shipmodel

Thank you all for the likes and compliments, especially from those who followed the entire oddessy from the beginning. I am glad if any of the explanations of my own methods and techniques made another modeler's efforts a little easier. Here is a final photo of the model being crated for shipping. I hope to get down to the museum for the installation. If so, I'll post a photo or two. Be well Dan

Hello again to all. Thanks for the likes and comments. I am glad that I can pass along some of the tips, tricks and techniques from my own teachers and from decades of trials and lots of errors along the way. This will be the final installment of this build log. The model is done and is waiting to be picked up for crating and delivery. The final touches include: the stern lantern; mounting the anchors and anchor buoys; fitting the ship's boat and the spare spars. The lantern was done in the round French fashion, rather than the hexagonal English style. This meant that I had to scratch build it, rather than buying one of the well-designed and detailed ones from Syren Models. In any event, here is how I went about it: The lantern is not really round so it cannot be simply turned to shape, as you can see from the reproduced sections of the plan it is skewed towards the stern. The central body was the most difficult to create. Attempts to carve wood and acrylic were both completely unsatisfactory. Starting from a cylindrical shape I could not get the proper angle to the lamp body. Instead, I tried Sculpey, a clay that is hardened by baking in an oven. After shaping it to the basic form by hand it was hardened according to the package directions. When cool and hard it was still easily refined and smoothed by sanding. The brass rod is for convenience in holding and shaping. 1 Here is a close-up of the body. Examining the photograph I saw that I still needed to bring down the sharp ridge between the upper and lower portions. 2 When the body was brought to shape it was given several coats of primer, then a final light grey color coat, with light sanding in between. The cap was carved from pear wood in a floral design. I tried to get 16 petals around the circumference, but this proved too fiddly, so I have 12. The finial on the top is turned from pear. The mullions to hold the glass are cherry veneer cut to 0.030” x 0.015” strips. Each was wet bent at the top end then glued in between the petals. When that was dry and hard the rest of the strip was glued down the body of the lantern. I put in the first four to quarter the body then marked out thirds in each section for the rest. 3 Here is a composite photo with two views of the lantern with all the vertical mullions installed. 4 The cross pieces were cut from the veneer strip and individually installed in three bands around the lantern. 5 A floral base was carved and a round drop at the bottom were made out of pear. The finished lantern was sanded to remove any sharp corners then finished with a light stain/neutral carrier mix. I let the stain pool a bit in the corners, which gave the panes some depth and shadow. Each section was filled with white glue which dried to create a glossy ‘glass’ pane. 6 Mounting hardware was fashioned from a 0.062” brass rod with two pieces soldered at right angles. The mount was bent and trimmed to fit a trio of holes in the stern. After blackening the mount was installed and the lantern fitted to it at an appropriate height. 7 And here is how the lantern fits in with the look of the rest of the stern. 8 Next I turned to the anchors. In an earlier segment I went through how I constructed them. Here are the two finished sets of four anchors for each model. 9 To hang them I needed a triple block for each of the largest ones which would be mounted at the catheads, as well as an anchor buoy for each. The blocks were made from 7mm triple blocks which were detailed by drilling a second set of line holes and rounding the resulting ‘sheave’ in the middle. The hook was bent up from 0.035” annealed iron wire with the shank wrapped around the block in a deepened strop groove. The buoy bodies were ¾” long, turned from maple. Two ropes were seized together forming a small loop and spot glued at either end. The lines were led down the body and under a cinch line about ¼ of the way from either end. The vertical lines were doubled back on themselves, glued and trimmed. 10 Here are the anchors mounted on the starboard side. They are the two middle sized ones. They are hung with strong lines from timberheads at the rail as well as the hooked block at the cathead. A sense of weight is imparted by hanging a weight from the anchor then stiffening the supporting lines with dilute white glue. 11 Here is the buoy tied to the shrouds with a loop of line that is ultimately secured to the anchor shank. 12 And here are the two on the port side similarly secured. These are the largest and smallest of the set. 13 The final tasks were to secure the ship’s boat in the waist and add two spare topmasts and large spars. These sit between the gaps in the rails at the edges of the foredeck and quarterdeck. 14 Various rope coils were added to each belaying point, the model was cleaned and a few spots of paint were touched up. So here she is, ready for pickup and shipping. 15 16 And one final photo of a future crewman, grandson Eli, who is almost four and already very interested in what his Poppy Dan does with his boats. . . 17 It was an interesting build, and radically increased my appreciation and respect for those modelers who rig sails. As always, questions, comments, and critiques are very welcome. Back soon with another project, the SS Andrea Doria in 1:200 scale. Till then, be well, Dan

