dunnock

Completing the Bowsprit The cap has been cut to size. A groove is formed on the starboard side of the cap for the jack stay. The blocks and eyebolts are added to complete the cap. The cap and staff won’t be fixed in place until I’m ready to add the jib boom. With the blocks added and the jibboom made, I fix the bowsprit in place with the gammoning. I estimate how much rope I will need by making five wraps with some thread. It works out at about 1100mm so I cut 1200mm of 0.7mm rope to be sure. I begin by making an eye splice in one end and thread the other end through passing the resulting loop over the bowsprit. The eye sits on the port side. Wraps run forward on the ‘sprit and aft-wards through the gammoning slot, putting a twist in the wraps. Ten wraps fills the slot. In theory I should take ten frapping turns around the wraps but nine fills the space. Finally the end is seized to the first wrap using 0.1mm thread. I can now move on to rigging the lower masts, beginning with the tackle pendants. David

Bowsprit The maximum diameter of the bowsprit is at the bed: where it sits on the stem and according to Lee’s, is about the same as the main mast at the gun deck. I have settled for a compromise of just under 7mm with a taper to 6mm at the step and 5mm at the cap. I have temporarily removed the knightheads to sand back the hole for the bowsprit at the stem. The gammoning cleats, jib saddle and various cleats are added and then the variety of blocks and deadeyes. I have made bee blocks to go under the bees using some 2mm pear fret. First and most straightforward is the main preventer stay deadeye. I measure the length of rope needed to go around the deadeye and bowsprit and the required length is served. In reality I can serve three strops in one length on my machine. I’m using 0.4mm polyester thread served with Gutterman cotton. The deadeye is siezed in to the bight of served rope and the tails of unserved polyester are threaded into each other around the bowsprit to form a false splice. Each single or pair of blocks is secured in similar fashion (life is hard enough without attempting to fit more than two blocks on one strop). Jibboom The inner part of the jibboom up to the cap is an octagonal section. I used an 8mm dowel which I first planed square and then formed the octagonal. After further planing and sanding, the round section taper was finished on the lathe. This basic form of the jibboom is now used to check the measurements for the bowsprit cap. Bowsprit Cap The cap is scratched from some spare 4mm pear wood. I have made it 20 x 10mm: wide enough to accommodate the flying jib and jack staff. The holes for bowsprit and jibboom are formed at an angle so that the cap sits at right angles to the waterline. The cap will be cut to final size with top and bottom cut to follow the angle of the bowsprit before adding eyebolts and blocks. David

Thanks for that Geordie. Good of you to say so and glad that the log is of some help

Topmasts Cont’d The top-rope sheaves and hole for the fid are cut. I needed a bit of a fiddle to make the block fit through the hole in the top by filing it back up to the fid. I then had to re cut the octagon. The ramin is stained as before with a mix of antique pine and teak. I couldn’t use the caps provided in the kit so made them anew from the spare 4mm fret. They are a little larger than supplied at 24x11mm and correspond more closely to dimensions given by Lee’s. I cut a square 3.5mm for the main mast tenon and a 6mm round hole for the topmast. There are a pair of cheek blocks fixed to the head of each mast. The 2mm pear bolsters supplied for the main mast top, which I haven’t used, seem to be the ideal size. I cut two sheaves in each and will glue them to the mast once the cap has gone over and the mast is in place. The top pair are the topmasts that I rejected earlier but have finished them as good enough for spares to sit on the deck. Top Gallants These an easier proposition than the topmasts. According to Lees and to Petrejus's Irene there are options of octagonal or round sections at the base but either way, a square block is required. I have taken the simple option of a round pole. The masts are cut from 5mm dowel and a 3.5 x 9mm square section is formed first at the heel. A further tapered 4mm square section at the hounds is also cut before sanding in the taper on the lathe. The hounds are finished to an octagonal section. A hole is cut athwartships for the fid and a sheave cut fore and aft just below the hounds for the yard tie. I was able to adapt the topmast caps to accommodate the square section tenon on the topmast. Oddly the holes for the eyebolts on the underside of the cap are pre-cut but run through the cap. A bit of acrylic filler soon fixed that. With all the masts in place Harpy is now quite tall. I hope there's enough headroom on my shelf! Thanks for the likes David

