JerseyCity Frankie

Well, I tried to muscle the two eyes using the same size strop as the triple.  I ain't that strong.

Went ahead and finished it because I'm bullheaded.  Temped in a bowline where the eye splice will be.

I'll need to buy some more rope to make a proper sized strop, plus for eye splice lines to go where who knows?

If you're using the pre-formed eyebolts, I like to slice the shank with an x-acto knife (cutting away from the eye). This creates a little 'spur' at the knife cut that will slide into the hole but won't pull out (without some effort). You don't have to cut much-enough to displace a little of the metal.
 
Different adhesives will help. Angling the eyebolt in the deck works. Or, as Frankie suggested, making your own.
 
Hope these suggestions help.
 
Harvey
 
 

Congratulations! I missed the entire log and only noticed it when it made its way to the front page Completed Models Gallery. Arriving late to the party, but I have to say that this is one of the best build logs I’ve seen AND it’s one of the most well built and presented models I’ve seen too. It’s flawless. Every one of your photos is well shot cropped and lit. All the details of your model appeal to my sense of “how a model aught to look”. I love the subject, I love the execution, I love the presentation, and I’m very impressed with the finished results. There can’t be many better Rattlesnakes out there, maybe none?

If you make your own eyebolts by twisting wire around a cylindrical object you get the benefit of being able to determine the size of the eyebolt ( most kit-supplied eyebolts are very large) AND the shank of your eyebolt, being made of twisted wire, has more texture and will grip the wood better than the typical nickel or brass plated kit supplied eyebolts which have a very slick nonpourous surface that is difficult to glue.

Congratulations! I missed the entire log and only noticed it when it made its way to the front page Completed Models Gallery. Arriving late to the party, but I have to say that this is one of the best build logs I’ve seen AND it’s one of the most well built and presented models I’ve seen too. It’s flawless. Every one of your photos is well shot cropped and lit. All the details of your model appeal to my sense of “how a model aught to look”. I love the subject, I love the execution, I love the presentation, and I’m very impressed with the finished results. There can’t be many better Rattlesnakes out there, maybe none?

I have this quaint habit of looking at real ships when I want to know how something is done. Here are a few examples:
 
Cheers -
John

My next task is to make the anchors and mount them on the ship.  The problem was that I couldn’t find the anchors that came with the kit.  I’ve been following Chuck Passaro’s log for the kit he is building of the HMS Cheerful.  As part of his design, he created a mini- kit for anchors made of boxwood.  So I asked him if he could make a kit a little smaller to support a boat at 1:64 scale.  He did and I followed his instructions to make anchors out of wood which so that they really look like they were metal.  I’m pleased with the result and I mounted them based on a photo and text in John Harland’s book on page 269.  I attach a copy of the photo and some photos of the current state of the boat.  It is finished except I need to make an ensign.

I have good news and bad news.  I’ve finally done enough rigging so I’m ready to lash the spare mast and yard to the gallows and tie down the ship’s boat to the spares.  My wife says it looks like the boat has had a baby. 


I also added extended fixed gangways.  I made brackets to support the end of each gangway out of wood which can’t be seen.  I also added ladders up to each gangway.  I based my design on a drawing in a book by Howard Chapelle entitled, “The History of American Sailing Ships", published in 1935.  The drawing is on page 136.  I’m pleased the way it turned out.


The Chapelle drawing:


And now for the bad news.  Way back last year, while planking the aft bulwarks, I added sheaves for the main sheets and braces.  However, I placed them wrong.  As can be seen in the photo, the sheet will foul the mizzen back stays and shrouds.  The only way I can think of fixing the problem is to remove three planks from each side of the hull and replace them with the sheaves in their proper place.  Fortunately, I still have walnut planks he same width and thickness.  But it will take some very careful work.