Hi Jay - I don't think that you are missing anything, and it is probably my failure to explain properly in any case. We are both doing similar things to get a good result. You are planking in one direction towards a batten, while I plank in both directions towards a center. Like many tasks in ship model building, there are several ways to solve any particular problem. All of them are right, so long as the result is good. I looked at the log of your Connie build and you are clearly getting good results. Stick to what works for you. Be well Dan

Carl, George - You are both right. Spiling/planking is a complicated process. Even after doing it for 30 years I still have to take my time and agonize over the process. Sometimes planks that I thought were correct have to be stripped out and replaced. The problem is the shape of the hull with its compound curves, some of which change from convex to concave on the same rib and along the same planking strake. Yes, you can start with planks that are slightly wider than your measured marks, which works on the convex curves, but is wrong for the concave curves. My only point here is that you can't rely on measurements, no matter how precise. To get a smooth, straight, fair run for each strake the measurements are just the starting point. Each plank has to be shaped by eye and the battens used as adjustable guides, not inflexible borders. Fortunately, I had some good teachers, and now there is this entire wonderful community of modelers in the NRG and on MSW who are so generous with their time and knowledge. Be well Dan

Hi George - The problem is one of measurement. The thickness of the planking means that the distance around the curve on the outer surface of the planks is longer than the curve on the inner surface of the planks. If you measure your distances on the surface of the rib and divide by the number of planks, you will get a dimension that is smaller than you need to fill up the distance around the curve on the surface of the planks. When you bevel the edges to bring the planks together at the surface, they will no longer cover the full distance that you measured on the rib. To put in some numbers, let's say that the distance on the rib from wale to batten is 40mm. I decide to fill it with 8 plank of 5mm each. I cut the planks to that dimension and lay them in the space. I bevel the edges, which means the inside width of the plank is less than 5mm. Let's say that it is now 4.8mm. The 8 planks now cover only 38.4mm. There is a gap of 1.6mm. This would not be much of a problem if I was planking a cylinder, I could just add an extra plank as needed. But the uneven shape of the hull means that the gap will vary and therefore the line of the caulking seam will wander up and down, and the shape of the space still to be planked will no longer match the battens that were so carefully lined up. Does that make sense? Dan

Mark - Looks much better to my eye. Should fit well once you set the rest of your battens. As for exact plank widths and numbers, don't tie yourself to exact dimensions, they really can't be calculated. There is what I call the 3-dimensional problem. The widths you have measured are for the faces of the ribs. The planks have a definite thickness, so where they cover a convex surface the inside corners hit each other before the outer ones do, creating an unsightly gap. This is even more of a problem with French designs that have those large bulges at the waterline. To get a tight fit at the outer surface the solution is to bevel the edges of the planks, but then the inside width of the plank is less than the outer width, and no longer matches the measured dimensions. You can start with wider planks, but the variation changes depending on the curvature that is being covered. This changes from wale to keel and even along the length of one plank strake. My solution, which is just one of several that works, is to plank up from the keel and down from the wale at the same time. As you near the center all of the dimensions are recalculated after each plank strake is added. Eventually you reach a space that can be closed in by one or two final "shutter planks" that should look almost identical to those on either side. Practice on the tape and take your time. It will come together in a planking job that you will be proud of. You are making a very good start. Dan

Hi Mark - Welcome to the wacky and wonderful world of spiling. Although you can get lots of help from various books, and Jim Roberts' is one of the best, it is mostly a question of experience and eyeballing. One thing that Jim suggested when I was his pupil was to take strips of frosted tape and lay them flat on the hull till the area I was working on was completely covered. Like the planks, the tape will sweep up toward the wale with the curve of the hull and cover previous tape runs. This is a good thing. It shows how much the planks want to bend so I could start to judge how many stealers/drop planks I might need. Also, with the area completely taped I could line out the plank runs in pencil, making as many mistakes as I wanted without consequence. After a while I developed a good sense of how the hull wanted to be planked, and could then much more accurately position my battens to guide the actual wood planks. On the Licorne I have a feeling, and I could be wrong, that your first batten is too high (towards the keel) at the bow. Judging by eye, the remaining area from the batten to the keel is not wide enough and your lower planks could be crowded and narrow, The only way to be sure of this is to put in all of the battens that you want and then carefully examine them from dead ahead to see if they give you equal spacing. A similar thing goes on at the stern. Here is a drawing of what I mean. It is from Jim's book, although I have removed his text for clarity. Remember also that the garboard and first broad strake (the one next to the garboard) are wider than the rest of the planks, and your spiling/batten plan has to take this into account. This was probably a longer response than you wanted, but I hope that it helps. Dan

Hi Mark - Coming along quite nicely. I can see how your planking skills are improving all the time as you get more experience and work your way up the learning curve. As for sequencing, I recommend that you plank the stern first. This is how it was done in actual practice, so the run of the hull planks would overlap the hood ends of the stern planking, reducing the chance that water action would loosen the stern planks. It is also easier to do, because you can sand the ends of the stern planks flush with the final ribs, then simply run the hull planks over and past them before trimming and sanding flush with the face of the stern planks. If you have Zu Mondfeld's book, look at his discussion of stern planking (pages 96-97 in my edition). Looking forward to watching you progress. Dan .

