dunnock

Thanks again for all the likes and comments. I made the jib a little while ago with all the lower yards, stuns’l booms, mizzen gaffs and some of the spare masts. I will cover these as we go on. The jib was made to the specification in the AotS as were all other yards and masts. The bowsprit cap was made from scratch because the kit part did not allow for the holes to be changed to the correct angle. It was also too narrow to fit a jack staff. I used the kit dolphin striker which was glued and pinned to the cap. Before fixing the jib, I added the 'lead' saddle for the spritsail yard which unfortunately doesn't show up well in the photo. This was simply made from a piece of paper (200gsm I think) painted iron grey. The heel lashing is 7 wraps of 0.5mm rope. I wasn’t sure of the order of rigging for the jibboom so followed the order given in Lees, starting with the guy pendants (0.4mm) followed by the horses and the martingale. The horses (0.75mm rope) are knotted with figure-of-eights every 10mm. The horses and pendants are left hanging for the moment. The martingale stay and back stay (0.4mm) are one piece and lead back, via a fall, to the port side of the bowsprit. The mizzen topgallant stay is made from 0.4mm rope and leads through a thimble in the main topmast head and finishes with thimbles and lanyard at the main top. According to Lees the royal stay wasn’t introduced until after 1810 so I have left it off. The back stays lead to the stool abaft the mizzen channel, the topgallant to a 2.5mm deadeye and the royal to an eyebolt. I realise that there is some inconsistency here in that there is a royal backstay but no stay. Maybe I should have left both off and I may go back to it later but I quite like it as it is. The main mast topgallant stay (0.5mm) leads through a 3mm block on the fore topmast head down to the forestay where it is tied off at the collar of the topmast stay lead block. I should have made the strop so that it stood more proud of the mast to improve the run of the topgallant stay but too late now. The royal stay leads through a 3mm block at the fore topmast head and ends in a thimble which is connected by a lanyard to another thimble fixed with a span to the fore topmast cross trees. I realised, too late, that the span should be tied into the inside of the cross trees before fitting the masts, so I have had to tie them to the outside. Back stays run down to the stool abaft the main channel. The foreamast topgallant stay leads through a 3mm block on the jibboom and runs back to the forestay collar where it is tied of with three seizings, The royal stay leads to the end of the jibboom where it is tied off. Backstays are set up in a similar manner and lead down to deadeyes on the foreward channel. I have looked again at the main and fore topmast shifting backstays and decided to re-rig them in a way more in line with the description in Lees. I’m puzzled when Lees says that the pendants were half as long again as the burton pendants. I interpreted this to mean that they would end high up off the deck which didn’t seem right and wasn’t in line with the drawing in AotS. I have rigged the pendants to come to within 90mm of the deck. The falls are set up as in Lees with a long tackle block hooked to the pendant and a single 3mm block hooked to an eyebolt in the channels. The main topmast shifting backstay falls are tied off to a belay pin but the foreward shifting backstay, according to the Caldercraft plan, is tied off to a shroud cleat and would lie across the shrouds. This seemed wrong to my eye so I have fitted a deck cleat, not shown on the plans, to tie it off which I think works better. The standing rigging is now complete and means another milestone in the build is reached just over two years from when it began. Thanks for looking in David

Well done Andrew, that is a wonderful model and I love all the extra detailing which really brings it to life. David

Thanks for your kind words Brian. MSW is a great source of information and support and is how I have learnt whatever 'mad skillz' I have but there is so much more that I have to learn. By the way, my wife thinks that I am mostly just mad! David

Thanks very much Andrew. I bought the serving machine three or four years ago from Domanoff in Minsk. I bought it before the war in Ukraine and it may not be available for import into the UK now. There are other machines on the market, for example from Syren Ship Model Company or YouTubes on how to build one. David

