that the used Krick-deadeyes were drilled too unevenly for my taste ... As I did not want to discard my painfully soldered parts and get better deadeyes, I startet closing the holes with toothpicks and filed them even. 
 

 
Just then I realized that because of the size and curved surface the planned drilling templates did not work :-(
At least I know by now why they those bastards are drilled the way that they are ...
 
OK, good old solid handwork, putting each part into the vise and mark the central line for the two middle holes ...
 

 
... and with patience, a template and a good eye drill the preliminary holes with 0,5 mm, set the third hole with a fresh eye ...
 

 
... and finish the drilling with 0,8 mm.
 

 
I usually drill small holes by hand with the drill fixed on a round material as it gives far more control as any machine! .
 
Now came the tricky part of straightening everything up, worked best upon a cutterblade, even the smallest loops :-)
 

 

 
And finally I had a complete set of deadeyes and preventer plates for the main-mast channel on my adhesive tape. :-)
 

 
Hourray
 
 
... and finally came the montage :-)
 
First à la nature ...
 

 
... then with a little bit of colour ...
 

 

 

 
... and it looks like it was all simple! ;-)
 
 
 
Liebe Grüße, Daniel

Here comes the lower part for the fore- and main-channels ...
 

 
... bent around two steel pins and  squeezed in the middle.
 

 
For the bolts I use sewing pins. I grind the diameter on a file by putting the pins into my Dremel and afterwards still reduced the hight. The needed lengh will be around 4 mm. On the left the original needle.
 

 
And now the soldering - what a hell to learn :-)
 
First the lower ring, then sliding it into the loop of the deadeye, putting it into the third hand for soldering ...
 

 
... and ready. Looks sooooo easy ;-) The black is not burnt but just some paint :-)
 

 
Here the ensemble is already in place, the part that is ment to go into the hole of the hull is lenghend in its place and bent ...
 

 
... putten into the hole and the needle forced in with it. Take a thread and check direction and angle. Secure it with a drop of superglue. 
 

 

 
A package of tree with different lengths.