Dr PR

Henry, I too have read something about a quick release for the anchor stopper for dropping the anchor. And I cannot remember where either!

See this link for a model implementation of this anchor retrieval method: https://modelshipworld.com/topic/19611-albatros-by-dr-pr-mantua-scale-148-revenue-cutter-kitbash-about-1815/?do=findComment&comment=1015509

And now for something entirely different ... Some time back there was a discussion on the Forum about anchor handling on small ships that did not have a capstan or windless. https://modelshipworld.com/topic/27410-small-ship-anchor-handling/?do=findComment&comment=787942 You don't see fishing the anchor depicted on many models (bringing the anchor up to the rail when retrieving it is called "fishing" the anchor), so I decided to try to implement the strategy on this model. Remember that some of this is speculative, but it does follow what several references say was done. First there is the anchor itself. I assembled this piece back in the 1980s when I started this build. The metal part appears to be a lead casting, and it had prominent mold seams. I filed it down to eliminate the seams, and it was shiny lead color. Now 35 years later it has developed a nice dull metallic look. The stock and ring are what came with the kit. The anchor cable is attached to the ring with a fisherman's bend which Marquardt says was used with smaller anchors. While this one was relatively large, a vessel this size would have a "smaller" anchor. Whether the fisherman's bend was correct for this one I am not sure, but that's what I used. The next part of this anchor retrieval method was the "nipper." Lever says the anchor cable was lashed to a messenger cable with nippers. The picture shows how this was done - the nipper is the small line that loops around both messenger and cable. The messenger is the part that was actually hauled upon, pulling the larger anchor cable with it to lift the anchor. On ships with capstans or winches the messenger was pulled by these. But when a vessel had neither a tackle was used to pull the messenger. In this case the messenger was just a short piece of rope with an eye spliced in one end for the hook of a block to fasten to. For this job I used my "Quad Hands" mechanism. I bought this a year or two ago after seeing one in another post on the Forum. It looked like it would come in handy when there were a lot of loose ends to manage. I have been using a simple two arm unit mostly, but here I had to pull the anchor cable taut while wrapping the nipper line around the cable first, then the cable and messenger, and finally the messenger only (six ends). I keep a bottle cap with a drop of white glue handy, and occasionally apply a small drop of glue on the windings with a needle point to prevent everything from unwinding. And the tweezers are essential tools for this kind of work. Here is the anchor and cable with two messengers and nippers in place. The next part of the puzzle is the fish boom and fish tackle. The boom is a small portable pole with a sheave in the outboard end and a hook on the inboard end. The hook catches an eye bolt in the deck to secure that end. The fish tackle runs over the sheave. The fish tackle is a rope with the fish hook spliced into one end and an eye in the other. The real thing would have a thimble in the eye, but fashioning a 0.020 inch (0.5 mm) thimble is just a bit too much of a challenge (I used white glue to stiffen it). Here you see the fish tackle in use. The hook catches on the flukes of the anchor while it is hanging from the anchor cable. The eye on the fish tackle is hooked onto the fore tackle. This heavy lifting cargo rig is used to raise the anchor. The fish boom guides the crown end of the anchor outboard of the hull. Here the head of the anchor has been "catted" up to the cathead with the cat tackle, but the tackle is still attached. After the anchor is hauled up a stopper rope or chain (not shown) is looped through the anchor ring to support the head end and the cat tackle is unhooked from the ring. In this model two retrieving or in-haul tackles made of double sheave blocks are used to haul on the messengers. One is hooked to a ring bolt just aft of the hatch (normally used to rotate the pivot gun). It has been drawn back to pull the nipper almost to the hatch. The second tackle hooks to a runner line with an eye in one end and a hook on the other that is attached to another ring bolt in the deck (or any other secure hold). The second tackle is run out to the forward messenger. While it is being hauled in the first tackle will be unhooked and run out again, and the messenger will be untied from the cable and moved forward again to receive the first tackle, and so on. Here is a view from the bow showing all of the parts of this anchor retrieval rig. Note that the falls for the cat tackle and retrieval tackles are secured to whatever stout attachments that are handy. This is a temporary setup so the ropes are not belayed in a more secure fashion. Since the anchor is hanging from the cat tackle the strain is relieved from the in-haul tackle. A "shank painter" rope or chain would be looped around the crown of the anchor and secured to timber heads or cleats on the bulwark. Then the fish tackle would be unhooked and it and the fish boom would be stowed. The stopper would be attached to the anchor ring to take the weight of the anchor head and the cat tackle would be unhooked. The anchor was stowed to the rail as shown in earlier photos of the starboard side anchor. https://modelshipworld.com/topic/19611-albatros-by-dr-pr-mantua-scale-148-revenue-cutter-kitbash-about-1815/?do=findComment&comment=1011922 Normally on long voyages the anchor cable would be detached from the anchor and the cable would be stowed in the cable tier below the main hatch. All of the parts shown here are documented in period publications like Darcy Lever's "The Young Sea Officer's Sheet Anchor" (1808). Marquardt's "The Global Schooner" shows similar rigs for schooners. But the places I have shown the retrieval tackle and falls to be belayed is just speculation. I think this may be the last "deck work" that has to be done before starting the rigging of the mast and sails. But I still need to build the ship's boat and hang it from the davits on the stern. That is a separate modelling project in itself!

