JerseyCity Frankie

Yes, the Preiser sculpting and anatomy is my benchmark. I have used them for one-off conversions. I cannot stand those garden dwarf-like 'wargaming' figurines - I gather the reason for their stocky built is to provide for more rugged handling during the game, but they are not good for scale models.

It’s tough to paint accurate sharp tiny little triangles on small scale ship models. And yellow is always a difficult and temperamental color when you try to cover a darker color, it’s never opaque enough. If you try to use paint my advice is to paint the yellow and green (or other brighter colors) White first, then apply the other colors over the white after its dry. 
Looking at an existing model photo I found online I can see your problem! That’s going to be a chore. If it was me I would skip using paint altogether and use cut paper instead. But if you’re dead set on using paint I suggest you paint the decorative area entirely in yellow, then mask off with a lot of triangular pieces of tape, then paint the green. 

It’s tough to paint accurate sharp tiny little triangles on small scale ship models. And yellow is always a difficult and temperamental color when you try to cover a darker color, it’s never opaque enough. If you try to use paint my advice is to paint the yellow and green (or other brighter colors) White first, then apply the other colors over the white after its dry. 
Looking at an existing model photo I found online I can see your problem! That’s going to be a chore. If it was me I would skip using paint altogether and use cut paper instead. But if you’re dead set on using paint I suggest you paint the decorative area entirely in yellow, then mask off with a lot of triangular pieces of tape, then paint the green. 

It’s tough to paint accurate sharp tiny little triangles on small scale ship models. And yellow is always a difficult and temperamental color when you try to cover a darker color, it’s never opaque enough. If you try to use paint my advice is to paint the yellow and green (or other brighter colors) White first, then apply the other colors over the white after its dry. 
Looking at an existing model photo I found online I can see your problem! That’s going to be a chore. If it was me I would skip using paint altogether and use cut paper instead. But if you’re dead set on using paint I suggest you paint the decorative area entirely in yellow, then mask off with a lot of triangular pieces of tape, then paint the green. 

constitution has footropes on her spritsail yard today. Brig Niagara does not.
footropes on the Jibboom or Bowsprit need to be in pairs since the crew will need access to both the port and Starboard sides of the spars during any kind of maintenance. And when furling the headsails, after the hailyards are let go the canvas will spill to the leeward side of the headrig and that big bundle of canvas will blanket the footropes on the side it comes down on so you need port and Starboard footropes to allow the crew to get out there and furl while standing on the windward footropes. 

constitution has footropes on her spritsail yard today. Brig Niagara does not.
footropes on the Jibboom or Bowsprit need to be in pairs since the crew will need access to both the port and Starboard sides of the spars during any kind of maintenance. And when furling the headsails, after the hailyards are let go the canvas will spill to the leeward side of the headrig and that big bundle of canvas will blanket the footropes on the side it comes down on so you need port and Starboard footropes to allow the crew to get out there and furl while standing on the windward footropes. 

It’s tough to paint accurate sharp tiny little triangles on small scale ship models. And yellow is always a difficult and temperamental color when you try to cover a darker color, it’s never opaque enough. If you try to use paint my advice is to paint the yellow and green (or other brighter colors) White first, then apply the other colors over the white after its dry. 
Looking at an existing model photo I found online I can see your problem! That’s going to be a chore. If it was me I would skip using paint altogether and use cut paper instead. But if you’re dead set on using paint I suggest you paint the decorative area entirely in yellow, then mask off with a lot of triangular pieces of tape, then paint the green. 

constitution has footropes on her spritsail yard today. Brig Niagara does not.
footropes on the Jibboom or Bowsprit need to be in pairs since the crew will need access to both the port and Starboard sides of the spars during any kind of maintenance. And when furling the headsails, after the hailyards are let go the canvas will spill to the leeward side of the headrig and that big bundle of canvas will blanket the footropes on the side it comes down on so you need port and Starboard footropes to allow the crew to get out there and furl while standing on the windward footropes. 