Thanks to all for the likes. Fitting of standing rigging continues and is complete to the level of the topmasts except for final trimming of the ends of stays. The shifting backstays on fore and main masts are described in Lees as being set up from a pendant half as long again as the burton pendant. A long tackle block is hooked into the pendant and single blocked hooked into the channel. My interpretation of the AotS drawing is that they are set up in a similar fashion to the other back stays at the upper end but with a long tackle block seized in the lower end. The falls are a singe block hooked into the channel. I can see the logic of the Lees version but I decided to go with the AotS which I thought looked better. The fore topmast stays are made from 0.8 and 0.7mm rope and both are served as before. A minor disaster struck as I was partway through serving the first rope when the winding handle of my serving machine broke in half. I repaired it by super-glueing the two halves together and then it was reinforced with a bit of brass sprue which I fixed with epoxy. The stays are threaded through the bees: the preventer stay to the aft port and stay through the forward starboard ‘sheave’. The stays end in a thimble connected by a lanyard to a thimble secured to eyebolts at the bow either side of the bowsprit. The topgallant stays are next which will require me to fit the jibboom David

I have begun to add the topmast and top gallant stays. Beginning with the mizzen mast, I remembered why I was going to rig stays to each level of masting before adding the next. Luckily I had decided not to glue masts and mast caps in place so although more awkward than it ought to have been, looping the backstays over the mast head was not difficult. I used 0.6mm rope from Ropes of Scale on the mizzen backstays and 0.7mm for the stay. The stay was served to 30mm below the level of the mouse (I don’t propose to serve any ropes finer than this) and finishes in a thimble which is attached by a lanyard to another thimble tied to an eyebolt on the main top. Both stay and backstays are set up but not finally tensioned until all the masts are completely rigged. I started to rig the main topmast. The breast backstay and the first of the standing backstays are rigged using 0.7mm rope, again not finally tensioned, but I have run out of 5mm deadeyes so can’t continue until supplies arrive from CMB. Shifting backstays on the main mast are shown in both the AotS Diana and the Caldercraft rigging plans but Lees says that they would not generally be seen as they were only used when sailing. However, I am minded to fit them as I think that they do add something to the model. The topmast stay and preventer stay are fitted: the stay from 0.8mm and the preventer stay from 0.7mmrope. Both are served to 30mm below the mouse. The stays lead down through 5mm blocks fitted to the foremast and end in a long-tackle block. The falls are set up with a single 5mm block hooked to eye bolts in the deck each side of the foremast, the stay to the port and preventer to starboard. While waiting for more fittings, I have made a start on the fore topmast. The breast backstays are fitted first using 0.7mm rope with a 5mm block seized in the end. The tackles are rigged with 0.25mm thread tied to an eyebolt in the forward channel passed through the block of backstay and ending in a 3mm block. The fall is spliced to a second 3mm block hooked to another eyebolt abaft the first and is threaded through the upper 3mm block. The fall is tied off to a timberhead. It was at this stage that I noticed that I had rigged a shroud where there should be a backstay. I wondered about carrying on rigging with one backstay less but decided in the end to do the right thing as far as I could. It would have been impossible at this stage to remove the last two pairs of shrouds and replace them correctly so I did the next best thing and carefully cut out the 9th shroud all the way to the mast head where I don’t think (hope) that this fix will be noticed. Cutting out all of the ratlines and retying them was a step too far so the new ratlines were tied in to the existing ones. the offending shroud removed and ratlines restored but looks like a good clean up is required now. Thanks for the likes and for looking in David

I haven't decided how to display them yet. If I mount them on the skid beams a lot of the upper deck detail will be hidden. I will probably hang one from the mainstay tackle pendants. I may mount one or two separately within the display case.

The Vanguard Model instructions for the cutters only show them as carvel planked. I think that I'm going to have to do a lot of reading and trialing before I make a start on them.