Topmasts The plans are a simplification of the base of the mast with no block or octagonal sections and I redrew them to the proportions given in Lee’s. I start with 8mm ramin dowel and squared off the section between main mast top and cap at 6mm and then cut the octagonal sections using the 7:10:7 rule. This done, I use my lathe to reduce the main part of the mast to 6mm and then taper to 4mm at the hounds. I wasn't happy with the results, especially the main topmast so decided to remake them using a different route. I began with the same 8mm dowel but using a plane and sanding sticks, made the entire length 6mm square. I marked out the octagonal and square sections of the block and heeling using the 7:10:7 rule and cut the octagonal sections with chisel and sanding stick. It's difficult to measure such small faces accurately and the diagonal was coming out oversized. The face of a 6mm octagon is 2.48. I set this on my calipers and score down the partially cut diagonal faces and then sand back to the correct width. I cut the hounds into a square section of 4mm at the base increasing to 6mm at the beginning of the head. The bulk of the mast is prepared for the lathe by roughly sanding it from square to octagon and then to a hexadecagon before finally sanding it round on the lathe. The hounds are finished to an octagonal cross section as before and the head cut square with a taper from 4 to 3.5mm at the cap. Finally the cap tenon is cut at 3mm square. It's left slightly long to allow for the final trimming. I have marked the rough positions of the fid and also the top and bottom top rope sheaves. I'll remove the waste wood at the base of the masts after these have been cut. This is much longer process than trying to work with a round section but I’m much happier with the results. With a bit of extra work, my previous efforts might serve as spare masts on the deck. David

Thanks Geordie

Thanks Ross

Ship’s Boats Before going much further I needed to position the boat stands for the 22’ cutter so I decided to make up both boats. I painted the interior with a mix of browns and ochre until I was happy with the colour and then added a colour wash of dark brown. The exterior is painted using off-white and iron-black (as an off-black) for the wash strake. The interior fittings of the 24’cutter are laser cut 0.8mm pear. To help with the alignment of the forward mast step, I began by placing the forward grating and thwart. I used a cocktail stick to align mast step and thwart. The other four pieces of footwalling were then glued in place. I scraped off the paint and used thick CA but still had trouble achieving a decent bond. Damping the wood helped. Once the footwalling was in place, I could fit the stern gratings and stern bench. I added lifting rings as a bit of extra detail. The thwarts were a puzzle. Only four were supplied but the single-banked oar arrangement suggested five were required. I cut the fifth from the same 0.8mm pear sheet. The thwart at the main mast was added first followed by the other four. I copied @Blue Ensign's idea for the rudder and added a pintle and a ring to the stern from which to hang it. I haven’t used the provided oars. They are undersized according to May’s Boats of Men of War and I wasn’t sure of the shape. I had some brass etched ones from a previous model which, although still a little short, I preferred their look. The boat stands needed to be lifted with a strip of pear to raise the boat above the deck gratings. They are only pinned in position at the moment. I positioned the stands centrally between the hatches but looking at the photo below I may have to move them back a tad to clear the forward hatchway. The parts for the smaller cutter are very delicate. The footwalling is moulded into the hull so gratings are added first. The sternboard posed a problem in that it appeared oversize by about 1.5mm. It maybe because I placed the stern grating too far aft and therefore the sternboard, to sit in line with the grating, was also too far back. I cut the sternboard to size but the thwart split and was eventually cut out completely and replaced with a separate piece. At least the join at the rear could be covered by the backrest. Both boats are now put to bed until towards the end of the build. Thanks for looking in David