Except for the two cleats which will go on after the bowsprit is in place (which I have facilitated by drilling locating holes in the bowsprit and corresponding pins in the wooden cleats this hopefully will not be too big a struggle assuming I remember to put the cleats on AFTER inserting the bowsprit though the hull and BEFORE securing it - time will tell) I believe In have all of the fittings required installed. I made the jib boom saddle out of a piece of polystyrene tube cut lengthwise with a scrap of 1/16 x 1/16 wood on either side (hence it is white). I simulated the bobstay wye iron with black laser board (aka thick paper) and an eyebolt. Next is paint and working the jib and flying jib booms. I am going to try to make them out of square section yellow cedar to try and keep all the "bright" wood in yellow cedar. I have not previously tried to make something square round but I seemed to manage on the bowsprit. We will see how that goes.
 

Based on the discussion on this site I decided to put eyebolts for the in-haul tackle on the centerline so they could serve the guns on both sides. I did three of them. Clearly these would not be rigged until needed as they would be very much in way for any kind of sail handling evolution. I am considering just putting in the eyebolts and hang the tackle over the gun, or in the fore and main pin rails.
 
I am closing up the shipyard until January to take some time off for the holidays (HQ has a very, very long "to do" list). I think I am at a good place to stop with the hull essentially complete. So I cleaned up the mess and stray pieces of wood, wire, line etc. and will cover the hull to keep the dust collection to a minimum.
 
I will be thinking of how to tackle the masts, yards and bowsprit but taking no action until next year.
 
Happy Thanksgiving. Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to all those following the build. I really appreciate the "Likes" and comments, assistance.

This time I really do have all the hatches installed. I noticed after the last post that the two small hatches (galley and lazaret) were missing. I had to do a bit of paint touch-up on them and forgot when I was taking the pictures.  So here is the deck (including the boarding ladders (although they are hard to see) and ALL the hatches this time.

The problem with being literal and folding an actual scale sail which is made of fabric and the correct size and shape, is that due to the nature of the woven material it can never be folded as tightly or make as small a bundle as an actual sail on a real ship. The fabric can not be compacted down to the scale size and the wrinkles you get will also be hugely out of scale. I suggest tissue paper moistened with white glue and water and then formed into the correct size bundles then painted or lightly stained to look like sailcloth. When dry this stuff is very convincing as it has the organic look of an actual fabric bundle and it even has tiny little wrinkles.

Personally I prefer a warm light in my workshop - as a hobby it should be a ’holistic’ relaxing activity and not production in an industrial setting. I know that some modellers, particularly the figure painters go to great lengths to create a day-light setting, but as noted above, in central and Northern Europe and North-America we tend to prefer warm light for our homes - in Southern Europe one sees more frequently ‚cold’ fluorescent bulbs and tubes in private homes.
For historic reasons I am still ‚mixed’, warm fluorescent and LEDs, but will switch over to the latter as when the former need to be replaced. 
I replaced the incandescent spots in my architects’ lamps with LED spots, but am not satisfied with the light distribution. Eventually I may go for large LED globes. I am also considering a large 60 x 120 cm LED panel above the work-table.
A rule of thumb seems to be to multiply the wattage of LEDs with 9 for cold and 8 for warm ones to estimate the equivalent incandescent bulb.

One consideration is top match the light you are modeling with, with the light you will be displaying your models with. While not as big a consideration with wood ships, if you paint your models, the colors may be off if the two types of light are different. This is an important point for model railroaders.

I was quite surprised about 4 months ago with the prevailing thought about only using linen or cotton for scale ropes. This has been the requirement of Museums and collectors for quite some time.  Synthetics are frowned upon.  But I think there is some movement and acceptance starting with these folks. 
 