I have a little more progress to report. I have been checking for "last minute" details to finish before I dive into rigging the masts. Every time I check again I find some other small detail that will be easier to install before the masts are rigged. If you have been modeling long you will appreciate the messy details. First I installed the boom sheet tackle blocks on the boom. Each block is stropped and secured to the boom separately. No problems here. Then I installed the foot ropes (also called "horses" in some books) on the outboard end of the boom. It was a simple task, but I had problems getting the knots on the two ropes to line up closely. One knot was a bit out of position, and I needed a needle to open it so I could move it. I went to the cabinet to get my sewing kit, and it wasn't there. After searching the house for the misplaced kit for thirty minutes, I found it where I left it after getting a spool of thread to use on the model! All I wanted to do was finish a simple modeling task and it turned into an annoying delay! Here is a photo showing how the thumb cleats on the boom are used. The two on top hold the boom sheet tackle in place. The two on the sides secure the inboard end of the foot ropes. The books show these foot ropes but don't say much about them. This is how these ropes are rigged on the Lady Washington. I am assuming (unjustifiably) not much has changed in the last two centuries to justify this configuration. This picture also shows the temporary lashing to hold the end of the ringtail boom in place when the sail isn't rigged. I don't plan to fly the sail on the model. I am still fiddling with the foot ropes to try to get them to hang "naturally." Another last minute detail was the rudder pendant chains. The books don't say what size chains were used, but from the drawings in the books and photos of the Lady Washington I guessed that the width of the links was 1/3 to 1/4 as wide as the rudder. I picked what looked like a piece of brass chain from my parts stash, cut it to length and blackened it. It did blacken nicely. Trying to make shackles 0.050" (1.27 mm) wide would be a bit too tedious work, so I decided to just open the links at the end of the chains, hook them over the ring bolts on the rudder and transom, and close them again. “The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft a-gley.” Robert Burns Things started going a-gley almost immediately. The chain must be brass plated iron, because every time I tried to pick up an end link the chain leapt up and stuck to the (magnetized) tweezers! I tried and tried again but I just couldn't pick up the open links without getting other links that were always (of course) in the way! Frustration was building. Most of the metal work on the model is with brass, so the magnetism the tools picked up over the years had gone unnoticed. Now they had to be demagnetized. I tried a little Husky brand "Magnetize/Demagnetize" tool that had been around for years. It was worthless. I think the "demagnetizer" just magnetized things worse. Than I remembered I have an old 120 VAC soldering gun with large induction coils. I turned it on, brought the tools close and they vibrated in the alternating magnetic field. I moved them back and forth a few times, then pulled them away slowly before releasing the trigger to turn it off. Voila! It worked perfectly and the tools were demagnetized. Even so, those links are tiny, and they have a way of turning the wrong way, slipping off the chain, refusing to go over the ring bolts, and so on. Murphy was right! It must have taken an hour to secure the four ends of the chains to the ring bolts! I write this in case there are any new modelers reading this thread. This was just a normal modeling day! Burns and Murphy must have been ship modelers!