Thanks Allan. You've found me out! I've never built a lapstrake boat before and I'm putting it off for as long as possible. David

There was quite a lot of filling and sanding to do on the hull as it turned out but I am reasonably satisfied with the result. The wales were added and the hull painted matt white. I followed BE’s treatment of the wash strake and rowlocks by adding a strip of spare seat support around the inside edge to both strengthen and give support to the wash strakes and tholes. Mast and davit steps were added, made from 6mm dowel. I doubled up on the thickness of the davit by cutting another piece from around the original. I cut a slot and added a blackened pin of 0.75mm brass rod to represent the sheave. I would like to have added the windlass but I had already fitted the thwarts according to the kit design, which didn’t leave sufficient space. (that was the rationale that I used anyway). Finally, I fitted the knees which although even smaller than on the pinnace, proved less troublesome when fitted last. A couple of coats of diluted matt varnish and the launch is finished. The boats are placed temporarily on the skid beams to see how they look. With the pinnace and launch completed, it’s time to return to the main ship and continue with the rigging of the masts. The two cutters will be left for later perhaps as a break during fitting the running rigging.

Andrew and Dave, thanks for the really nice comments and all the likes on the pinnace. It gives me great encouragement for continuing with the launch, which is progressing quite nicely. The ribs and seating are installed in the same way as for the pinnace but installing the ribs from the stern forward. Adding the breasthook helped with improving the curve and strength of the bow section. I have left off the davit and its support for now because I am minded to beef up the davit which looks a bit thin as the 1mm pear piece supplied in the kit. That forward seat is definitely square despite the rather distorted view above! A bit more cleaning and tidying up to do before I paint the hull David

Thanks for looking in and for all for the likes. With both pinnace and launch hulls complete, I continued to work on the pinnace. The ribs are fixed using Tamiya tape as 6mm spacers. Fixing the first ribs and getting them to look in line and parallel was the most difficult part of this stage. Beginning at the bow I think was the problem, so for the launch I will start with the stern ribs. The sternsheet bench was shaped more in line with the plans on page 117 of the AotS and I added some linings at stern and bow. I marked out the position of the thwarts on a piece of scrap and laid it along the boat and each thwart was trimmed as necessary. I was pleased that there were plenty of spare knees because they are very delicate and prone to damage when finishing the hull and the hull took a lot of finishing. More areas for attention showing up when painting the hull white. There are still places at the bow that I’m not happy with but I’m afraid it will have to do. When it comes to the launch, I will add the wales and paint the outside of the hull before fitting the knees. The forward and stern washboards were painted blue and ochre to reflect the colours used on Diana. The pinnace is now complete with the finishing of oars, anchors and boat hooks ongoing. Meanwhile I’m continuing work on the launch. David

Thanks again for all the likes and comments. I have continued by planking the pinnace. After the first three strakes had been put in place, I had already broken a couple of planks and it wasn’t going well. Something wasn’t right and looking closely at the pictures on the original pdf of the instructions, I realised that the first strake didn’t start in the bow rabbet as I had thought, but just below. I removed and refixed the strakes and was able to continue the planking in a much better line. All planks were tapered at bow and stern and some required edge bending. I was able to use the broken planks for the final short spiled planks as there are only just sufficient supplied in the kit to complete the hull. In view of their delicate nature, a few spares would be nice. Nearly finished A bit more filler needed than I would have hoped. The launch was easier to plank but again it looks like the first plank doesn’t go to the rabbet and again I broke a couple. All planks except the first were tapered towards the bow and the last three towards the garboard were edge-bent. Again, I found that there are only just enough planks to complete the hull. I have none left over for the wales but can use some boxwood strip of similar thickness. Only 10 planks left and 12 required. I was able to recover the broken planks to finish off the hull but just as was fixing the last plank I slipped and put a hole in the bow. Luckily it wasn't a complete break and glued back easily. Sanding the hull is a delicate operation. With only 0.6mm to play with, some areas become worryingly thin. When the bulkheads are broken out, the shell is extremely vulnerable. I must try to use less glue on the bulkheads next time. Removing the excess needs a light touch using scapel and chisel and is helped by softening with a damp cloth. To try to give the hull a bit more stability I applied some diluted pva inside below where the gratings will sit and gave the outside a couple of coats of dilute matt varnish. David