 I was hired by a major well known museum in Europe (I wont mention their name) to make several thousand feet of rope for them.  They were going to use it to restore a contemporary model....and also to rig a newer model.  But they told me they have now decided that polyester scale ropes are being used from this point forward because of its longevity and its crispness and beauty.  It really lays up like real rope.  They have (like all of us) been unable to find good quality linen  or even cotton that isnt fuzzy or lumpy or that requires custom dying.   This makes it very time consuming and expensive to make in large quantities with sometimes inconsistent results.  The custom dying opens up a whole host of other issues for them.
 
So anyway,  they specified polyester rope made the same way I make my other rope which they have purchased many times before.   But this time they also specified the brand and color they wanted for the polyester thread I was to use.  They created a new standard for themselves.  I did have some adjustments to make and it took some time to get used to working with material that is a bit more "stetchy".
 
It does unravel like mad.....just like morope....BUT they are aware of this and use a conservatoires glue that is used to stop fragile textiles from fraying and deteriorating on it before they cut it.  They seemed to have a whole plan set up for now accepting the use of this material.
 
Below is a photo of some of that rope I made for them.  Its beautiful and I like its appearance and handling more than the rope I sell.  I even considered switching to it for all of my rope from Syren.  Come Jan 1st, the prices for linen and cotton as a commodity are increasing pretty drastically (about 20%) because of the Trade wars now underway.  DMC has even decided to STOP production of many sizes of their Cordonnet Cotton thread.  That is a shame.   But then I thought model builders wouldnt get used to how it unravels.....it really unravels if you dont glue or burn the ends.   Just thought I would share this with everyone.  There are actually two colors they specified for all running rigging.   Both are in the photo.  No fuzz and no lumps and it laid up the best I could have asked for.
 
But for those of you who have a ropewalk....you can order 
 
Gutermann Mara Thread...color 2899 for running rigging and color 696 for standing rigging (very dark brown).
 
But you need to go to the industrial division to get the sizes which arent available retail.
 
You will need Mara 120 .....Mara 70.....   Mara 30.... and Mara 15..... thread in these colors to make it but they have so many colors to choose from.  Unfortunately there color charts do NOT accurately reflect the true colors of the thread when you get it so beware of this.
 
I experimented after making the rope and found that if you knot off the ends and place them on a cookie sheet,  place them in the oven at 200 - 275 degrees for 7-10 minutes.   You must watch closely and set the stove on the lowest setting because polyester has a low melting point.  The rope looks the same afterwards and wont unravel at all.  In addition,  when your wife finds out you did this and gets mad....another method I used when experimenting was to use my hair dryer and a very hot setting and heat up the rope for a minute or two.  Dont be afraid to get close to the rope when you are doing this .  This method works very very well....because its easier to watch whats happening and not melt your rope.  But you can only do smaller quantities at a time.
 

 
I was able to replicate all of my current sizes of rope ranging from ,008 to ,080 in diameter using various strands of the thread sizes shown.  I even managed to make a huge cable for them 3mm in diameter.  It was just a matter of experimenting with the number of threads and either 3 strand or 4 strand.  Once you have your recipe established for each size you can easily replicate the sizes with great consistency and accuracy.
 
Because there was some interest in this topic I started a new one rather than post it in another members build log.  I will take some more photos of the packages I still have remaining to show the size variables and give you guys a better idea of what the rope looks like.
 
Feel free to ask me any questions.  Happy New Year !!!
 
Chuck

I too have been vexed by trying to map out these extra eyebolts. Many of them  are for running rigging and are for fixing the lower blocks and standing parts in tackle arrangements. You can see the blocks fixed to the edge of the deck in many photos of the real ship. Annoyingly, some of these blocks are hidden behind coils from the pinrails.

I too have been vexed by trying to map out these extra eyebolts. Many of them  are for running rigging and are for fixing the lower blocks and standing parts in tackle arrangements. You can see the blocks fixed to the edge of the deck in many photos of the real ship. Annoyingly, some of these blocks are hidden behind coils from the pinrails.

I too have been vexed by trying to map out these extra eyebolts. Many of them  are for running rigging and are for fixing the lower blocks and standing parts in tackle arrangements. You can see the blocks fixed to the edge of the deck in many photos of the real ship. Annoyingly, some of these blocks are hidden behind coils from the pinrails.

