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dunnock

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  1. dunnock
    Hi Jason, I think it is I that have mostly learnt and benefitted from your superb build of HMS Jason and now that you are back, I'm looking forward to your further progress. David
  2. dunnock
    Many thanks to Jason, BE and Vladimir for you very kind compliments. David
  3. dunnock
    Main Boom Topping Lift Before going to the topping lift, I have repositioned the main yard lift blocks. They are now clove-hitched around the mast cap using 0.45mm served rope - more in-keeping with the way they are shown on the RMG model. The topping lift is first tied to the eyebolt at the mast head, leads through the block on the end of the boom and back up to the single block on the mast. It ends in a single block about 70mm above the rail. The block of the falls is hooked to an eyebolt on the starboard channel. The rope feeds through the block in the topping lift and is belayed at a cavel cleat. Herein lies my dilemma. According to the plan the falls are tied off to the cavel cleat (5) abaft the third starboard gun port. However this is also labelled #1 to which the starboard backstay is tied off. I have never come across two ropes being tied off to the same belay point. Is this correct or am I misinterpreting the plans? Looking further ahead the topsail yard tie is belayed to cavel cleat #7 on the port side. However this is also designated as #1 where the port back stay is already tied off. One solution would be to tie the topping lift falls and topsail yard tie to the nearest belay point on the pin rail. To tie each off to the cavel cleats further aft definitely looks wrong. On photos of the RMG model they seem to be tied off at the rail but I can't see any way of doing this. Any other suggestions, solutions or clarifications would be very welcome. While thinking about this, I have completed tying all the ratlines using Gutterman dark brown thread. First tie every fifth ratline Then fill in the gaps and repeat on other side. Thanks for looking in and as always, for all the likes and encouragement. David
  4. dunnock
    Time flies, I see that it has been nearly a month since I last wrote anything in this log. My wife bought me the set of pearwood blocks from Vanguard for Christmas so work can now continue. Backstays First off is to make the long block. The ends of a 3 and 4mm block are filed square and glued together with pva. A 0.45mm rope is seized on and threaded through the pendant block down to a 2.5mm hook that fixes to an eyebolt in front of the 5th gun port. The block of the falls are hooked into an eyebolt forward of the 4th gun port and the falls lead twice through the long block and are belayed to the cavel cleat. I can now tighten up the main stay lanyard but I will leave finally tying it off for the moment. Driver Boom Parrel beads from the kit are used on both driver and main booms. I was hoping to leave it later in the build but I had to fit the topmast because the mast cap has to be in place to run the rigging for the gaff and I couldn’t fit this without the topmast. The blocks at the mast head were originally tied to eybolts but I removed them and tied them on with strops made from 0.45mm served line. I also added cleats to the forward side of the mast head to prevent the strops from slipping. I will have to remove the main yard lift blocks from the eyebolts and tie them to a strop clove-hitched around the mast cap which I think is as they should be. I have made this awkward now. It should have been done before fitting the driver boom. The lower block of the peak halliard is hooked into the eyebolt on the boom and is fed through the block on the mast and run down to the bar of the main bitts The gaff halliard is seized to the eyebolt on the cap through the blocks on the boom and the double block on the mast head and belayed at the rack on the starboard side. The flag halliard is then set up and the tied off to the bar on the tafferel. The gaff and flag halliards are finally set up together to achieve a balanced tension in the two ropes. This where I got a little puzzled. The plans show the lower block of the flag halliard to be on the starboard side of the bar and then tied off at the port side. The photos in the manual show that the block and the belay point are both on the starboard side of the bar. When it comes to fitting the main boom the latter arrangement makes more sense so this is what I have gone with. Thanks for looking in David
  5. dunnock
    Hi David, The spirketing runs under the lower sills of the gun ports. I used 1 piece of 4x2mm. David
  6. dunnock
    Second DaveBaxt comment. I've never used weathering finishes but have always been impressed by the effects achieved. I will be giving it a go on the next model I make. David