This past Tuesday I displayed the Rattlesnake at the monthly meeting of the SMSNJ.  During my talk, I mentioned that I intended to use the MS kit supplied dye cast metal stern decorations since I didn’t think I could make those intricate carvings.  Chuck Passaro felt that was a mistake.  His suggestion was to have a background or ‘back splash’ and laminate carvings onto it.  The stern carving is really a bunch of small carvings, so it isn’t necessary to do one big carving.  I liked the idea.  So I decided to order a couple walnut sheets from Jason at Crown Timberland for the back splash.  And last night, I carved the rattlesnake.  I’m pleased with the carving, and everyone in my family could tell what it was.  It certainly is better that the snake on the kit supplied metal decoration (although I guess I should have a higher standard than that).  So on to all those floral carvings.
 

I modified the canon rigging to more closely match the rigging on the USS Constitution.  I attach a photo of one of her cannonades for a reference.   It’s hard to see, but I carved a quoin handle, as well.  I also filled that nick on the bulkhead partition with Elmer’s Wood Filler.  I don’t have a photo of that, but it looks a lot better (even if no one will be able to actually see it).
 

 

Still working my way back toward the stern; I made the bulkhead partition leading to the officer’s quarters.  I decided that the actual doorways should be a different color.  In actuality, the entire partition would probably have been painted red.  But I like the way it looks – except for that little nick on the left door.  I’m going to have to do something with that.
 

Build Log. Restoration of Full Rigged Sailing Ship Model
Posting #8  1 May 2018
 
Completing the fore and aft sails entailed making some “hanks” to attach the sail to the spanker gaff.  These were contrived with copper wire bent as shown and capable of opening to fit onto the gaff without having to remove fixed fittings.
 


 
A piece I meant to include in the last blog is this photo showing the holding of the sails in tension while stitching on the bolt-ropes. Then shows the set of square sails all with bolt ropes, aft’ side upwards! The bolt ropes are actually on the forward side.


For a change of task the anchor rigging was made up – the lower purchase block fitted with a hook for attachment to the anchor shackle.  Than two anchors were supplied from Cornwall Model Boats UK, www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/ and are as near to scale as available.  The cat heads are the original ones.

 
Bending on the square sails was fairly easy with the sheets, clew and bunt lines with “shackles” for attaching already in place. Shown here is the main royal sail bent on.

 
Then came my 80th birthday celebrations, when all our extended family were present.  It seemed an excellent opportunity to included a “Basin Trial” of the ship, albeit with only fore and aft sails plus the main square sails bent on.


 
Very little else has been done since September, except to complete the bending on of the full suit of sails and making a start on the awkward task of properly belaying all the approximately 200 lines to their respective pins.  By Christmas I had replaced the broken starboard poop fiferail and made a new one for the port side as well.  For convenience both are a fraction longer than originally.  So here she is as she will look, more or less, at full completion. 

 

Build Log. Restoration of Full Rigged Sailing Ship Model
Posting #7  7 February 2018
My Posting #6 (21 August 2017) touched on restoration of suchitems as ships’s boats, rudder, deckhouse.  Now came the pattern-making for the 29 sails, 11 fore and aft, and 18 square sails.
With no original sails to work from this was a considerable task involving much reading and analysis of sail plans of actual square riggers, as well as study of photos of real ships, and even spending a day at sea on the restored 1874 barque “James Craig” based in Sydney NSW, to appreciate and understand the principles of sail-making. For you windjammer enthusiasts a day trip on her outside the Sydney Harbour is a “must do” if you are visiting this lovely city.  Of concern was getting the sails to be in realistic proportions to each other on each mast, and then each mast’s sail set from mast to mast.
After much sketching and measurements – length, height and roaches – I was able to cut the prototypes out of paper.   Laying them out on the floor in their proper order suddenly brought home to me what a “wind machine” the ship in real life would be!

