Scoot

Hi All,
I haven't posted lately, but that doesn't mean I haven't been working on my model. I have pretty much finished the running rigging and I just couldn't seem to get the model to a presentable state for photos and updates as I went along.
For some reason I found this model very difficult to rig and I don't believe there isn't any aspect of the running rigging that I didn't do over at least once. About half of the belaying pins are completely inaccessible and I seemed compelled to run lines on the wrong sides of things, only to notice it much later! I had a tendency when snipping off the line at the belaying pin to snip on the wrong side of the pin! I was continually messing up the tension with each addition line! etc etc. and there's a fair bit of chain used for the rigging which is very frustrating to work with as it usually needs to be cut to an exact length without much wiggle room. Anyway, I got it done.
 

 
I bought some internally stropped blocks from BlueJacket and used them where indicated. I think you can make them out below on the topsail halliards, which are chain.




 
I also managed to snap off several davits.

 
So, I'm closing in on the finish line. The remaining items to complete are the whaleboats, the anchors and the stage that attaches to the starboard side.
I'm really pleased with my upgraded blocks on this model. The larger ones (3/16" anc 5/16") as well as the internally stropped blocks are from BlueJacket and the smaller ones (1/8" and 3/32") are from Syren.
I don't know if any of you have ever the noticed  the paradox in model building, but this last rigging job has really pointed it out to me. On the whole, this hobby is relaxing, challenging, rewarding, fun, contemplative, meditative, satisfying and any number of other positive things. However, at the same time and paradoxically it seems to comprise nothing but a series of jobs that individually are aggravating, tedious, repetitive, frustrating, and tending to make one bang one's head against the wall! How is this possible?  I think we need a new word for this phenomenon. There's a word "synergy" which applies when the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. What would be the word when the whole is the opposite of the sum of the parts? Perhaps "frustifaction" or maybe "satistration" I don't know.
David

The two rocket launchers took me three days to make. The kit gives you the option of using 4 launchers, 4 bombs or a combination of the two. I've opted to do two of each. Hopefully the pics are fairly self-explanatory about the construction :








 
There were a total of 58 1.0mm diameter angled tubes to make which fit inside the oval holes in the nose cones :



 
I glued a toothpick to each cone for ease of handling :

 
Aligning each internal tube was accomplished with the aid if a piece of 1mm wire :

 
The tubes were not a perfect fit, but quite easy to trim down after the glue dried :

 
A bit of touch-up acrylic paint was needed after the trimming :

 
Finally, 5 more tubes were fitted to the end of each cone :

 
Danny

Thanks Ab, and I agree with your opinion of the kit. I've made a couple of other Halinskis and this one is by far the most detailed  .
 
Both the canopies fitted. I'll fit the doors near the end of the build as they can be easily knocked off in the open position (the hinges are "non-working") :



 
The next section of skin fitted. These skins are REALLY tight - you have to be spot-on with the framing fairing as the piece wraps around from from top-left to top-right in one piece :



I did a bit of plumbing in the transmission bay using brass wire painted (mostly) in-situ with artist's acrylics :

 
Danny

Hello All,
A little more progress to report -  I've finished the standing rigging! It's always a nightmare process for me as I can never seem to get the tension right among the three masts. As soon as I tension one line and it brings the mast into a more or less straight position, another line goes slack.  And, I'm always too quick to get the seizings glued and trimmed, which of course makes later adjustments all but impossible. I never seem to learn from one model to the next; it's always like I'm doing it for the first time and like deja vu all over again I went down that rabbit hole this time too!
 
But then I got control of myself and started over. I'm not sure what others like to do, but I've pretty much decided that the best way for me to do it is to get the lowest stay for each mast in place first before the lower shrouds go on, then move directly to the highest stay starting with the mizzen and moving forward. So my order was: 1. mizzen topgallant stay, then mizzen topgallant backstay, 2. main royal stay, then main royal backstay and 3. fore royal stay then fore royal backstay.  And I even left the seizings all unglued and untrimmed until all were in place so I could adjust each as needed until the masts were all reasonably straight. Then it was just a matter of filling in the others. At this point it was easy to apply just enough tension to each line without it having an adverse effect on the others.
 
Sorry if that all seems too elementary to even mention, but I'm feeling very happy about finding a system that works for me and with any luck I won't have to relearn it on my next model. I enjoyed Groundhog Day, but that doesn't mean I like living it!