  7. dunnock
    Looks very good Dave and a big improvement on the kit parts David
  8. dunnock
    Thank you for all the likes and continuing encouragement. The Shrouds No matter how methodically I try to approach fitting the shrouds, I always find it difficult to get the lengths even. The usual method of making wire jigs to achieve the correct spacing between deadeyes has never seemed to work for me. You think that you have got it exactly right and then you put on the seizings and find that the shroud is too short or too long. It’s a further complication putting on a cross seizing as the first one. This time I have abandoned the idea of jigs and resorted to straight measurements and marking the position of the bottom the deadeye with a thread. I did have to redo one pair of shrouds but for the most part this has worked pretty well. Being a small ship, I found that I could work the seizings well enough with the shrouds attached to the model using my quad hands set up so didn’t bother with my previous idea of stripping the mast and working off model. I have used 0.25mm thread for the lanyards. I thought the suggested 0.1mm too thin. I will not finally fix the tension in the shrouds until later in the process of standing rigging The Mainstay I have tied in the deadeye for the stay in the same way as the shrouds with a cross seizing and two standard seizings. This differs from the RMG model which shows the stay wrapped around itself and seized together down the side of the deadeye. According to Lees this method of fixing the mainstay was used after 1840 but was it adopted earlier on cutters and smaller ships? I used 0.5mm rope for the lanyard and threaded it according to the plan, i.e. starting in the foremost hole of the stem with the knot on the starboard side and working the rope through the deadeye. The RMG model again differs and shows the knot on the port side. The lanyard will not be tied off until later. I have spent a bit of time tidying up the bow fixtures. Following Thukydidies suggestion, I have added a false bowsprit fid using pieces cut off scrap pearwood. I have also added some ‘iron’ strapping to the winch brackets and threaded the anchor cables. The cables are wrapped once around the winch drum before passing them through the hawse holes. Natural drape was induced by brushing with dilute matt varnish. David
  9. dunnock
    My apologies. In the above post I forgot to acknowledge that the inspiration for using the pieces of styrene tube for the mouse former came after looking at the Alert build by @Blue Ensign In previous builds I have used a piece of shaped dowel as a former and on Diana I used the serving machine to build up layers of a heavier thread. I found the styrene tubing much the easiest method. David
  10. dunnock
    Lower Mast Rigging With only one mast to worry about, there is only a small amount of serving of ropes needed so I decided to prepare all the ropes before rigging them. I have used dark brown cotton ropes from Ropes of Scale for all this standing rigging. First off and not included on the kit plans are the pendant tackles. I used 0.6mm rope and they are fully served with Gutermann dark brown sewing thread . They come to about 1/3 of the way down the mast. I drilled out some 5mm deadeyes for the thimbles but when the pendants were put up on the mast they looked oversized and I replace them with drilled out 3.5mm deadeyes that look more in scale. The 5mm thimbles compared with a 3.5mm deadeye The finished pendants of tackles using drilled out 3.5mm deadeyes Next are the shrouds which I also made from 0.6mm rope. The foremost pair of shrouds are served along their whole length (in reality they were wormed and parcelled before serving) The other three pairs are served to about 8’ (scale 38mm) below the stop of the hounds. The pendants for the running backstays are then fitted. I used 0.45mm rope and made them to be 140 mm long. I also served these pendants for 38mm below the stop. Finally the forestay. This is 1.2mm rope served to 40mm below the mouse. An eye is made in the end of the rope The mouse is not shown on the rigging plan but I can’t see how the eye can be held in place on the rope without one. I made it from two pieces of styrene tube the smaller glued inside the larger. The former made from 1mm and 2mm styrene tube This former is wrapped in stretch fabric sport strapping which has a nice texture to simulate the cross threading. Initially I coloured the mouse in walnut wood stain which dissolved all the glue on the covering. So after I recovered it with fresh strapping, I painted it in dilute acrylic paint. The stay in position with the pendants, shrouds and backstays The mast is not fixed in place yet as, once I've got the correct length, I think it might be easier to fit the deadeyes off-model. Thanks for the likes and continuing to look in David