Post 7
 
Launch boat and set her into an acrylic sea
 
It’s time to get the diorama figured out.  Now that I have the acrylic sheet, it is time to cut out the hole.   An old saying of measure twice and cut once came into play.   The waterline was set up about 6 years ago when I built the hull.   The more I looked at it and the photos, the more I thought there is something wrong.   Well measuring again, I found it to be about 3/8 too low.   Not good by any measure…..
·         Here we are in the rework stage again.   In the end it took first 4 coats of red to get the color matched.  Then sand and glazing putty and more sanding. Finally two more coats of read.    Oh well…
·         Now I marked the plywood template and cut more on the jig saw to fit the higher waterline.  After about three times I switched to Dremel sander to get it right.  In this photo I have a sacrificial cardboard sheet under the template to be marked to transfer the lines to the acrylic…….note the brown side up.
·         Here I tested the fit and found it ok ...I hope
 
Here I started cutting out the acrylic sheet on the jigsaw. I pulled the saw out to get more clearance for the big sheet.   I panicked just before this photo, because in a senior moment I feared I had flipped the lines and the water would be smooth side up….phew...the brown side up lined up and we continued cutting.
·         Here we are launched……wow cool etc.  I set the large Styrofoam up to be the iceberg…….
·         Here we see the crew is still working.  The masts are just set in and the lines are a mess
·         Here we see again the affect of the furled sail hopefully compressed enough to look realistic. see charlie noble as updated.....next few comments
·         Here a workman is dreaming about skippering.  I think it is time to have a little dram...Before we go however, a few details
 
In this photo of the first lashing of the mainsail we note new turf for me.  The blocks are often 1/8 with three lines connecting.  I am using smaller drills and those little sewing wires to get thread through.   Unfortunately, the beckets sometimes break, and we have to start all over.
 
Here we have the bridles.  They are typically two fittings, a block above for the peak halyard and a simplified block with a center bar, not a sheave for the bridle. [ I am sure they have a proper name] I used the small block under the larger.   the 1920 plans said the blocks were 7 inch and 6 inch. In the photographs it is obvious the sheet and halyard blocks are larger So in available sizes I am using 1/8 for 6" and 3/16 for the halyard and sheet blocks which equates to 9"
 
 Charlie noble upgrade......  
 
as per kit, they are simple and straight forward.  They had a large wood stove in the focsle. 
Here is a 1920’s photo from BRHS where we see stove pie reduce and then has the typical spinning ball with a bar around it to keep line away.
Here in the view you can see I upgraded them to be like the photo
 
Finally I had to take her back to a dry dock, to continue work on the boat separate from the diorama stage.

 
All for now
 
Cheers

Post 5
 
I want to update progress on the diorama and a few other items.
 
Diorama
Here is a view of Bowdoin on the second cut plywood 9 inches wide over a potential stand of a 9 inch maple veneered sheet. This as for the idea of just using acrylic and no diorama, but just making a stand.     To me it's still a viable option.   One can notice the deck at this point is still natural. That color is like the Bowdoin today, but not apparently like the old deck. Here I have used a 24 inch by 20-inch sheet of plywood for the first possible size of the diorama.  In this view one of the masts is visible. The other spars are roughed out. I did not take lots of pictures as they will show up enough later.  In this view I have painted out part of the deck.  The light application of medium gray paint lets wood color come through.  This is my first attempt at scuff marks etc. ·         Here we see in a BRHS archive print where there are several items to consider
·         the beat-up deck in winter conditions. Looks like mud on paint, perhaps scuffing.   I will try to get some of this affect through aging…..all new to me. Perhaps light washes  of mud color over higher traffic areas.   
·         The rigging of the mainsail and boom
·         Notice the aft anchor
·         Confirmation no big box.. a steel barrel seems to be in the edge of photo.   they carried lots of fuel.
Here we have received a sea blue green  sheet of textured acrylic.  Wow it looks good.  Now I must cut out the hole.   A big oops is coming on this one as I start prepping. Rigging
I am making a few more fittings each day and dressing out the spars.  I have learned to make as much of the spars and rigging off the boat that I can.   It is also fun to look up each item and to find it on the old photos and try to adjust.  I will share some of those in the next few posts
·         Here is the main sheet bail and topping lift bands.
·         Here I have gone to Joann’s and bought gray thread.  Honestly it looks the most like galvanized and the twists are visible. I will use this for the standing rigging and bridles.
 