Hi all and thanks for the likes and comments. At the end of the last segment I had finished and hung the square sails. Now I turned to the staysails, most of which will be shown furled. The sails were made up much like the square sails, but as triangles rather than trapezoids. Here are the two from the first set that were made. They were discarded because the panel lines are wrong. The pattern with a central seam and angled panels is much more modern than would have been in use in 1710. I made a hasty assumption before checking my sources. 1 So here is the redone main staysail. It is reduced in size for purposes of furling, but is otherwise appropriately rigged. As explained by R.C. Anderson, the lines and blocks for the foreyard braces would have interfered with the staysail sliding up the stay. So a false stay was rigged under the mainstay and the sail is spiral laced to it. 2 The lower end of the false stay is secured to the foremast by a collar that rides just under the thumb cleat for the forestay (indicated by the arrow on the left). A small deadeye is turned into the collar and a matching one seized into the lower end of the false stay. The lanyard between them is tightened and the running end is frapped around it (see the arrow on the right). Lacing this in, around and through the previously rigged lines was one of the most delicate operations I have ever performed in my years of modeling. Suffice to say that I will pre-rig this next time. 3 The upper end of the false stay is comparatively easy. There is an eye splice turned into the end of the line, which is then seized to the mainstay just above the euphroe lashing. A single block is seized to the stay between the euphroe and the mouse to run the uphaul line for the staysail. 4 Once the sail was rigged, the lines were loosened, the sail misted with water and drawn down toward the foremast. It was furled, twisted, and wrapped with one leg of the sheet line, the other was used to secure the furled sail at the deck to one of the deck cleats. When I was happy with the look it was painted with matte finish to stiffen it. 5 Similarly, the main topmast staysail was rigged on its false stay. 6 The mizzen stays do not have any brace blocks rigged to them, so the staysails do not need a false stay. Here is the mizzen staysail. 7 And here is the mizzen topmast staysail. 8 The fore staysail was done in the same way. 8a The fore topmast staysail was set and shown billowed, its shape mirroring and complimenting the mizzen lateen sail. I first ran it down the t’gallant stay, but this did not seem right. First, it put it too far forward to look good to my eye. Maybe more important, rigging it that way would have one of the largest sails being run between one of the smallest diameter masts and the end of the jib boom, also not that large a timber. This is a broken masthead waiting to happen. Instead, I looked at some contemporary French models and usually saw a line running from the topmast head to the end of the jib boom. This looked much more likely, and gave the sail a nice angle and shape. 8b So here is the model with all sails set and rigged. 9 Next I turned to the flag. Although no one truly knows what his flag looked like, the Internet has one that is called the Blackbeard flag. It is a demon holding a glass in one hand and a spear in the other, aimed at a red heart with three red dots in the lower corner. This was the one selected by the museum. I took the image and imported it into my computer. Using Photoshop I resized it, then used the skew function to bring down the lower outer corner of the flag. This helps it to hang more naturally without a buildup of material. A copy was saved and reversed, then both were combined into one image. 10 The double image was printed out on a piece of paper. A piece of thin fabric large enough to cover the image with some excess all around was stiffened, then taped over the upper image and run through the printer. This put an image on the first side. The fabric was cut loose, turned over and positioned over the lower image. Since the fabric was somewhat transparent it was easy to locate it exactly over the previously printed image. Again it was taped down on all sides and printed again. 11 After allowing the ink to dry for 48 hours the flag was stiffened to lock in the ink, then cut out, leaving a bit of excess along the fly edge. The hauling line was set in and the flap glued over it and ironed down. The ensign staff was built up with a small block at the top and a cleat mounted at easy reaching height for a man. With the staff mounted the flag was misted and curled. 12 So here is the model almost done. 14 The next segment should be the last. Only the stern lantern to build and the anchors to mount. Back soon. Dan

Beautiful, smooth action, Michael. Sweet. Dan

Thanks to all for an interesting discussion. Dan

Jan - That's actually a good question, and not stupid at all. I recall reading contemporary accounts where such things did happen. However, I don't think that it would be a large problem here. The process of ramming the ball down onto the wad that covered the powder charge would tend to stick it together. Then, the ball and the inside of the barrel were pretty rough so there was a lot of friction, reducing the likelihood of it rolling out. If it was a problem, then a second wad rammed on top of the ball would solve the problem completely. If everything failed, it was only a one pound shot, about the size of a golf ball, so not much of a headache. This is my take on it based on only a few times when I watched or participated in firing reproduction black powder guns and small cannon. Anyone with more experience or knowledge is invited to correct me. Dan