The same phenomenon is useful (to a degree) when moored on the starboard side and leaving a berth. You want the stern to swing to the port (bow to starboard) because typically there is another vessel moored behind that you must avoid. However, on the little single screw minesweeper I was on the spring lines played a far greater role in swinging the stern out than the rudder or propeller rotation. But these arguments apply only to single screw ships. With twin (or quad) screws you can run one side forward and the other astern to "twist ship" more or less however you wish. On the cruiser (four screws) we always preferred docking starboard side to the pier. But my experience has been that you only have a choice of berth that the harbor master assigns, and you may have to dock on either side.

John, I did the same "last minute" review of deck fittings and belaying points prior to starting rigging - and like you I found a bunch of things I overlooked! And I found an error in my belaying plan that just happened to use the last two unused belaying pins on the fore mast fife rail. Still, I'm pretty sure I will discover yet another missing belaying point before I am done! I have had spotty results with Brass Black also. I wash with soapy (dish soap) water and rinse after soldering to remove water soluble flux. Then I wash with acetone to remove any resin flux, oils, etc. After that I clean/etch with white vinegar (dilute acetic acid) for a while, then wash again to remove the vinegar. Still I have had spots that just didn't blacken. However, a good scrubbing with the wire brush seems to improve the blackening. I suspect the irregular results may be varying hardness due to annealing the brass while working it and heating with soldering. This might cause the different parts of the metal to react at different rates to the Brass Black. Brushing cleans oxides off and removes excess solder and whatever else is on the metal surface, and it gives the surface a but of "tooth." I also use flat black enamel paint to touch up spots (Model Master Flat Black FS37038).

When did these horseshoe plates come into use?

True Oil is a "purified" linseed oil that is used on gun stocks. It has no color and dries into a hard clear finish that does not yellow with time. I think it may also have some other oil additives. I have used it and the finish is as good today as when I applied it over 60 years ago. It might be a good oil to mix with oil paints. I haven't tried it.

Valeriy, I tried to access the German marine modelbuilders web site and did get to see the opening page. But I wasn't able to open any of the topics - just ads and cookie setting pages. The German to English translator worked OK. I do not have an account/password for the site. Wasserkasten translates into English as "water box." You are correct that if the opening is a water intake there would be some type of grating over it. Discharges sometimes do not have a grating. But is it a water intake or discharge? How large is the opening? If it is very large it probably is cooling water for the condensers. One clue might be another roughly equal sized opening forward or aft of this one. The leading opening might be the intake of cooling water to the condenser, and the aft opening would be the discharge. The condenser openings probably would have been on the bottom of the hull. If there is no matching hole it is probably just a water intake for distillation, fire fighting water or such. Or a discharge. I suspect the area around the opening with the diagonal lines is a backing plate to strengthen the hull plating around the opening. I think the German "Uberlappungauf BB der Platten 8a" means overlapping on plate 8a. Possibly inside the hull, but I have seen examples where the backing plate was on the outside of the hull plating. It has been over 60 years since I studied German so take my translations with caution!