Setting the curves (roaches) for the lower edge of the sails was achieved by using a piece of plastic electrical cable conduit to make a bow (as in archery) and setting the bend by adjusting the length of the string between the ends.  This gave a perfect template for each sail – they all had unique curves! (See Photo)

To check them for fitting to each yard, I ‘blue-tacked’ them in place – this resulted in slight adjustment of some of the roaches to ensure the eventual workability of the running rigging, particularly the braces. 
For the sails I used the linen backing of a sheet of draughtsman’s blueprint ‘paper’ which is the fabric encased in wax.  A friend about 40 years ago recommended using this linen as being suitable, and so it has proved.  Boiling this in water with a little dishwashing liquid, I was left with the fine linen, something like ‘lawn’ fabric – very fine and soft textured.
Once satisfied with the patterns, cutting out the sails ensued and my method is as indicated in the photo of the mizzen course (Crojack).
 My very understanding wife now came to my aid, and the dining table became the sail loft! She hemmed each of the 29 sails on her sewing machine – with very pleasing results.  Purists might say the hems are a little over scale but a practical result was priority. 

Bolt-roping was my next challenge – using a thread of 0.5mm diameter and sewing it onto the sails with 0.1mm diameter thread, the result is as you see in the photo.  Keeping a tension on the sailcloth during the stitching was made easy by the use of a jig with numerous holes for pins to locate the corners of the sail, and using tiny paper clips (mini bulldog clips)and rubber bands to a pin.

Rings (hanks) for bending the fore and aft sails was the next step.  These I made from brass rod of 0.81mm diameter, wound round a 3.0 mm shank of a crochet hook like a spring, then cut off with fine side cutters.  190 such rings were required.  Spacing them along the luff of each sail was determined by scaling down from the 27inch - 36inch range given in Underhill’s “Masting & Rigging”.
 
Then the bending on of the fore and aft sails as shown.  A bradawl hole in the sails enabled the rings to be fitted and closed.  A crude but effective method. 

Rope stropping blocks, for functioning rigging, is difficult. The difficulty is in having the strop as tight as possible around the block, so tight that no force encountered on the ship could ever cause the block to slip out of the strop. It’s very easy to put a rope grommet over a block and seize in some eyes, but it’s difficult to do this in a way that keeps the strop as tight as it needs to be.
the Strop is a circle made of rope. Most often it is a Rope Grommet (which is one strand of rope laid up upon itself three times) but it can also be a length of rope that has its two ends Short Spliced together.
here are some photos I collected of the process: 
 
The first photo shows a double block with the strop around it and a Spanish Windlass made of two belaying pins and an iron rod being used to close the neck of the seized eye. The blue and white thin strapping through the sheaves and in the Spanish Windlass  is Dyneema, a nearly indestructible man made material. It’s holding the block in place. The part of the strop  out of frame of the photo at the top will have a block and tackle on it pulling the strop as tightly as possible. The Spanish Windlass closes the eye and at the point this photo was taken they have not yet put a seizing on at the neck of the eye.
here is a nice diagram showing a single strand being laid up into a Grommet:
Here is a guy on Picton Castle with two blocks being stropped. Note all the tackle in use to pull the Grommets as tight as possible, rest assured he has made that line as tight as humanly possible, the bench is bolted to the deck. His left hand is on one block and the other is between the camera and his crotch. At this point he’s ready to seize the eyes. He will construct a Spanish Windlass as shown in the first photo above, to close the eye prior to seizing the neck.  The tackle holding the strop tight is not removed, the seizing of the eye happens with the strop as tight as possible. So it is VERY DIFFICULT to close the eye, and you could not close it without the Spanish Windlass. This photo makes it clear that the diameter of the Grommet must be carefully planned ahead of time to make sure the proportions of the eye and block are correct. Too small and the eye is too small, too large and the neck is long and you risk the block wiggling out eventually in the future. 

The strop is a rope grommet.  I saw a formula for determining the length necessary to make the correct length strop.  Problem is I measured the triple block and eye and applied the formula.  It worked great for the triple block.  But was too short for the double with two eyes.  Should have measured that first.
 
When I fashioned up the double block with eyes at either end, it just looked wrong.  I tried to find pictures of one actually being used on a sailing vessel but no luck.  I'll cut me some more rope for the other strop and if it ain't lookin' right, have me some rum. 
 