Extraordinary work David

Thanks Andrew, Allan and Dave for your thoughts and comments regarding Diana's boats. Dave, the Vanguard boats come with both P/E brass and wood oars in 0.6mm pearwood. For the 32' pinnace they are 67mm long. The brass oars are 64mm. I'm not sure why they are different and the wooden oars different again from seemingly the same item offered separately on the Vanguard website. Hope this helps. David

Beautiful work Jason

Thanks everyone for the likes and comments. As a change from fixing and rigging masts and Also while I’m waiting for further supplies of rope from Ropes of Scale, I am turning to making some of the ship’s boats. I started to make up one of the supplied boats in the kit but soon realised that they just wouldn’t do so as a sort of Christmas present to myself, I order a 32’ pinnace, 26’ launch, and 24 and 18’ cutter from Chris Watton. I have begun with the pinnace and launch, reasoning that the two larger boats might be the most straightforward. Well, if they are, I’m going to have fun with the other two. The bulkheads for the pinnace all slotted into the baseboard easily and without any sanding needed. The sternboard went on easily too. I added some extra support at the prow and the stern because both looked quite vulnerable. The launch however, required the slots in each bulkhead to be opened up a touch. Almost inevitably, when trying to fit the sternboard to the launch, the keel piece snapped. A drop of superglue was enough to fix it back in place and more support blocks at stem and stern will hopefully protect both. The forward and aft bulkheads were faired on each boat and the first planks have been fitted. David

A lovely model Glenn. This and the other great little boats you have built have inspired me to make them my next project after my Diana is completed. David

The lower caps and topmasts are complete. I’ve also made the topgallants and when mounted, the ship has become quite a handful to manoeuvre. The walnut lower caps supplied with two round holes are not correct. I thought about making the round hole into a square to fit the lower mast but decided it would be simpler to make them from scratch. All the caps were made from 5mm thick boxwood. I didn’t have a single sheet of this thickness so laminated together 1.5 and 3.5mm pieces. The mizzen cap is thinner and was sanded down to 4mm after completion. The holes were made by drilling a series of 1mm holes around the perimeter and then filing and sanding to fit. The corners are rounded. The only drawing Lee gives for positioning of eyebolts in caps for 1773 and later shows them in a position that ‘does not conform to the usual practice’. Lee says that they should be placed equidistant around the round hole. The dimensions for the topmasts were taken from AotS and made from ramin dowel. The instructions show the fids positioned midway through the square section of the mast. I should have checked before-hand but when it came to mounting the topmasts, it was obvious that the fid holes should be lower and about 1/3 up the heeling. It was an easy matter to fill and remake the holes in the correct position. The fore and main masts have cheek blocks fitted at the mast head which were cut out of 3mm boxwood section. The mast head and foot areas were painted in matt black and the mid-section stained with antique pine wood dye. Before fixing the topmasts in position, I thought that it might be easier to add the lower yard slings and jeers at this stage. The slings are made from served line with a thimble seized into the lower end and sit on a bolster over the cap. The required length was estimated using thread and the appropriate length served on the machine. An eye is seized in one end and the thimble seized in place such that the sling has a long and a short end. The long end is passed through the eye and seized to itself. The jeers are made from a 7mm double block in a double strop. The strop is seized throughout its length. Again, careful measurement is needed to obtain the correct length. An eyed is seized in the end of the strop and lashed to the masthead with 5 turns of rope. The lashings are held in place with a cleat I’m not sure how but despite measuring several times before cutting, I had made the lower foremast head 15mm too short. This became only too obvious when I tried to fit the fore topmast. An additional piece was tenoned onto the existing mast and the join filled and over painted. An ‘iron’ band made from black paper was added to the mast head just below the cap. I don’t think that this correction will be noticeable in the finished model. The first ropes to be added are the burton pendants made from 0.75 served rope. A thimble is seized in the end. The shrouds are 0.75mm dyed Amati rope and are set up in the same manner as the lower shrouds. The forward pair of shrouds on the fore and main topmasts have sister blocks tied in to take the top yard lifts. I couldn’t find any commercial versions so made them from 3mm boxwood section. I made them as small as I could but at 2mm by10mm long, I think that they still may be a little oversize. The deadeyes are set up with 12mm spacers made from 0.75mm diameter brass rod. Getting the lengths of the shrouds sit correctly with deadeyes at the same height proved to be a very frustrating exercise and most were reworked at least once. There are still some that are not quite right after three or four attempts, but I think they are as close as I can get without losing the will. The following shots show Diana in her present state. The topgallants are not fixed and in fact I have not glued any of the masts. They are all held in place by their own rigging. David