Caution: See the note at the end of this post about an error in the spacing of the ringtail boom irons. More work on the main boom. Here it is being lifted by a temporary line to the top. When fully rigged the end of the boom will be raised by the main boom topping lifts. I examined a number of drawings and texts and found that the booms for the mainsails on schooners and drivers on square riggers were positioned 5 to 9 feet (1.5 to 2.7 meters) above the deck - high enough in most cases that the helmsman could stand upright below them. Here there is about 7 feet (2.1 meters) clearance. Several ring bolts, cleats and thumb cleats had to be added, and the boom irons for the ringtail boom had to be fabricated. Ringbolts at the jaws were added for the main sail tack (top) and the main sail outhaul tackle (bottom). Aft of that are cleats on either side of the boom where the outhaul tackle fall will belay. Farther aft (right hand photo), at the widest part of the boom, are two thumb cleats on top for the boom sheet tackle necklace. Forward of these (left in the photo) are cleats where the ringtail halliard (port) and the flag halliard (starboard) belay. The two thumb cleats on the boom sides are where the inboard ends of the foot ropes belay. Aft of this are cleats where the ringtail tack (port) and ringtail outhaul (starboard) belay. The ringtail boom irons were a bit of a challenge. The two small rings in the left photo below are cuts from stock 0.125 inch (3.2 mm) diameter brass tube. The inside diameter is a bit larger than the ringtail boom (0.085 inch, 2.2 mm) and just right for the irons. And the diameter of the end of the boom where the aft iron is fitted was 0.125 inch (3.2 mm) and the standard 0.155 inch (3.9 mm) brass tube fits perfectly, so a corresponding section of that tube was used. A small strip of 0.015 inch (0.38 mm) brass strip was doubled and served as the connector between the two rings. But the place where the forward iron fit around the boom was 0.165 inch (4.2 mm) and none of the stock brass tubes is close to this size. I wanted to use brass the same thickness as the stock tubes (0.015 inch, 0.38 mm), so I decided to cut off a ring from a larger brass tube (0.25 inch, 6.3 mm), cut the ring, and reform the metal around a drill bit into an appropriate sized ring to fit on the boom and tabs to serve as the connecting piece between it and the 0.125 inch (3.2 mm) ring for the ringtail boom. All of these pieces are shown in the left photo. Lining up all of these pieces for soldering was tricky. I used three arms on my Quad-Hands tool to hold them in position while I soldered. The results are shown in the right hand photo above. Not perfect, but good enough. After blackening the brass and reshaping the boom end a bit the ringtail boom irons were installed on the boom. The boom topping lifts will attach to the groove just forward (right in the picture) of the boom iron on the end, and the foot ropes will be just forward in that groove. The mainsail outhaul will run through the sheave in the boom. Looks like I got a bit of the straw color paint on the sheave - something to clean up. There is also a small single block to be added at the outboard end of the ringtail boom for the ringtail outhaul. I should say that the positioning of the ringtail boom irons is speculative. I have them above the boom and rotated 45 degrees to the port side. This is similar to how studding sail booms were rigged on warships in the early 1800s. But I have seem modern schooners with the ringtail boom slung directly under the main boom. I chose the current configuration to minimize interference with other lines. The foot ropes hang directly below the boom, and even if the ringtail boom was below to one side it would be in the way of anyone trying to use the foot ropes on that side. Directly above the boom are the boom topping lifts and the sail. So above and to the side seemed the best choice. Ringtail boom iron spacing is in accordance with what Marquardt says in The Global Schooner - 1/6 to 1/8 the length of the ringtail boom. In this case the boom is 4.7 inches (119 mm) long, and the spacing between the irons is 0.75 inches (19 mm). NOTE: I have been trying to find the reference in Marquardt for the ringtail boom iron spacing - with no luck (the index contains no useful information about such things). However, on page 167 he discusses studding sail booms, and says the boom iron spacing is 1/3 the studding sail boom length. Zu Mondfeld's "Historic Ship Models" (page 232) says studding sail boom irons were spaced "1/8 to 1/6 of the yard's length" apart. However, he is referring to the square sail yard's length, and not to the studding sail boom's length. I obviously got these things mixed up. So the ringtail boom iron spacing shown in the photos is too close together - it should be about twice what I show. Well, another learning experience!