Hi all, and thanks for the likes and compliments. Matt - I don't have any definitive research or authority for my setup, but I mounted the swivel guns in the tops on blocks set toward the forward edge on both sides, giving them the best field of fire once the topsails are raised. However, only one of the blocks is used at any one time, on the theory that it would have been relatively simple to move the gun from one side to the other, and having two of them at once would be additional weight in the top that was not needed. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Here is the foretop with the gun mounted on the starboard side. Hope that explains it. Dan

Build Log 35 - t'gallant sails, boat, swivel guns Hi again, and welcome to spring - Back from vacation and back in harness. This installment finishes the square sails, the two topgallant sails; fits out the ship's boat and installs the swivel guns. The t'gallant sails were made using the same techniques as those for the larger sails. The sail was measured to fit the spar and reach the sheet blocks on the topsail spars. This was laid out on stiffened fabric. 1 The edges were glued, including the overlaps for the tabling. The openings for the cringles were cut out and the sail was cut along the outer edges of the tabling. 2 The bolt rope was installed and the tabling ironed down over it to secure it. 3 And here is the finished sail with reinforcements added to each corner. 4 The sails were laced to their spars and mounted to the model with ties and halyards, parrells, lifts, braces, and sheets, all according to Anderson. Clew blocks and lines were rigged and run, although these sails did not have buntlines or leach lines. Finally the bowlines and their bridles were rigged and run. 4a These last lines were pretty hard to run. Not only is it getting pretty crowded at the bases of the masts, but it usually took several attempts before I could make the lines run without fouling any previous lines. Here is what the foot of the foremast looks like at this stage. 4b And here is the model with all square sails set. 5 6 Next the ship's boat was fitted out. First came the oars. I made 12 of them to match the number of oarlocks on the sheer. In the photo you can see the four steps in their construction. The first three on the left are cut out roughly on the table saw. The next three have been roughly shaped using a sanding drum in the Dremel. The next three have been smoothed and refined, with a groove which sets off the handle. The final three have been final sanded, finished, and have had a rope sleeve added which would protect the oar from chafing on the rowlock. 7 Once the photo was taken the full set of oars was finished, then tied into bundles of six and lashed to a thwart. 8 A simple mast was made up to fit in the mast step. A spar was estimated and a sail made up to fit, then laced to the spar. The mast and spar were lashed together and to a thwart. Several belaying points were set into the sheer for stays and sail handling lines. Here is the finished boat on its cradles, although not permanently secured yet. 9 The final fittings in this segment are the swivel guns. It is known that Blackbeard added a number of these useful weapons to the armament of the QAR, and one has been recovered in the excavation of the site. Taking its measurements, a set of bronze colored barrels were located in the aftermarket that closely matched the size and shape of the artifact. To mount them, a set of simple forked stanchions were made up from brass. Here are the various pieces and how they go together. 10 Once the prototype was acceptable, the pieces were soldered together, the brass blackened, and the barrels mounted. 11 There are four on each side on the caprails, and one each in the main and fore tops. 12 So here is the current status. 13 Next, the staysails and maybe the anchors. Be well Dan

Bravo, Michael. Bravo. Dan

Michael - Such good news as I return. So glad your wife is better. The people we love are so much more important than the things we love, even ship models. Dan

Hi Nils - Thanks for the compliments. I just got a look at your Pegasus build. You are working in about half the size that I am, yet your attention to detail is just as complete. You are even rigging more staysails than I will. Nice work. David - Whether it will be at Mystic is open, but unlikely. The museum probably wants what they paid for. You would have to go to North Carolina for an in-person examination. Maybe the NRG will have a conference there in the near future. Dan

Hi David - All of the basic information was provided by the museum, both through their sets of digital plans and on their public website. The fine details, especially the rigging, has been much improvised. I am using the best secondary sources, but there are times when I have to shrug my shoulders and guess. Dan