Sorry that it's taken me a while to respond but thanks David and Andrew for your kind comments on the rigging and to everyone for the likes. I've made a bit more progress over the last few weeks on the topmast and topgallants and will be posting an update shortly. David

Hi Oakheart, Going straight in to scratch building is impressive. I don't think that I have the skills (or understanding) to take this leap and I wish you good luck with your project. I noticed in some of your comments on Allanyed's log that you are struggling to source suitable wood for modelling in the UK. I have been using boxwood strip from Original Marquetry Home - Original Marquetry Ltd. I have also used pear and boxwood from Timberline Steamed pearwood guitar banding 800 x 6 x 2mm - Timberline - Exotic Hardwoods and Sundries. There was another supplier that I found the other day. I thought that I had added it to favourites but I'm struggling to find it again now. I'll let you know if I come across it again. David

A very nice colour scheme Glenn and the hull looks very smooth now.

It’s been nearly a month since I last posted but work has continued with mast and yard making but the next logical task was to fit the lower mast stays. This meant fitting the bowsprit first. The bowsprit was made from 12mm ramin dowel and sized according to the dimensions in the AotS Diana rather than the Caldercraft plans. The maximum diameter worked out at 11mm. The taper begins at 120mm from the bow reducing the diameter to 6.4mm at the cap Gammoning cleats, saddles, bees etc were all fashioned from scratch using walnut section and sheet as required. The deadeyes and hearts were fitted off the ship. 5mm deadeyes were used for the forestays, bobstays and shrouds using served strops from 5mm line. The closed hearts provided in the kit were swapped out for some 10mm open hearts from Vanguard Models, again tied with 5mm served rope. The bowsprit was slotted through the bow and into the bowsprit step on the upper deck. The gammoning proved less tricky than I expected. Using 0.75 dyed line, a false splice was made around the bowsprit and passed forward on the bowsprit and aft in the hole, each wrap being kept tightly in place with a clip. 10 wraps filled the hole in the stem nicely and a further 10 frapping turns were taken to tighten up the wraps and finished off by seizing to an adjacent end. The mainstay collar is made from served 0.75mm line. It was very tricky to thread this through the head works and the hole in the stem. It might have been easier in hindsight to do this before the bowsprit was fixed and the gammoning in place. After a bit of fiddling with a large needle and tweezers it was completed. An eye is seized in each end and linked together. A 10mm closed heart is seized into the loop such that there is a short and long leg. The bobstays were made from 0.75mm served rope. Sufficient length is served to make a complete loop around its deadeye and through the hole in the stem. The unserved ends can then be joined using a false splice and a 5mm deadeye seized in the end. A seizing is added to the opposite end to hold it in the bobstay hole. Finally the bobstay is lashed to the appropriate deadeye on the bowsprit with a 5mm lanyard. Port and starboard shrouds are added using 0.75mm dyed rope. A 3mm hook is seized into the after end and a 5mm deadeye in the forward. The shroud is hooked into an eyebolt in the bow and the deadeye tied to the bowsprit with a 0.5mm lanyard. This completes the bowsprit. I bought some dark brown cable-laid ropes from Ropes of Scale for the main and fore stays but used standard Amati rope for the mizzen stay. The stays are all worked similarly at the mast end, being served for about 6 feet (30mm) below the level of the mouse. The stay is measured to the required length and the position of the mouse marked with a thread. Serving proceeds to the marker and then I wrapped some 5mm line around to form the basic mouse shape and fixed it with plenty of dilute pva. The serving line was then continued