For what it is worth, on the WWII era Cleveland class cruisers the deck planks were 4 inches (102 mm) wide and 2 inches (50.8 mm) thick. The upper vertical edges of the planks were beveled 3/32 inch (2.4 mm) at the top, tapering down 1 inch (25.4 mm). The lower 1 inch was vertical. When the planks were butted together the lower faces touched, leaving a 3/16" gap (4.76 mm) at the upper surface. The "V" shaped gap was caulked with oakum down to a depth of 1/2" (12.7 mm) from the top surface. The remaining gap was then filled with "an approved black marine glue." If we assume that this was a typical traditional method for caulking deck planks, a 3/16 inch (0.1875 inch, 4.8 mm) gap will be: 1:24 0.008 inch 0.2 mm 1:35 0.005 inch 0.14 mm 1:48 0.004 inch 0.1 mm 1:64 0.003 inch 0.07 mm 1:96 0.002 inch 0.05 mm 1:200 0.0009 inch 0.02 mm 1:350 0.0005 inch 0.01 mm I used this idea to caulk the seams of the deck on my 1:48 build using 0.003 inch (0.07 mm) black construction paper. This worked nicely in my opinion. But it is an opinion - that well caulked decks do look good on some models. But I think the exaggerated caulking and planking on 1:200 and 1:350 models looks pretty strange. I served on three ships with wooden (teak) decks while in the Navy, including two flagships. The decks were holystoned and bleached, and maintained in excellent condition. The deck seams were quite visible, even in shipyard photos taken from hundreds of feet away. The trenails or plugs over the deck bolts were barely visible when standing on the deck, and totally invisible in photos. I plan someday to build a 1:96 model of a cruiser with wooden decks that I served on. The planks will be 0.04 inch (1.05 mm) wide, and the caulking should be about 0.002 inch (0.05 mm) wide (thinner than a sheet of ordinary printer paper). I think I will hate that planking job! **** I would be cautious about trying to use fishing line or thin plastic sheets between planks for caulking. I experimented with using a strip of black plastic garbage bag between planks for caulking with poor results. It was 0.0005 inch (0.127 mm) thick. The glue I used didn't hold the plastic to the wood. When I scraped/sanded the deck after caulking the plastic pulled out of the gap between planks. I'm sure the same thing would happen with fishing line.

I had a problem with cured epoxy getting softer when heated. I have a 6 foot long fiberglass hull with 1/2 inch thick Plexiglas frames spaced about every 6 inches. These are glued to the hull with epoxy. Between the frames are stringers at the main deck level that the deck rests on. These are also epoxied into the hull. All bonded surfaces of the Plexiglas were dimpled and these were filled with epoxy to ensure good adhesion. All of these joints were cured for several weeks and the epoxy was very hard. It was difficult to scratch and drilled/machined well. I was fairing the hull with Bondo auto body filler to correct a defect in the original fiberglass hull. After applying the Bondo I left the hull outside in the hot summer sun to speed the cure (and keep the odor out of my work space). The fiberglass had white gellcoat but the Bondo was gray and absorbed the heat (and it was also releasing heat as it cured). The whole hull heated up quite a bit. If you have worked with plastic much you will know that it has a relatively large thermal coefficient of expansion - a lot greater than fiberglass! The Plexiglas frames and stringers were machined to a tight slip fit. As they heated up they expanded faster than the hull and a lot of stress built up. The heat also softened the cured epoxy so it became soft like putty. Suddenly one end of a stringer popped out of position, relieving the stresses on the whole thing. But then when it cooled the epoxy hardened again holding the piece way out of line. I had to cut it out, clean up the mess, and put another stringer back in place. And I learned to not heat the hull too much! From this experience I guess that cured epoxy is like a type of plastic (long polymer molecules). Apparently the type I was using has a relatively low melting point.