 
Deck
Time to figure out attachments for the two head stays.
Here is an old photo from BRHS confirming the stem cap with a shackle for the head stay. The photo clearly shows the anchor chain to be galvanized.   Also, I found in the photo there are two white painted vertical planks added over the stem. I assume these are sacrificial to hit ice.   In the books so far there were apparently steel plates discussed but no description given.  I am still studying that point.  I may try to add these planks. The issue is the double curve to ride down the stems to below the waterline....see next photos Here I have cut into the old kit build stem to add a stem dutchman to extend above the deck.  Also in this photo one can see I needed to fill in three scuppers.  They were not in the old photos although there are changes in this detail, and I have seen them on newer rebuilds.   Here I made up and attached a stem cap. It is ready for a shackle..You can also see the difficulty in the double bend here if i added the two planks mentioned above.   I have a few soaking and will try to shape them and then decide.  
 Finally, in this view I have placed the rod to receive the forestay in accordance with the original drawing, some 3 feet forward of the Bitts. If modeling the modern boat this would move aft. I also added the braces for the anchor crane.   I need to make the eyes look more like blocks. i could not solder blocks so I used the eyes.  I may use a wood block with a pin and glue it in place...we'll see.  Ialso need to decide how to make the brass anchor chain look like galvanized Cheers

Time for an update
we just got a new puppy so time is tough......
 
study the standing rigging and spars
 
post 3
 
It has gone slow here as I am focused on learning as much as I can about the original Bowdoin fit out and arctic ventures. I don’t want to build and remove too many things, though I am sure they are coming.   I have spent three sessions at the Boothbay region Historical Society[ BRHS in credits]  and reviewed many visuals, clippings and most importantly a copy of the William Hand drawings.  I will share few cropped details from the research to make some points, but want the archive of the museum to stay where it belongs. 
 
Last Saturday I took the Bluejacket plan with me to do a comparison and see what I could learn.  An example of issues is the following
·         In this photo I took a few years back in the harbor, one sees on the new Bowdoin rig that the forestay attaches to a pipe just inches forward of the Bitts.   On the Bluejacket plan the attachment of the forestay is about three feet forward.   So……..  
Looking at the original Sail plan at the BRHS museum, I found the Bluejacket plan to be right on for what must have been the original layout.  It is nice to see that many years ago, the Bluejacket team used the real deal to make the kit.    The fore stay drops to the deck some three feet forward of the bitts on both Bluejacket and original plans.  That makes it easy for me to model but raises a question.  In which one of the re-rigging jobs of the Bowdoin did they move the windlass and bitts forward or fore stay aft??????    
 
At a yacht club function last week with some real blue water sailors, and no less than the current generation of the  of family that built of Bowdoin I could not resist asking for an opinion.    The consensus was the heavy winds took that big jumbo and made it hard to manage.  Some years ago the must have brought the stay a bit aft to reduce the sail.  It is unlikely that the winch or bitts were ever moved.   Hopefully the Bowdoin will be around in June and sail in here as part of Windjammers days , so we can find the crew and ask them to measure this point.   I had fun doing that with Bluenose in Lunenburg, and yes there are a few differences on Bluenose too.
 