 



 
 
I've also attached the fish tackle. This is a piece of rigging that I'm not familiar with. I assumed it was related to whaling, but according to the MS instructions it was used to help hoist the anchor. Is that correct? Is it a feature of ships of this era (second half of the 19th century?) All the other models I've built are of much earlier ships.

 

 
back stays secured
also added the running lights
 

 
mizzen topmast stay
 
Up next is the upper ratlines.
 
Many thanks for comments, likes etc.
 
David

Hello All,
It seems I have been working and working with very little to show for it!
 
It's time to mount the top masts and then add their shrouds and stays, but a quirk of the Morgan is the lower and upper topsail yards on the fore and main masts are attached with metal brackets. That necessitates their being mounted to the masts before the masts can be mounted on the ship, which means a whole lot of rigging to add to the yards before anything can happen. There's a fair bit of chain rigging on this ship and it's had to deal with because you can't just snug it up by sliding the seizing; you pretty much have to get the length right from the beginning. 
 
You can see the metal brackets for the two yards in this photo:
 

 
While there are many benefits to adding as much rigging to the yards before mounting them, it creates a great deal of chaos, especially with the long lines. I have a bad habit of inadvertently getting glue on them somewhere along their length which I never notice until much later when it won't pass through a block and I have to get up, leave the room and walk around the block before I settle down again. But, I'm getting ahead of myself; that's all lying in wait for me. 😯
 

 
One tricky bit on this model is this piece of rigging:
 

 
It's a double iron block hanging below the two lower masts through which two chains pass.
 

 
The piece included in the kit is almost laughable. It's a small piece of sold white metal with no holes in it. It needs to be drilled through on each side in order to accept the chains. I did not anticipate being able to use it successfully and have spent a lot of time considering how best to replicate this part from scratch. I decided to try drilling it nevertheless and couldn't believe it, but I managed to get it to work - two through holes in each of the two pieces! (Paint touch up is needed on the yard as a result of dirty fingers from handling the chain.) 
 
So now, on to the topmast shrouds and stays.
 
Thanks again for looking in.
 
David

Good Morning,
With the lower shrouds and lower stays in place, it seemed like a good idea to stop work on the standing rigging and add the five boat handing stations at this point. I also added the ratboards as well.
 
The ratboards were fun to do and actually quite a bit easier than regular ratlines. I always have a problem with the outermost two shrouds pulling in as add the ratlines, but that was not a problem in this case.
 
I've also finished the five boat handing stations. While they were not difficult, it was a much larger job than I anticipated as there are many components to each one. 
 
The hull of this ship has an incredible number of things on it and someone had advised me to take a great deal of care at the outset and when adding any element to the hull to  be quite aware of how it would affect the placement of other components. It was a challenge making sure everything would fit in more or less the right place. I'm happy to report that everything fits properly and I didn't have to make any "do overs."
 
Now on to the rigging in earnest.
David
 

 

 

 

What a beautiful piece of work Ed. Must be fantastic to see in person. Hats off to you.
 
Scoot

What a beautiful piece of work Ed. Must be fantastic to see in person. Hats off to you.
 
Scoot

What a beautiful piece of work Ed. Must be fantastic to see in person. Hats off to you.
 
Scoot

A little update. I've been working on this 'n' that.
 
I've finished the cutting in tackle.

 

 
Those Bluejacket cast metal blocks have great detail. They're a breeze to work with at this size (5/16") but a more difficult in smaller sizes.
 

 
The plans indicated that the two lines from the cutting in tackle tie off on the windlass head and the windlass barrel. So clearly this tackle was not in place at all times, only when it was in use. The plans don't indicate exactly how to terminate the lines after being wrapped around the windlass, so I ended one set with a coil on the deck and I imagined the other set being tied off on the wooden bar above the windlass.
 
I don't mind making rope coils for the deck, but I really don't like making the ones that hang down usually from belaying pins. I find them very hard to do. I have to admit to a bit of a cheat on these. I like using Amati rigging line generally; it seems to be very good quality without being expensive. I know that there is superior hand made rope available, but I find this one to be an excellent trade-off between quality and price. The problem with it is, it's a bit stiff and I can never get it to loop nicely for my vertical coils. I shouldn't tell anyone this, but I switch to a different rope here. I use crochet cotton for the vertical coils. It's much easier to get it to behave being very soft. The ecru is a nearly identical colour match and I always use a fine weight even if it's lighter than the actual rigging line. Again it's much easier to handle and the eye simply cannot pick up the slight difference.
 
 
Then I made a start at the ratboards. A feature that's a bit different for this ship and although it's early yet, it looks like they're going to be fun to do.