Very nice planking!

Good work soldering John. That will take the strain! For cleaning up excess solder I use a soft steel wire brush on a rotary tool. This removes the excess solder fairly quickly - keep at it too long and it might remove too much and compromise the joint. It also polishes the brass nicely, removing oxides and giving it a bit of "tooth" to hold paint or blacken. I am also working on the mast rigging for my revenue cutter, but according to the books they weren't using many metal fittings in 1815. The rigging is attached to the masts with eyes in the ropes, supported by wooden cleats or reduced diameter steps in the mast circumference. So I don't get to do much brasswork.

bigcreekdad, Is there any model builder who has never run into this problem? I am finishing a model I started in the 1980s and lost enthusiasm for back when. But now I am enjoying it immensely (while another partly finished model gathers dust)! If you are frustrated you should ask yourself if ship modeling is really something you want to do. If you are still enthusiastic about modelling you should work on other parts of the model while thinking of the planking problem as a challenge. Study it, and look at what others have done. One of these days you will have a "satori moment," and the solution will be obvious.

Oh come on John, you have been doing great brass/solder work. That ring is nearly 1/8" diameter, how hard could it be to solder just a few tiny pieces together? Just kidding! I have been looking in on this build for some time, and it looks really nice. I'm not too sure about the super glue on brass parts. It works OK for gluing larger surfaces together, but it has poor sheer strength. Don't pull on those shackles too hard. **** I just looked through your entire build and I has inspired me a bit. I have been wondering what I would do after finishing my topsail schooner build (if I ever finish it) and was planning a scratch build inshore minesweeper - a really obscure vessel (a model of it would please Howard Chapelle). But I love the lines of the New England fishing schooners (Captains Courageous is a favorite movie) and Chapelle's The American Fishing Schooners has such a huge amount of details for these vessels that I have been tempted several times to build a model of one. Decades ago I inherited a Billings 1:75 Bluenose kit. The fellow had started it and another kit, but didn't finish either. Very little was done on the Bluenose, and what was done is pretty lame, so I would be starting over. But since he didn't get too far the wooden parts kit and fitting kit contents are all there. Some plastic parts (blocks, mast hoops) I would want to replace with wood, and the windlass doesn't look much like the Bluenose photos, but it should be good enough for the model. I love doing brass work and soldering, and there is a lot more on the 20th century boats than my early 1800s schooner. So maybe I will dig out that kit and start on it next - perhaps while I am researching the minesweeper. Your build and others will be a great source of information, and I will look into the Bluenose museum photos. I don't know if I will build the kit as the Bluenose, but it will be some fishing schooner (perhaps the Were Here if I can see enough details in the movie).

Another interesting build Valeriy! When you "soaked" the hull with liquid epoxy, did you cover the inside and outside of the planking, or just the outside? I have used liquid epoxy "paint" on the inside of the planking. It soaks into the cracks between planks, and between the planks and bulkheads. The result is a very solid hull that will not develop cracks between the planks.

Roger hit on an important point. High speed is not always a good thing. High torque is - it is torque that forces the bit through the material being drilled. Most motors controlled by a simple variable duty cycle speed control loose torque as they slow down. I have an ancient (1970s) Dremel and the ancient Dremel variable duty cycle speed control, and at low speeds the drill binds and stops cutting in brass. Many motor tools run at tens of thousands of RPM. This produces heat in the motor and in the drill bit. Heat is not good for the bit, and it will burn wood. The optimum speed for drilling softer metals like brass and aluminum is much slower. Look for a drill that has high torque at lower speeds (1000-5000 RPM).