One great benefit on Saturday was I was able to copy the original 1920 notes on the rigging design giving specifications of all standing and running rigging.   I was curious if the spreaders were wood or painted steel.   Well originally at least they were dark and made of Oak.    More importantly I learned all the shrouds and fore stays were galvanized. The forestay is also a little larger than the others
 
Here is a cropping from a photo take after a re rigging I found at BHHS.   Note the shiny galvanized shrouds……..so it's time to get the rigging and spars moving, and I need to consider options for galvanized.   Unlike the larger Pond yachts, we don’t have enough strength to stretch real cable, so we need thread.  Again, to get the right sizes we are beyond the Joann stock pile.  Minor adjustments using the original circumference allowed using the Bluejacket sizing in cotton. There is no spinning like the larger lines, but the cotton might take paint.   I used their 020 for the shrouds and 025 for the head stays. ·        
Here I took both the original drawing and developed all the bands.  There is another anomaly.  On the original plan they suggest a becket style bridle in galvanized wire hangs from above the spreader to hold the throat blocks.    There is too much photographic evidence showing the two bands needed for a forged crane to hold the throat halyard block and this is what I am modeling.    Another oops is coming however….
·        
Here I have used aluminum paint to replicate old galvanized as I did on the Charles Notman. 
I have been experimenting…..and looking at others builds.    I don’t see much galvanized and again one must think of the look after a few winters in the arctic…….I am thinking more gray than shiny
·        
First of all let’s make the shrouds.  I am using a serving machine and completing each loop and started hanging them.   Here is my oops.   If I install the crane, it goes over the loops.   Therefore, it must somehow let the shrouds come off.  For now, I will simply remake them after…. So, we have another question for the crew.
·        
Here is low light view one of galvanized against aluminum, medium and light gray painted thread.   Painting the cotton is hard to get cover and even.  If I get the color right I am still looking for colored threads. here I hate the black shoping through.  after more coats it reduces an I like just a little.  It shows dirt soot what ever it just was like that.
·        
Here is the same view in more light
·        
Here we turn things and have lower light
·        
Here we turn up the light
I am going slow as I have ordered two different metallec silver embroidery threads to try.   But I say in this comparison, the aluminum on the left is out.   I am somewhere between the other two.   I am also not sure it should be too monochromatic [ if that is a word].
I put some in place and now have some silver metallic line to play with.
·        
Here we see two fore stays, one in silver and one in grey painted cotton in low light
·        
Here we see both in higher light.   Looks like tinsel to me
·        
Here we see a bridle made up using the metallic embroidery line, When I cut it, it unspins.  It does not receive the serving well and I will have to touch that up with black paint.   like this view though
·        
Here we have lots of day light.  It really shines...i think too much shine....maybe I think too much
·        
Here we see both masts.  One head stay and the two-port side main shrouds are silver and the rest are motley painted cotton. 
 
Fortunately, I have a little while to decide. I have another metallic line coming. Maybe it will be more robust and workable.  If not, I am getting there in color.   I am also looking for gray large thread, but  I alternated the light and medium gray paint to get a more aged motley color on the lines. The paint also stiffens them up a bit. 
 
working on other things right now and will get back to this one soon.
 
cheers 
 

I wasn’t happy with the kit-supplied double blocks for my Model Shipways Niagara model. The kit supplies only two sizes of double blocks and apparently this is ok for most of the rig but the big sheet blocks on the main required bigger than the kit allowed for. There would be only two needed so I made them by laminating stripwood.

I went looking through pictures I took of the Cheerful / Surly model in the Rogers Collection at the US Naval Academy museum, hoping to find something helpful.  However, on that model there are no lockers or heads or anything in the stern.  Oh well.

Well.... having nice sail control rigging doesn't always mean it has to be completely blocked by the sails.
 
When sails are removed you lose some additional rigging  namely the buntlines and clews.
 
You only get to see the rigging from the aft aspect...if it is done correctly, you can still enjoy it with sails set.
 
Rob

I wasn’t happy with the kit-supplied double blocks for my Model Shipways Niagara model. The kit supplies only two sizes of double blocks and apparently this is ok for most of the rig but the big sheet blocks on the main required bigger than the kit allowed for. There would be only two needed so I made them by laminating stripwood.