Thanks for the help!

Rope stropping blocks, for functioning rigging, is difficult. The difficulty is in having the strop as tight as possible around the block, so tight that no force encountered on the ship could ever cause the block to slip out of the strop. It’s very easy to put a rope grommet over a block and seize in some eyes, but it’s difficult to do this in a way that keeps the strop as tight as it needs to be.
the Strop is a circle made of rope. Most often it is a Rope Grommet (which is one strand of rope laid up upon itself three times) but it can also be a length of rope that has its two ends Short Spliced together.
here are some photos I collected of the process: 
 
The first photo shows a double block with the strop around it and a Spanish Windlass made of two belaying pins and an iron rod being used to close the neck of the seized eye. The blue and white thin strapping through the sheaves and in the Spanish Windlass  is Dyneema, a nearly indestructible man made material. It’s holding the block in place. The part of the strop  out of frame of the photo at the top will have a block and tackle on it pulling the strop as tightly as possible. The Spanish Windlass closes the eye and at the point this photo was taken they have not yet put a seizing on at the neck of the eye.
here is a nice diagram showing a single strand being laid up into a Grommet:
Here is a guy on Picton Castle with two blocks being stropped. Note all the tackle in use to pull the Grommets as tight as possible, rest assured he has made that line as tight as humanly possible, the bench is bolted to the deck. His left hand is on one block and the other is between the camera and his crotch. At this point he’s ready to seize the eyes. He will construct a Spanish Windlass as shown in the first photo above, to close the eye prior to seizing the neck.  The tackle holding the strop tight is not removed, the seizing of the eye happens with the strop as tight as possible. So it is VERY DIFFICULT to close the eye, and you could not close it without the Spanish Windlass. This photo makes it clear that the diameter of the Grommet must be carefully planned ahead of time to make sure the proportions of the eye and block are correct. Too small and the eye is too small, too large and the neck is long and you risk the block wiggling out eventually in the future. 

I can’t let this go by without saying that this guys book is FULL of ridiculous rigging innacuracies and this example is probably the worst one. NOBODY is ever going to rig a purchase as this illustration indicates. As in NEVER, it simply doesn’t exist. The second block and tackle hanging under the existing block and tackle is preposterous. I put this very image on a Facebook rigging page , everyone had a laugh, and then Brion Toss weighed in on it, then put it on his own website. Honestly: this guys book is a trainwreck. 
Here’s Brion Toss commenting on it: http://briontoss.com/index.php/2018/03/14/extravagant-purchase/

Rope stropping blocks, for functioning rigging, is difficult. The difficulty is in having the strop as tight as possible around the block, so tight that no force encountered on the ship could ever cause the block to slip out of the strop. It’s very easy to put a rope grommet over a block and seize in some eyes, but it’s difficult to do this in a way that keeps the strop as tight as it needs to be.
the Strop is a circle made of rope. Most often it is a Rope Grommet (which is one strand of rope laid up upon itself three times) but it can also be a length of rope that has its two ends Short Spliced together.
here are some photos I collected of the process: 
 
The first photo shows a double block with the strop around it and a Spanish Windlass made of two belaying pins and an iron rod being used to close the neck of the seized eye. The blue and white thin strapping through the sheaves and in the Spanish Windlass  is Dyneema, a nearly indestructible man made material. It’s holding the block in place. The part of the strop  out of frame of the photo at the top will have a block and tackle on it pulling the strop as tightly as possible. The Spanish Windlass closes the eye and at the point this photo was taken they have not yet put a seizing on at the neck of the eye.
here is a nice diagram showing a single strand being laid up into a Grommet:
Here is a guy on Picton Castle with two blocks being stropped. Note all the tackle in use to pull the Grommets as tight as possible, rest assured he has made that line as tight as humanly possible, the bench is bolted to the deck. His left hand is on one block and the other is between the camera and his crotch. At this point he’s ready to seize the eyes. He will construct a Spanish Windlass as shown in the first photo above, to close the eye prior to seizing the neck.  The tackle holding the strop tight is not removed, the seizing of the eye happens with the strop as tight as possible. So it is VERY DIFFICULT to close the eye, and you could not close it without the Spanish Windlass. This photo makes it clear that the diameter of the Grommet must be carefully planned ahead of time to make sure the proportions of the eye and block are correct. Too small and the eye is too small, too large and the neck is long and you risk the block wiggling out eventually in the future. 