 
Still have to trim them to length of course. I find if they're trimmed to length first, it's very hard to tie them on the outermost shrouds.
 
In the background you can see some boat davits in place. More about them in the next post.
 
Many thanks for looking in, comments and the "likes".
David

Good Morning,
So this is pretty much a recap of where I am at the moment. Lower shrouds and stays are finished -

The main stay passes through fairleads on the side of the fore mast and since the end point of the stay was previously established under the anchor deck, I knew I'd never position the fairleads correctly in order for the two sides of the stay to pass through without bending. So I didn't attach the fairleads to the mast first, but rather threaded them onto the stay, secured the stay in position and then attached them to the sides of the mast.

You can just make out the port one threaded onto the unattached stay.
 
 
 

 

 

 

 
Next up is the cutting in tackle, which in some ways is the centrepiece of this model. I'm following the advice of John (Texxn5) who suggests doing it at this point in the process.
 

 
Here are some of the components prepared. I have never worked with 5/16" blocks before and boy are they ever easier to seize than 3/32"! I'm thinking maybe I'll replace all the 3/32" ones on this model with 5/16". How big a difference can it make? (Just kidding)
 
Many thanks for checking in, comments and "likes"
David

Good Morning,
I'm into the rigging for real now and have just finished the lower shrouds. I am always torn between using black or tan line for the lanyards. In theory, I guess, it should be tan, but it often looks very black on actual ships. I assume it's just dirty as opposed to being tarred.  In any event I opted for tan on this model.
 
I always think the easiest way to get the deadeyes (more or less) level is to just draw a line on a card, set it on the channel and use it as a guide.

 
I always seem to have a bit of trouble tying off the lanyard without having to add a lot of glue, however I didn't have too much trouble this time. Thanks to John's (texxn5) photographs, it's quite clear how it's done on this ship.

 

 
It's just a simple loop around the shroud and the end is left to hang just below the level of the rail.
 
It wasn't too hard to achieve a decent result using this method and the loop holds really well when drawn tight, without using a bucket of glue. Just a light dab is all that's needed to secure it.

 

 
Whenever I start the rigging portion of a build, I always have to find my "sea legs" again and it usually takes a bit of time before I get in the groove. As a result, this weekend I ripped out all the rigging I had done on the bowsprit and am now in the process to doing it over.
 
'til next time,
David
 

Brief update -
I've been working on the netting that goes over the bowsprit.
 
I had imagined that I would just use the same stuff that I used for the hammock netting on my Constitution, but when I got it out, I realized it was much too fine. The bowsprit netting on the Morgan is very large. So, I made some up. It was really just like making shrouds and ratlines.
 

 

 
I made a grid and then strung some vertical lines. (A you can see I made the grid wider than than I needed to have.) I used simple sewing thread, the kind I use for seizing. For the verticals, I doubled it. I used single thickness for the horizontal lines. The netting pattern is diamond shape, but  I thought that would be too hard to do in a consistent way, so I tied on two diagonal lines to represent the outer edges of the netting. Then I was able to tie all the horizontal lines on at right angles to the  vertical lines.
 

 
I secured all the knots with diluted white glue and when it was dry, I cut it out and lashed it to the support lines on the bowsprit.
 

 
There isn't too much more I can do by means of stalling before starting the rigging proper, which always seems like a big threshold to me. Anyway, I'm just about ready to bit the bullet and get serious about it.
 
Thanks again for looking in, comments and likes.
 
David
 

Good Morning,
Yesterday I worked on the tricky martingale stays and finally managed to get an acceptable result -
 

 

 
The challenge was cutting the two chains on the fore side of the dolphin striker to the right lengths to maintain similar tension in each one.
 
It took me two attempts and the secret was to install one chain first, then install the two lines running aft of the dolphin striker. (I always used to secure and fix one end of such a line to the eyebolt first and then try to adjust tension through the deadeyes and lanyard on the other end. I now think it's easier to secure and fix the lanyard first and then adjust the tension through the seizing at the eyebolt end.) Then lastly I attached the second chain by eyeballing its length and cutting it a fraction long. I had to reduce its length by a couple of links before I had it right. This was a slow process, but not quite as difficult as I had anticipated. There is plenty more of this chain to be installed on this model, so it's going to be an interesting learning curve.
 
David
 

Hello Everyone,
A bit more progress to report. I've been working away at the masts and yards and have them almost finished.

 

 
There's a lot of iron work to be attached to these yards, and every time I look at the plans I find another piece to be added. I'll do as much as possible on the bench before mounting them on the model.
 