Lower Masts cont’d With the tops fitted, details at the head can now be added. The bolsters are made from some 2mm fret and cut and rounded off. They are cut a little longer than those supplied. The hoops are cut from heat-shrink tubing and spaced according to the plan: four on the foremast and five on the main. Eight battens are fitted around the head to reduce chafing of the shrouds and other ropes I cut them from 0.8mm fret which allows enough depth for them to be notched over the hoops. With these details added, I have painted the head and mast to the bottom of the bibs in matt black. A 5mm block is stropped to the foremast head for the main topmast preventer stay using 0.5mm served thread. The main difficulty is judging the length of thread required. I served 50mm of thread leaving a short length unserved at either end and siezed the block in centrally. The unserved section is threaded through to make a false splice, tightened against the mast and tied off. The boom topping lift runs through a 5mm block at the head of the main mast. It is siezed to an eyebolt and glued into the mast. I made the tenon 4mm square to fit into the tops and therefore need to cut new caps. They are made from 4mm pear, using the kit piece as a pattern for size. The holes in the main mast cap also need to be cut a a slight angle so that it sits parallel to the top and the waterline. The corners of the cap are rounded as per the drawings in Lees. I’ve still to add eyebolts and the block on the main cap. This will wait for the fitting of the topmasts when I can finish the forward hole in the cap. The violin blocks for the yard lifts will be made up and added at the same time. This is Harpy as she stands. The masts don't need any glue, they are just slotted in. Thanks for likes and comments. They are much appreciated as always. David

Just catching up on your D-of-K Glenn. She's looking very nice. David

Lower Masts cont'd Cheeks and hoops are added and then the front fish and the remaining hoops. I checked the angle of the main top which must sit parallel to the waterline before the bibs are glued in place. The foremast is not raked and the top sits squarely on the mast. I drilled 0.9mm holes ready to take the lower yards which will be pinned in place when the time comes and I also drilled a 0.5mm hole in the after side of the main mast at the hounds ready to take the block for the throat halliard. The foremast has a 5mm single block on a strop just below the hounds for the main topmast stay and a 5mm deadeye set at 53mm above the deck for the main stay. Strops are 0.5mm thread served with Gutterman cotton thread. Before going further, I need to complete the tops... Tops The mast tops fit together very nicely: trestle trees and crosstrees slotting together and then into the deck. It’s easier to add blocks, eyebolts and cleats before fitting the tops to the mast. The plans show the blocks for tacks and sheets suspended from eyebolts in the crosstrees but according to Lees, they were suspended from toggles on the deck. The main mast has six blocks and the foremast twelve. There are also four single blocks on eyebolts at the rear of the fore top for the bowlines. I checked how long the strops need to be to hang clear of the crosstrees. The strops are made from 0.4mm linen thread. I siezed the toggle loop around a 2mm dowel with 9 wraps of Gutterman cotton thread. The block is fixed with a simple knot and some dilute PVA added to seal it. I make the toggle overlong from 1mm square boxwood, rounded and reduced slightly by scraping. Once the blocks are in place, the toggle is cut to size with a micro chisel. The tops can now be fixed to the masts. I rechecked that the tops sit parallel to the waterline before glueing in place. I made some slightly longer bolsters than the kit provides from some 2mm pear cut from fret. It is rounded off and glued to the trestletrees. Before I finish the head of the masts, I need to get my paintbrush and some matt black paint out. Thanks for looking in and the much appreciated likes. David

Lower Masts I considered applying the appropriate tapers as given in Lees (I assume that they are valid for brigs too) but looking further ahead, it would have meant a few other modifications. The mast at the head is given as scale 6mm so cheeks and bibs would have to have been reduced and maybe the tops too. I decided to just go with the plans. The masts begin with 8mm ramin dowel and the 5mm square section for the head is marked up. I use a mini chisel to remove the bulk and then sand to final size, regularly checking for width and squareness. Fore and main masts are the same differing only in length. A flat is added to each side of the mast to take the cheeks. I mark the position of the cheeks and remove a little of the wood with a chisel but mostly I use a sanding stick to reduce the width between the flats to 6mm. The cheeks are glued in place. I have stained the masts with antique pine wood stain mixed with a drop of teak to even out the colour between ramin and pear – not entirely successfully. There are a number of ‘iron’ bands to add over the cheeks which I cut from black card. Further hoops will be fitted once the front fish is added. The foremast is similarly ‘hooped’ I’ve also begun work on the tops but that’s for another post. David

You're too kind Andrew, thank you

Thanks very much Chris and Geordie for your generous comments David

Thanks Bob, that's very kind of you