Build log 34 – main, mizzen topsail, bell Hi to all from snowy Brooklyn. I know that we have not had anything to compare with our daughter in Boston or son in Detroit, much less those of you who live in Canada or the northern tier of the USA, but between Brooklyn and Albany I have had more than enough of this winter !! So here is a quick update before SWMBO and I leave for a week on a warm island. The last segment ended with hanging and rigging the fore topsail. # Since then I have made, hung and rigged the main topsail. Nothing original here, just used the same techniques as on the fore topsail. 1 The pair look good, especially when backlit. 2 And here is the full model with the two large topsails. 3 One of the few details on deck that I had not done was the ship’s brass bell. One has been located in the excavation, so I had to include it. I hunted through all the usual sources, including several that said they had ones the right size. But when it came time to order them, there were none to be had. Finally a friend in the NY club and on this list, JerseyCityFrankie, found ones in a jewelry and beading supply house. Toho Shoji, Inc. has a lot of wire, threads, beads, and other items that can be useful. Check out their website at tohoshoji-ny.com. Anyway, here is the 10mm size installed in the belfry at the break of the foredeck. 4 I made the mizzen topsail, but have only hitched it to the mast with the parrell and the tye/halyard. I ran out of properly sized blocks from Warner Woods West, but Lloyd is sending me some more. The break therefore comes at a good time. So here is the model with the three topsails. 5 6 Thanks to all for likes and comments. Stay warm and be well. Back soon Dan

Thank you all for the likes and compliments. The ones that I appreciate the most are those about the teaching aspects of what I write. I hope that, like the model itself, the teachings will outlive me and be passed along. Matt - no weathering other than ordinary grime from the shipyard worker. If I started weathering, I don't know where I would stop. She had a hard, seven year career as a privateer and slaver before being captured by pirates. Although functional, I suspect that her appearance was closer to the Black Pearl than to the Victory. Dan

Log 33 – Fore Topsail Hello again to all. Since the last entry I have made and hung the fore topsail. This is the first of the square sails that will be shown set and filling, and took somewhat longer to complete due to my inexperience. I had to go back a few times to understand all of the lines and to work out some technical problems. Here is the yard, shaped as usual with cleats, stop cleats and blocks. At this point I still have to add the larger blocks near the center for the topgallant sheets. Also the stirrups and footropes. 1 The sail itself was laid out, like the lateen, on stiffened cloth. The panel lines and tabling lines were marked out, then the perimeter was painted with pH neutral white glue. When the glue was dry the sail was cut out and small triangle openings were cut along what would become the perimeter of the sail for the cringles. The sail was turned over and panel seams were lined on, offset about 3 scale inches to one side of the first set of seams. 2 The boltrope was set into the creased sail edge and trapped in place when the tabling was folded over and ironed closed. As with the lateen, the cringles were made by feeding a bend of the bolt rope through the previously cut openings to form the cringles. When the tabling was completely closed the various reinforcements were added to the back of the sail. These were made out of stiffened cloth that was marked with panel seams, if needed, then cut and glued to the main sail as shown on the plans. They were ironed down to the main sailcloth and should be very stable and secure. On the front of the sail two bands of reinforcement for the reef points were similarly cut, glued, and ironed. 3 Here you can see all of the elements of the sail, backlit and translucent. 4 A series of holes was drilled through the tabling along the top of the sail with about a 3/8” spacing. A continuous series of loops was sewn through the holes to lace the sail to the spar. Then it was set into a large plastic tub for stiffening. 5 The sail was painted with clear matte finish and weighted with about half a cup of rice in a plastic bag. It was left to dry overnight and, once removed from the jig, had a pleasing catenary curve to the three free sides. 6 Holes were drilled through the reef bands and the reef points were knotted, glued into the holes, and trimmed. Matte finish was painted on to hold them down on both sides of the sail. Clew blocks were tied to the lower corners and the sheets were knotted and laced through the clew cringles. The sail was hung on the mast and the parrell was strapped around the mast and yard. In the photo you can see the running ends of the topsail lifts (the heavier light colored lines) are hanging down and have not been belayed. There are clips on their lower ends to provide some weight and tension on the system to keep things from getting tangled. The clips also remind me which lines have not been belayed yet. 7 The tie with its fiddle block already seized in was fed from aft to forward through a sheave hole in the mast under the trestletrees. It was taken down around the yard and attached with a rolling hitch. The fiddle block at the running end of the tye is the top of a three part purchase hooked into an eyebolt in the top. The halyard belays to a cleat on the mast near the deck. 8 The lifts were laced through the fiddle blocks at the yardarm and led down towards the deck through the lubber holes, but not yet secured until the sheets were led through the sheet blocks on the main yard then down through the sheaves in the bitts forward of the mast. Then both sets of lines could be tensioned against each other. The braces were run from the main topmast stay, through several sets of blocks to a timberhead on the edge of the foredeck. They can be seen in some later photos. That completed the spar handling lines. The sail handling lines were then run, which completed the rigging to the topsail. Here is the sail fully rigged as seen from forward. 9 In this view the lighting was varied so the sail handling lines can be seen a bit clearer. The fore topsail, like the other square sails, has p/s pairs of clewlines, leachlines, buntlines, and bowlines. Eight more lines for each sail. I had never previously fully rigged a ship, and the level of complexity with all these lines is a real eye-opener. The bowlines start as a triple bridle from the cringles on either side of the sail. They lead to blocks on pendants at the end of the bowsprit, then aft through the gammon blocks and up to cleats on the foredeck. The buntines lead from cringles at the foot of the sail, through lead blocks on the yard, through blocks strapped to the topmast stay, and then to the deck. Similarly, the leach lines run from the upper side cringles through lead blocks and down to the deck. 10 In this closeup of the masthead you can see those lead blocks on the yard and stay. 11 From aft in these two views you can see the braces and clewlines. 12 13 Each of the sail handling lines goes down to a tackle hooked to the eyebolts around the base of the mast. It is starting to get very crowded here. The halyard is belayed to the mast cleat with several turns of line and a yacht hitch, but no glue. All of the belaying points will be painted with matte finish only after they are all done. 14 I try to leave extra line on the belaying point and delay the final securing till very late so that when, not if, I make a mistake I can correct it more easily. For example, here is the first photo of the halyard tackle on the mast top. Looking at it I could see that the halyard was running through one of the side lubber holes and made a fairly acute angle as it went through the lubber hole to the deck. Such a kink is a mistake. 15 In most cases this would be difficult to correct. Instead, I just had to untie the halyard from the cleat and re-run it properly, belaying it to the cleat again. Although it took some finicky work with two tweezers, it only took 15 minutes, not an hour. A very small point, but one that would have nagged at me at 2 am. 16 So here is the current overall look. 17 Main topmast next. Be well Dan