Here is a bit more work on the gaff and boom jaws. I thought I might drill through the jaws and spars edge on an insert a metal pin, but the 1/16 inch (1.6 mm) wood is pretty thin. I would have to hand drill straight with a pin vise for 1/4 inch (5 mm) or so without coming out through the upper/lower surface. The probability of doing that successfully a half dozen times or more seemed pretty low. I did add the metal bands around the jaws and spars, and that gives the assemblies enough strength. First I notched the jaw edges and spars slightly with a small square needle file to accept 0.050" (1.27 mm) wide 0.005" (0.13 mm) thick brass strips. I didn't blacken the brass first because there was a lot of bending that would just scratch it and I wanted to solder the ends of the strips to fasten them in place. The strips were formed around the jaws and removed so the ends were tinned. Then the metal pieces were slipped into place, clamped and the solder was reheated to form the bond. After this I used forceps and a tiny chisel point to crimp the strip down and around the curved spar. This produced a very tight fit around the jaws. I repainted the wooden parts with the straw color of the masts and allowed a bit of paint to flow under the brass where it would to "glue" the strips in place. Then the bands were painted with flat black enamel. The trick to working with thin brass to form it around something like this is to get very sharp bends around the corners. For this I used needle nose pliers to make the initial bends. Then I wrapped the piece around the edge of a 1/16 inch (1.6 mm) piece of metal and used a small hammer and anvil to make very sharp bends. Here is how I get the 0.050 inch (1.27 mm) brass strips (or strips of any desired width). This will work with brass sheets as thick as 0.010 inch (0.25 mm) thick. First I use calipers to scribe a light scratch the desired distance from the straight side of the brass sheet. This is then used to align a steel ruler along the scratch. The ruler is clamped into place, with the clamps also holding the brass sheet tight on top of a sacrificial cutting surface (scrap cardboard). Then an ordinary #11 hobby knife is run along the edge of the ruler, pressing down firmly, to cut into the metal (don't use a new blade). After seven or eight passes the blade will cut through 0.005 inch brass. About twice as many passes are needed for 0.010 inch brass. The knife produces a slight raised edge along the cut. You can remove this with a file or sand paper. With this trick you can have any dimension brass strips with only a stock of thin brass sheets. Of course it will work with other soft metals (aluminum, lead alloys, etc.) but I wouldn't try it with ordinary steel thicker than 0.001 - 0.002 inch (0.025 - 0.05 mm). I wouldn't try cutting stainless steel of any thickness this way. Some modelers use a paper cutter to cut thin metal, but unless you can clamp the sheet firmly to the cutting board the cutter edge will try to turn the sheet and you will get an uneven width piece with a curved edge (been there, done that).

David, The Endurance was essentially a three masted topsail schooner. Read through this article to learn about schooner rigging. It discusses two masted schooners, but the Endurance just had a third fore-after mast similar to the main mast in these drawings. https://modelshipworld.com/topic/25679-topsail-schooner-sail-plans-and-rigging/?do=findComment&comment=750865 The rigging names will be similar for the spar and sail rigging, and the kit belaying plan should show where each line is belayed. Keep in mind that no two ships were the same, and even the same ship changed with time. So if you don't have the exact plan for the precise date you are modeling you will have to make a "best guess" for your model.

George, Rothschild! Brother. You move in different circles from me! The black metal would be very nice for most ship modelling (and model railroading) purposes. I guess if I want the black metal foil I'll have to move up to more expensive wines. Many (30-40) years back I used the small metal tins that held tubular glass fuses. I'm not sure what alloy it was, but some type of steel. It was very thin and easy to cut and form, and it soldered OK. Now everything seems to come in plastic.

John, I don't know if I would call it a "fine" metal, but so far it has been in abundant supply. I guess it's greatest virtue is that it is soft and easy to work. Of course, that property rules it out for many jobs. I have noticed that the thickness varies quite a bit from winery to winery. And some companies are using plastic, so the metal seals may go the way of the wine cork.