The next picture shows how the lower masts will eventually be attached.
 

 
I've also started rigging the bowsprit. Some of the stays and shrouds are chain. The larger size (bobstays) isn't too hard to work with, but the smaller stuff is very difficult to seize nicely to the deadeyes and eyebolts. It's possible to get a piece of .02" line through the end link, but it takes many attempts and much attendant swearing. I guess I could use finer thread, but I want the connection to have some strength and security
 
Where the chain terminates with a deadeye and lanyard it isn't difficult to get the length right because there is some adjustment possible in the lanyard, but I am worried about attaching the two martingale stays as they both run from jibboom to the the dolphin striker and are attached directly without a lanyard. There isn't room for any adjustment. If there was just one on the fore side of the dolphin striker it wouldn't be too bad, as I could adjust the tension with the line running aft to the hull, but there are two of them and they will have to fit perfectly in relation to one another and I haven't quite figured out how to make that happen.
 

 
Anyway, that's all for now. Many thanks for comments and 'likes'
David
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 319 – Running Rigging Continued
 
I keep looking at the model and thinking that it doesn't look a lot different than it did last month - considering the amount of time being spent on it.  All these pictures were taken today after a fairly major cleanup of the work area.  The first picture shows most of the model.
 
 
 
In the picture the rigging of the foremast is essentially finished except for the lower braces which are deferred for access reasons.  On the main mast all the lines are run and belayed at least initially, again except for braces.  The mizzen still lacks its four upper yards but these have been made and are ready for rigging.
 
The next picture shows the fore course sheets that were installed this week.
 
 
 
Again, these were deferred until now to permit access.  These large, 5" lines run from a shackled eyebolt on the outside of the sheer rail, then forward and up through the large block ganged with the clue garnet block, the tack and the lazy tack.  Finally they pass back through a bulwark sheave and are belayed to cleats on the deck.  The next picture may be clearer.
 

 
Without sails, the lines drape across the lower shrouds.  The tacks are the lines running forward to cleats on the catheads.  The lazy tacks angle aft and belay on the first pin on the main rack rails.  These were used to control the tack of the sail when the yard was being braced around – between the casting off of the sheet and the belaying of the tack – or vice versa.  The starboard tack may be seen belayed to its cleat on the cathead in the next picture.
 

 
This picture also shows the new lashing between the bullseyes on the martingale stay where it is shackled to the cathead.  This outer bowsprit standing rigging suffered damage during nearby work.  It should have been deferred.  The jibboom guys are still scheduled for replacement.
 
Further aloft, work on the fore upper yard braces has progressed.  The next picture shows the topgallant brace tackles between yard and stay pendants.
 
 
 
Tension on these will be relieved to normalize the stay.  Below this, the fore upper topsail braces have been run except for the falls, which are delayed to permit access to belaying points below.
 
The main spencer gaff has finally been mounted and rigged and is shown in the next picture.
 
 
 
 
The rigging on these consist of one standing lift and two vang pendants with tackles.  The tackles and belaying points on the side rails are out of this picture.
 
Rigging of the fore braces gets complex at the heads of the stays as seen in the next picture.
 
 
 
The tackle falls run through blocks seized to the stay then through blocks on the shrouds to direct them downwards without fouling.  Two sets of braces attach to this stay.  One level up it gets even more congested with the two upper sets of braces as well as the staysail halyard block.
 

 
Finally another view of the full model.
 

 
The two broken jibboom guy chains may be seen dangling from the boom waiting for replacement in this picture.
 
Approaching endgame.
 
Ed

Hi Everyone,
I've been working away on my Morgan (when not shoveling snow!) I'm working on the various hull details. With all models I know it's necessary to think several steps ahead but that's really the case with this one.
 
I installed the anchor deck, but in order to do that the main stay has to be first located. In order to get the angle right, I needed to put the main mast in place to get the starting height of the stay and to located the holes in the anchor deck in the right spots.


 

 
 
Then I started in on the hull details which is a very tricky endeavour. There are many components to be added along the length of the hull and it requires quite a bit of careful layout to get them more or less right. I've been marking the locations of davits and various other things with masking tape:
 

 
I started with the canopy supports -  
 
 

 

 
I've made the roof, but it's not actually installed; I'll do that later.
 

 
I'm currently working on the channels and chain plates and had to do some experimenting and have had a few false starts. The plans show one continues piece of wire wrapped around the deadeye at the top and forming an eye at the bottom. I found it difficult to make them look half decent and almost impossible to control their lengths. So, I wrapped the wire around the deadeye, soldered it and left the ends loose.
 