Hi all - Hold the applause. There's a long way to go before the fat lady sings. But thanks all the same. Mark - you could very well be right. As I was putting the lateen on I tried a number of ways to get the heel from port to starboard, and had no end of trouble. I have never seen a satisfactory explanation of the maneuver. A hauling point on the lower end of the spar makes a lot of sense. Dan

Build Log 32 – crojack and lateen sail Hi again. Being snowed in here in NYC had the silver lining of giving me some extra time to work on the model, so here is the next installment. The next spar to be tackled was the crojack yard on the mizzen. Even as far back as 1710 it did not carry a sail, but was there to spread the foot of the mizzen topsail. It was shaped in the usual manner to the Budriot plans. Since it does not carry a sail the number of blocks stropped to it is reduced. There are sister blocks at the yardarms for the lifts and mizzen topsail sheets, pendant blocks for the braces and sheet blocks under the yard near the center. Since the yard is not lowered with any frequency, the parrell is replaced by a static collar, with the yard having a single large block in the center that will hold a sling that circles the masthead and supports the spar. Here is the spar ready for mounting. The sling has been turned round the spar on one side and sized to the mast, leaving two long legs to be hitched round the spar and trimmed. 1 Here is the crojack yard mounted. In the enlarged portion you can see the collar hitched around the mast and spar and the sling running through the center block. According to Anderson (who I mistakenly referred to last time as Andersen) the French used the same lifts here as on the forward masts, while the English had already turned them into non-moving standing lifts since the yard did not move up or down. 14 In the above photo you might notice that there is now a railing around the poop deck/roof of the captain’s cabin. In testing the fit and location of the lateen sail I realized that there were no belaying points anywhere at the stern of the ship. Some belaying pins will be added to these rails, and other lighter lines can be hitched to the rails without pins. The posts will also give me some future locations for swivel gun mountings. They are 3 feet high in scale and made from steam bent pear, like the caprails. 15 The lateen spar is the simplest on the ship, even more so than the crojack yard. It tapers to both ends, but without a center octagonal section. There is a metal reinforcement and eyebolt at the lower end, but I never did discover the use for that fitting. A halyard line hitches to a point near the center of the spar, but a little towards the upper end. I left it loose until the yard was finally mounted. Along the length of the spar are six small blocks. They are for the brailing lines that furl the sail and take the place of the clew, bunt and leach lines. They alternate single and double blocks, which will be made clear later. 16 The parrell is made up of “B” shaped spacers and black beads. The final piece is a small deadeye with only two holes. 17 Here is how it goes together. The deadeye is seized into the parrell line which doubles and laces through the spacers and beads. The lines are seized together again, although I took a shortcut and knotted them so I could adjust the placement later. The knot will be invisible in the final mounting. The lines then loop around the mast and the base of the halyard before threading through the deadeye. The parrell does not go around the lateen spar, but holds the halyard close to the mast instead. I read Anderson’s description of this many times before I began to understand it, and I am not really sure that I fully get it even now. 18 The lateen sail started by being laid out on the prepared sailcloth. All of the panel lines are parallel to the cloth threads, although the lower corner is not precisely a right angle. 