Some authors say that masts were protected from chafing by booms and gaffs with a metal plate. I decided to try this on this model. The catch was trying to determine the proper location on the masts without having the rigged gaffs in place. But after the gaffs were (mostly) finished I could measure the length of the throat halliard tackle with the gaffs in position. Then I determined the dimensions of the metal sheets. I searched through my metals stash for very thin material, and found some special metal sheets that were only 0.0035 to 0.004 inches (0.09 to 0.1 mm) thick. After the paint was scraped off the area the metal was shaped to fit around the mast and then glued (Duco cement) in place. After the glue dried and a bit of touch-up paint on the masts the gaff jaws were filed to slip over the metal plates. Here are photos of the fore mast and main mast with the metal in place. The metal plates wrap 3/4 of the circumference on the aft sides of the masts. I discovered that I made the main boom topping lift pendants too short, based upon my original drawings that showed the gaff hoisted too high on the mast. You can see on the right that the blocks hang down to about where the gaff will be. They should be somewhat lower so they don't bump on the gaff. Well, if you have done much scratch building you know that a lot of the work will have to be repeated! Could be worse!! Here is the boom rest on the main mast with the jaws of the boom in position. There is still a lot of work to do on the boom and gaffs. There are metal bands around the jaws, and I intend to drill through the jaws and mast and pin them together with wire for added strength. And there are several cleats, thumb cleats, metal bands and ring bolts still to be attached. And what was that "special metal" that I used for the chafing plates? Well, it is something I have in nearly unlimited supply and it is very easy to work with. But oddly, I do not recall ever using it before. You can see the original source here, around the top of the wine bottle. It is the metal alloy used to seal the bottle. Just cut it off and roll it out. I sanded the painted side to get better "tooth" for the glue to adhere to. Cheers!

Roger is right about trying to nail or screw into the edge of plywood. I think it is OK for bulkheads IF you are just going to use glue to fasten the planking. But if you will be using fasteners or treenails solid wood bulkheads will be better. I got my model aircraft plywood at the local hobby shop that had a lot of R.C modeling supplies. Unfortunately, the Internet and big box stores have starved it to death, as they have also done to our local camera shops.

Before I can finish the rigging on the mast tops I need to check some dimensions with the gaffs and boom. So making these was the next project. I took spar lengths from the model rigging plan and created a 2D CAD drawing using the prototype spar dimensions from Marquardt's The Global Schooner. I think these dimensions are probably more accurate for schooners than the square rig spar dimensions from other books. The parts were carved out of square dowel stock. If you haven't tried making masts and spars this way it is something to consider. It is very simple and quick. First I drew the spar outlines in pencil on the faces of the square dowels. Then I used a small plane to remove most of the excess material - this produces a lot less sanding dust than trying to just sand the stock down to size. The final shaping was done by sanding on coarse sandpaper. After the square cross section spars are done the edges are shaved off with the plane to create an octagonal cross section. With small spars like these I them just finished rounding the pieces with sandpaper. The photo above shows the rough shaped spars and the stock they were carved from. Below are the rounded spars. Next were the jaws for the boom and gaffs. I printed the drawing of the spars and cut out the part with the jaws. After cutting out the jaw pattern I used it as a template to pencil in the outline of the jaws on thin pieces of plywood. Again, this was made by gluing two pieces of 1/32 inch (0.8 mm) model aircraft plywood together and allowing the glue to harden overnight. It is easier to carve small details without the wood breaking with the plywood than with just a thin piece of wood. Two of each jaw pattern were made. However, tough as the plywood is, one piece broke and I had to make another one to finish the job. The pieces were glued together with Duco cement. This is an acetone based solution of nitrocellulose. It dries quickly and sets in a few seconds. I followed the instructions and coated the mating surfaces with glue and let it dry, Then I added a new layer of glue and clamped the pieces together. It set firmly in less than a minute and made a strong bond. After curing overnight I sanded the parts and coated them with shellac to seal the wood. I will add metal bands around the jaws and spars, and some additional details later. But for now I can use the pieces to measure the length of some of the mast rigging (throat halliards in particular).