Rope stropping blocks, for functioning rigging, is difficult. The difficulty is in having the strop as tight as possible around the block, so tight that no force encountered on the ship could ever cause the block to slip out of the strop. It’s very easy to put a rope grommet over a block and seize in some eyes, but it’s difficult to do this in a way that keeps the strop as tight as it needs to be.
the Strop is a circle made of rope. Most often it is a Rope Grommet (which is one strand of rope laid up upon itself three times) but it can also be a length of rope that has its two ends Short Spliced together.
here are some photos I collected of the process: 
 
The first photo shows a double block with the strop around it and a Spanish Windlass made of two belaying pins and an iron rod being used to close the neck of the seized eye. The blue and white thin strapping through the sheaves and in the Spanish Windlass  is Dyneema, a nearly indestructible man made material. It’s holding the block in place. The part of the strop  out of frame of the photo at the top will have a block and tackle on it pulling the strop as tightly as possible. The Spanish Windlass closes the eye and at the point this photo was taken they have not yet put a seizing on at the neck of the eye.
here is a nice diagram showing a single strand being laid up into a Grommet:
Here is a guy on Picton Castle with two blocks being stropped. Note all the tackle in use to pull the Grommets as tight as possible, rest assured he has made that line as tight as humanly possible, the bench is bolted to the deck. His left hand is on one block and the other is between the camera and his crotch. At this point he’s ready to seize the eyes. He will construct a Spanish Windlass as shown in the first photo above, to close the eye prior to seizing the neck.  The tackle holding the strop tight is not removed, the seizing of the eye happens with the strop as tight as possible. So it is VERY DIFFICULT to close the eye, and you could not close it without the Spanish Windlass. This photo makes it clear that the diameter of the Grommet must be carefully planned ahead of time to make sure the proportions of the eye and block are correct. Too small and the eye is too small, too large and the neck is long and you risk the block wiggling out eventually in the future. 

I can’t let this go by without saying that this guys book is FULL of ridiculous rigging innacuracies and this example is probably the worst one. NOBODY is ever going to rig a purchase as this illustration indicates. As in NEVER, it simply doesn’t exist. The second block and tackle hanging under the existing block and tackle is preposterous. I put this very image on a Facebook rigging page , everyone had a laugh, and then Brion Toss weighed in on it, then put it on his own website. Honestly: this guys book is a trainwreck. 
Here’s Brion Toss commenting on it: http://briontoss.com/index.php/2018/03/14/extravagant-purchase/

I took the advise from several sources and sanded/chiselled the rabbet joint into the false keel before joining the false keel and the three pieces of the "real" keel. Having done this I clamped the false keel to the workbench added carpenter glue and clamped the real keel pieces to the false keel and will let them set-up overnight. I also utilized 1/16" brass rod for reinforcement for the joint. I will cut them off flush when the glue is dry. FYI, that is parchment paper (with the waxed side up to keep any glue from sticking to the hobby mat. I find parchment paper easier to work with than wax paper, although you do have to be careful to get the right side up.

Evening, 
Time for an update. 
 
It's a huge weight of my shoulders Mike, knowing that the planking is done. 
It was probably the most intimidating part of the build so far. 
But, I got it done with minimal blood shed.
 
I continued on with the Bowsprit.
I ended up drilling some holes in the Bee's to accept the Bobstay Wye Iron.
Wrapped it, shaped it, glued it, then clamped it. Let it sit for a while to firm up. 
 