Here they are in place just to gauge their length (they're still rough looking at this point and I scrapped a couple of them):
 

 
I then cut them to length and soldered an eyebolt to the bottom end. This works very well as I can fine tune the length if need be by sliding the eyebolt up or down and resoldering it. Here's one after a little refinement that should look just fine when installed and painted flat black:
 

 
I started with the mizzen channels as there are no other components to interfere with them and I'm still fine tuning them. The main and fore channels have to be fit around davits etc. so that's next on the agenda.
 
Thanks again for looking in
David
 
 

Dave. Coloring is good, lines are crisp. Coming along nicely.

Good Morning,
I've spent the last little while working on the tryworks and it's now finished. I used the method described by Gerald Spargo and which is available in the resources section on the NRG main site.
 
It was a pretty straightforward endeavour. The only really difficult aspect is once you get to the top, it appears as though there will not be enough room for the pots, chimneys, trim etc. So it takes a bit of tweaking to get it all to fit. It's also a bit tricky to keep the walls plumb.
 
Gerald advised strongly to use emamel paint for the bricks and not acrylic. (Perhaps it's difficult to wipe the joint filler off acrylic paint cleanly, I'm not sure.) So I used some Humbrol flat enamel. I understand that the top surface and chimneys are copper that has blackened over time. So I painted them with Humbrol copper enamel and then dry brushed flat black over top. I'm not sure how clearly it shows up in the pictures, but you can just see bits of copper showing through. I did the same thing for the cooling tank.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
So that's it for now. Many thanks for looking in.
David

Yeah, I know . But as I said at the beginning of the log - I don't know anything about building stagecoaches, so I went with the kit directions .
 
BTW - not a bad replica of my model that they have in the bank's museum .
 
Danny

Good Morning,
I've been working away at this and that. I spent a lot of time yesterday (raining all day, couldn't rake leaves) working on the lettering for the stern. I don't know what the decorative "f" in the centre is property called; whether it's simply a decoration or some old-fashioned contraction for "of". In any case it presented a bit of a challenge to duplicate. There is an elaborate "f" in the special characters section of Word, but it wasn't quite right. In the end I downloaded this image from Google:

 
Then I doctored it with Photoshop and the result isn't too bad:

 
 
 
The next photo shows my lettering above the lettering on the actual ship:

 
And finally, on my model:

 
I also finished the skylight:

 
Using sewing thread for the rods worked quite well. Because it's so fine, I was able to get the same number of them in place as on the ship. For the bottom portion, I had stiffened the thread with CA glue, but for the upper portion, I tried it without adding the CA glue and it actually worked a little better.
 
I am now working on a number of small details to the hull - portholes, etc before turning the hull upside down and staring on the copper plating.
 
Again, thanks for likes and comments.
David

I've been working a bit on the deck furniture. Here's where I'm at so far.

 
Here are the two companionways, two hatches, cabin and a start on the skylight. Still some painting, touchup and small details to do. Sanding basswood is always most successful when done between coats of paint.

The skylight presents quite a challenge. It's very difficult to include all of the detail at this scale. I've made several prototypes, trying different means of making the rods on the windows, including different sizes of brass rod or wire. My biggest problem was getting the holes for the wire or rod to all line up evenly and even the smallest wire seems too big. The plans indicate that the diameter of the rods is just .1 mm which is very small. In the end I think I'm going to go with thread. What I'm showing in the picture is just sewing thread hardened with CA glue. I can glue it in place on top of the framework and then add a 1/32" piece of wood on top. When I apply it to the actual skylight, I think I will use one thread for each of the five rods and wrap it around the entire framework. I'll do something similar for the "roof" pieces, but I just haven't worked out yet how to construct the framework. Each of the three windows on each side should also have a small window frame around it, but I'm undecided as to whether to include it or not. The overall effect might be better if that tiny detail is omitted. I'm not sure yet.
 
Again, thanks for comments and likes.
David

Hi Danny...first off ....so glad to hear everything went well for you and happy to see you back here at MSW.... nice build ,looks like an excellent kit... I'm sure your grandson will love it..
again welcome back...
 
Frank

While battened down on a rainy/snowy afternoon, found 49 minutes of great clippers on YouTube.
Enjoy -
 

Great job on those whale boats Bruce.  May seem like a pain in the butt,  but when you get to the tiny details it makes all the difference.
 
Scoot