19 Since the sail will be set with all its lines, I had to develop cringles at the edge of the sail as attachment points for the brailing lines. For my first attempt I cut small openings in the fold of the tabling, then laid the bolt rope into the fold and glued it as before. With a pin I reached in and pulled the bolt rope out of the opening. This did not work too well. The rope was fixed in place, so pulling it out made a visible kink in the edge of the sail. 20 For the next effort I worked the bolt rope into the cringle openings as I ironed down the tabling. This was a much more successful effort, although it took a significantly longer time. 21 Once the tabling was all down I turned the sail over and marked the panel seams. I found that the cloth was thin enough that a piece of white paper placed under the sail allowed me to see the panel seams through the cloth. Then the second seam was drawn on next to the first, but offset about 1/16”. When light shines through the cloth this double seam can be seen, but it is a subtle effect and may not be worth the effort. 22 Reinforcement panels were added to the back side of the sail, as indicated on the plans, then the sail was laced to the spar. I wanted to show a small aerodynamic curve to the sail, so I mounted it to a scrap cardboard box with tape at the corners of the spar and a line at the clew of the sail that was held with a clip so the curve could be adjusted. 23 I painted the sail with matte finish to stiffen it and laid in a folded plastic bag of rice to hold the curve as the finish dried. 24 As it turned out, this was not a successful effort. There is too much rice in the bag and the excess weight deformed the sail too much. I might have been able to live with this, but at this point I realized that the entire sail was too small. I had taken the dimensions of the spar from a digitized scan of the rigging plans that I had not double checked. It was two inches short. Even that I might have lived with, but coupled with the ragged cringles and the excess curve, I decided to scrap the sail and start again. I saved the stropped brail blocks and the metal end fittings, but made a new spar and sail, which came out satisfactory. Here it is being curved and stiffened. Note how little rice it took to give the sail the curve that I wanted. 25 Once stiffened the sail was suspended by its upper corner and the reefing points were laced through holes in the reef band. There are knots on the back side which were glued into the holes, then the points were painted with matte finish and draped down on both sides. 26 The brailing lines were attached to the cringles then run up, diagonally, to the brail blocks. The first line, at the top, goes through a single block, then through the inside hole of the second, double block. The second line goes through the other hole of the double block, then both lines go together to a belaying point. Here they are coiled and taped together with a small clip to keep them from tangling until needed. The remaining brail lines are set up in similar pairs. 27 This photo was taken without a flash as it will normally be seen, with the light shining through the sail, making visible the doubled panel lines, reef points, and sail reinforcements. 28 A large single block was attached to the clew and a pair of single blocks on a short pendant to the lower end of the spar. Here it is, mounted. At the upper end of the spar a set of blocks on bridles leads the mizzen lift to a block at the masthead, then down to a belaying point on the rail. 29 Here it is from the windward side. I am not really happy with the look of the lift bridles. They are attached to the spar where both Anderson and Budriot indicate, but once tension was put on them they took on this pattern, not the more symmetrical one from the drawings. 30 Here is how the halyard and parrell came out, as seen from forward and aft. I am not happy with the bend in the halyard as is goes behind the crojack, but putting it in front results in an even bigger bend. 31 32 The final bit of rigging are the lines at the fore lower corner. Although they work like the braces of the square sails they are known, a bit confusingly, as the bowlines. 33 Here is the current status. The main topsail yard is clipped in place to get a sense of the size and shape of the sail. I can already see that the crowsfoot is going to be a problem. 34 Next, ad topsails per aspera . . . Be well Dan

Jan - There is a build log for the Swan 42 here at MSW in the scratch built forum. http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/1615-swan-42-by-dan-pariser-shipmodel-one-design-racing-yacht/?hl=swan Thanks to you and the others for the compliments. Dan