 
I may have been a bit robust forming the extra holes, but oh well.
 

 
Still a bit naked, needs chocks and a Jib Boom saddle.
That will be next. 

 
Drilled a hole for the Bobstay.
 
Right after all this was done, I realized my brass part was upside down!
Had to break it down and re do the entire process.
Duh!!!!! 

 
I went on and formed the Chocks and Jib Saddle.
Easy enough I suppose. 
I glued some square pieces and will sand/carve them into shape. 

 
Looking like a proper Bowsprit and Jib Boom!

 
 
Also started to build the Topmast tops for the Foremast.
Easy enough with the laser cut trestle trees. 

The Crosstrees are placed for fit. 
Should be good. 
This entire area will be black. 

Fragile little Crosstrees.
Lucky tho, never did break it. Thought for sure I would!!
Still have to drill holes for the Shrouds so there's still opportunity to snap it.

 
Tom E 
 

Evening, 
Time for an update, and its a big one. Well it is in my book.
I finally finished planking the hull!!!!
 
Only took 3 months
 
Its not so pretty, rather jagged looking.
Looks like they just raised it from the bottom of Misery Bay!
 
The sanding and wood filler will commence shortly!

I figure the burn marks from the plank bender and glue stains will clean up with sanding.
 

This was my first planked hull on a tall ship.
I learned a lot, and it shows that learning process! Ha!
I'm pretty confident future builds will be better.

I used little scraps inside the hull if a plank needed something to bite onto.
Worked really well. 

The below photo shows some sanding done to the port side, none Starboard. 
Should clean up nicely with sanding and filler. 

I continued on the Bowsprit. 
I shaped the Bees. I will drill small holes on either side to feed the Bobstay Wye Iron thru, no 2 piece method as I mentioned before. 
 

 

 
Now onto the Deck!!!!!
 

 
Tom E 
 

Never heard of Acrylic Ink. But I treat rigging with thinned Acrylic Paint all the time. My technique is to string up long lengths of line from two hooks as far apart as I can manage so I can do long swaths all at once. First I soak the line so it’s saturated with water, this allows the color to penetrate. Then I mix up my color, with a lot of water,  on a palate prior to scooping it up with a palette knife and plopping it on a square of wet rag. This rag I fold in half over the line I’ve strung up and I walk along the line, scrubbing the rag back and forth onto the line, working the color in. When you reach the end of the line, get a fresh rag, this time saturated with only water, and repeat the rubbing process. This second treatment thins the paint you’ve just applied and it is now that you can remove color if to your eye the results are too strong. Rubbing hard enough with the second rag, you can almost reverse the process and get back to a clean line, depending on how hard you squeeze and how much water you use. So in this way you can control the appearance. The line dries quite rapidly so do not pause between steps. Once the acrylic has dried you will never remove it.  With this technique you can make white line solid black,or, you can lightly stain a pristine line to have a color more in keeping with hemp or Manila.

Never heard of Acrylic Ink. But I treat rigging with thinned Acrylic Paint all the time. My technique is to string up long lengths of line from two hooks as far apart as I can manage so I can do long swaths all at once. First I soak the line so it’s saturated with water, this allows the color to penetrate. Then I mix up my color, with a lot of water,  on a palate prior to scooping it up with a palette knife and plopping it on a square of wet rag. This rag I fold in half over the line I’ve strung up and I walk along the line, scrubbing the rag back and forth onto the line, working the color in. When you reach the end of the line, get a fresh rag, this time saturated with only water, and repeat the rubbing process. This second treatment thins the paint you’ve just applied and it is now that you can remove color if to your eye the results are too strong. Rubbing hard enough with the second rag, you can almost reverse the process and get back to a clean line, depending on how hard you squeeze and how much water you use. So in this way you can control the appearance. The line dries quite rapidly so do not pause between steps. Once the acrylic has dried you will never remove it.  With this technique you can make white line solid black,or, you can lightly stain a pristine line to have a color more in keeping with hemp or Manila.