back and forth over the mouse until covered and the serving completed to the required length. An eye is seized into the upper end to butt against the mouse. The mizzen stay is made from 1.25mm rope. No cable-laid rope was available at this size so I used some Mantua rope. It is fixed to the main mast with 5mm deadeyes. The main stay was made from 1.8mm cable and the preventer stay from 1.35 cable. I attempted to worm these ropes but after several unsuccessful attempts, abandoned the idea and had to be satisfied with having a served section only. The preventer stay is fixed to a closed heart about 60mm above the deck on the fore mast using a 5mm lanyard The lanyard is given enough wraps around the two hearts to fill them and then the end tied to an adjacent end with a couple of seizings. The mainstay sits on top of the preventer stay to give the best line between the two. A closed heart is seized in the lower end and this is attached to the heart at the bowsprit with a lanyard of 5mm rope. The foremast stays are 1.6mm cable laid rope and the preventer stay 1.25mm standard rope. Again 10mm closed hearts are used. With the rigging of the lower masts now completed, I have reached a dilemma. Do I continue with the topmasts or attach the lower yards? I am concerned that fitting slings and jeers with the topmasts in position will be very awkward. The topmasts have been made, as have the lower yards but I’ll cover these at a later date. I think that I’m inclined towards fitting slings and jeers. Also adding another layer of masts will making manoeuvring the model more difficult and I’m anxious to keep things simple for as long as possible. This has been a longer post than I anticipated and I should have taken more pictures of intermediate stages than I did but if you are still with me, thank you for sticking with it. David

Thanks to all for the likes. Continuing with catharpins, futtock shrouds and shroud cleats. I made the first catharpin for the main mast, checked it for length on the model and thought I would make a simple jig using two pins in a piece of wood so that they would all be the same length. However when it came to fitting the other three to the futtock stave, I realised that my cunning plan didn’t allow for the increasing distance moving aft between port and starboard shrouds. Luckily, I hadn’t cut the tailings off, so I could just cut one of the siezings from each catharpin and size them independently on the model. To make sure there was no mix up, I numbered each one before This process was repeated for fore and mizzen masts. I hoped that once the futtock shrouds were fitted any slight slackness would disappear. I wasn’t keen on Caldercraft’s instructions for making the futtock shrouds, using rope for deadeye stops and then leading it down to tie off at the stave. I had some 3mm strops left over from Swan so used these. The shrouds were made from 0.75mm stained rope. This is a little on the heavy side but still looks good to my eye. A hook was seized into the upper end of the shroud, clipped into the eye of the strop and led down to the futtock stave. The shroud is wrapped around the stave and then tied to the lower shroud with three siezings. The mizzen futtock shrouds were set up in the same way but using 0.5mm stained rope. The ratlines should be added next, but I will leave that until the topmast shrouds are set up so that any variations in their tension do not distort the ratlines. The shroud cleats were tied on by first clove-hitching a length of thread onto each end and fixing with a dab of dilute pva. Each cleat was then tied on to the shroud with overhand knots and another dab of pva. Making sure that the clove hitch is centralised helps with positioning the cleat on the shroud. Based on the belaying plan in the AotS, cleats are tied to every shroud on the foremast and the last two shrouds on the mizzen. I'm working on the lower stays and collars now Thanks for looking in David

Love the binnacle David and the detail of lamp and two compasses just excellent