Log 31 – Furled Sails Hello again to all, and thanks as always for the comments and likes. Here is the next installment. Having done the furled spritsail, I used many of the same techniques for the fore and main courses. Here is the current appearance of the model with those sails furled and hung. 1 To start, the spars were shaped as usual, octagonal in the center, then rounded and tapered to the ends. Cleats were added to the center and stop cleats on the ends. Two pair of single blocks were stropped below the spar near the center for the clew lines and topsail sheets. Pendants for the braces were made up with an eye on one end to fit the spar and a large single block seized into the other end. 2 On top of the spar small single blocks were stropped for the leach lines and bunt lines. Below the spar are the stirrups and footropes, stiffened, weighted and hung in the same way as those on the spritsail yard, as described in the last log. 3 At the outer ends there are fiddle-style blocks, without sheaves, for the lifts and topsail sheets. Here are those blocks before installation. 4 And here are the Dutch blocks which will be hung on short pendants at the masthead for the lifts, as described by Andersen. 5 The only other fitting not connected to the sail is the parrell. The rollers were made from plastic tube, while the spacers were parted off a stick shaped like a triple letter “B”. The ropes will go around the spar, double back lying in the grooves of the parrell, around the spar again, and then have one leg taken to a belaying point on the deck. 6 The technique that I worked out for the furled sail is a bit complex, and there were a lot of missteps and discarded efforts before I got a method that seems to work. The first step was to lay out the shape of the sail onto the sailcloth. The cloth was stretched slightly and pinned to a corkboard. The entire sail area was sprayed lightly with matte finish to keep it from bunching as I worked on it. The top line is the length of the sail, which is about 3/8” short of the stop cleats on each end of the spar. This line was marked, as closely as possible, along the warp of the fabric so the fewest threads would be cut, reducing fraying. The primary depth is 2/3 the actual height of the sail if it were to be set. The reduced width of the lower edge was estimated by drawing out the full sail, then drawing a line between the clew and the future location of the clew block. Where that line crossed the 2/3 line was where the corner of the sail was set. If I wanted a tight furl, as though on a naval ship in harbor, I would stop here. But for a pirate ship without a permanent base, I went with a loose furl with the clews of the sails pulled out a bit, ready to be lowered. I therefore added two points on the ends of the lower edge. 7 The size and shape of these points was done by eye, but I was a bit off. I found out during the furling process that the points pull inward too much, making furling more difficult. When I do it again I will have the clew points angle outward a bit to compensate. Panel seams were penciled in every 20 inches in scale. At the ends they were angled in so the last one was parallel with the outer edge of the sail. An outer line for the tabling was drawn all around the sail. A double coating of slightly thinned white glue was painted on the tabling and an equal distance inside the sail. This was left to dry. 8 A length of line long enough to go around the perimeter of the sail was coated with white glue and laid along the sail edge inside the tabling to represent the bolt rope. This was pinned in place and left to dry. 10 At the clews and upper corners the line was looped around itself to make the attachment points for future lines. 11 Once dry, the shape of the sail could be cut out without fraying. 9 Now the tabling was closed around the bolt rope. First a metal straightedge was used to fold the tabling, then the fold was burnished to form a sharp crease. With an old plank bender I carefully applied heat to the overlap. This reactivated the glue to form an instant bond. 12 The tabling was ironed close to the trapped line, giving the impression of a bolt rope without having to sew it to the sail, a process that I have tried but cannot master. Someone who knows how to use a sewing machine could probably make a realistic edge. 13 Now the sail could be hung on the spar, then furled. After much experimentation, I decided that I could not simply fold, crumple and crush the sail so it looked realistically furled. Instead, I found that a ‘twist’ in the method made all the difference. If I rolled the sail around itself as I folded it, the resulting furl was much tighter and more even. But if I laced the sail to the spar it could not be rolled. Instead, the majority of the lacing was put on first. Between the outer single blocks, the ones for the leach lines, and across most of the spar, there is a false lacing. It has been darkened with finish and you can see the contrast with the new lacing on the outer end of the sail. 14 The sail was now sprayed with water till it was pliable. The sail was rolled, folded and crushed until I was happy with the look from the end of the spar to the leach block. There the first grommet was wrapped twice around the sail and spar, then loosely tied. This process was continued across the length of the sail. Each section from grommet to grommet was treated separately, with more or less rolling, etc. as needed. The sail was periodically sprayed to keep it supple. When the final section was basically correct the sail was painted with acrylic matte finish. While still wet and soft the final tweaks were made and the grommets tightened. After the finish was dry and the sail stiff, clew and sheet blocks were attached to the dangling points of the sail. A tack line with a stopper knot was laced through the clew and the spar was ready to be hung. I apologize for not having photos of the process, but it took at least three hands to keep everything going, and I did not take photos along the way. You can see how the process worked out. 15 Here the fore yard is being hung. The parrell was laced around the mast to hold the spar to it. The ties lead from under the central cleats up through the mast cap, down through the top and through the ramshead block, then up again through the mast cap and down to the spar where it is attached with a rolling hitch. The lifts start at the Dutch blocks at the mast cap, then through the inner hole in the sister block at the yardarm, through the Dutch block and down to a sheave in the bitts at the base of the mast. The braces run from the main stay to the pendant blocks, back to blocks on the stay, and to timberheads near the break of the foredeck. All this is as I understand it from R.C. Andersen. Budriot is actually not much help here. The sail handling lines were fitted and run through their blocks. Here you can see clew, bunt and leach lines. Also in the photo are the blocks for the brace and sheet lines. Finally, the bowlines were made up and run according to Andersen. 15a At the base of the mast you can see the belaying points, as well as the ramshead block and halyard lines through it. 16 From the other angle you can see how that strange cleat fixture on deck actually works quite well. 17 So here is the model with both fore and main spars hung and their furled sails and lines all rigged. 18 Next, the crojack yard and lateen sail on the mizzen. This will be the first sail that will be set, so there are a whole new bunch of issues that have to be addressed. Until then, Be well. Dan