  11. dunnock
    The Yards I have used the plan dimensions for the main and topmast yards but I made the central quarter at the slings octagonal which I think is more correct than leaving it round as per the plans. I wasn’t sure whether sling or stop cleats would be fitted at the slings but in the end decided to go with the pearwood stop cleats provided for both slings and yard arms. I’ve yet to add the stunsail boom irons and I will probably scratch these from styrene tube rather than use the PE brass parts which look a little thin to my eye. Lees also shows that the inner boom irons are only fitted around ¾ of the circumference of the yard rather than being a complete band. The plans show the stunsail booms are 1mm diam. at the ends but 1.2mm was as far as I was prepared to go. I decide to beef up the boom saddle on the lower mast by adding a second piece of pearwood This is the completed set of masts and yards Onward to the lower mast rigging David
  12. dunnock
    That's a good idea Thukydides. I'll give it a go David
  13. dunnock
    Thanks Andrew and Thukydides. Your complements are much appreciated. David
  14. dunnock
    Hi Thukyidides, I have been following your Alert log and it is looking very nice. You have added a lot of detail and upgraded many of them. Thanks for pasting the drawing from Goodwin that clearly shows the fid passing through the bitts and bowsprit. I may try to add this detail to Trial hoping that it won't cause the sort of problems you had to contend with. It was a very good recovery by the way. I also notice the banding around the winch supports that don't feature on Trial. David
  15. dunnock
    Thanks for your thoughts Thukydides. The inboard end of the bowsprit is octagonal on the model although I see that most of the other pictures of cutters that I have seen show it as square. I have looked for a copy of AotS Alert but I can only find copies in the US at around £120 plus postage - too much for me I'm afraid. David
  16. dunnock
    Thank you Dave. I was seriously considering making my own from acrylic sheet but since this company could make one in glass for a similar price to buying the acrylic and much cheaper than any other case supplier I had found, I decide to go with it. When it arrived, the case looked enormous but the overall look is diminished on the model and although it takes up a fair bit of wall space and we moved a sofa upstairs to accommodate it, it sits quite nicely in the room. Even my better half is now happy but I'm now closely questioned about where future ships might go. 😊 Thanks Brian. I have to walk past it every day to enter 'the shipyard' ..... and thanks Chris and David to for your kind comments and to all others for the likes you have posted. David
  17. dunnock
    I've been thinking a bit more about your question of run-in and run-out Andrew. It would be possible in theory to run the bowsprit in as far as the main mast bitts but now I'm also wondering how the bowsprit was fixed to prevent it being run-in by the tension in the rigging. As far as I can see from the kit plans and photos of various models of cutter, there is only friction against the hull and bowsprit bitts preventing it from shooting aftward. There is no fid as in a topmast providing a physical stop so was friction sufficient? Perhaps others have more information. David
  18. dunnock
    Thank you Tony. Until I looked closely at your photos, I hadn't realised that the catheads were missing on the RMG model. There are also one or two other differences that I've picked up, like the covered companionway that doesn't appear on the body plan and the smaller stern platform. I'm tending to base decisions on what looks right and what my skills will allow me to do. David
  19. dunnock
    I have finally got Diana settled in her new home. I was planning to make a case out of acrylic sheet but I found a local supplier of aquariums who was prepared to make a case. The cost was about the same as I could have bought the acrylic sheet so there was nothing to think about really Jungle Pets of Buxton, Derbyshire (junglepets.co.uk) made the case in 6mm glass and delivered it a while ago but I have been waiting for a piece of furniture on which to place it. This was delivered earlier in the week. With me in the role of supervisor, my daughter and partner – much younger, fitter and stronger than me, manoeuvred the case into position over the ship and onto the baseboard without mishap. We breathed a sigh of relief. I guess this is really the end of the Story of Diana for me. Thanks again to all those who have followed, commented and given advice David
  20. dunnock
    Thanks Andrew although I'm not exactly sure what you mean by 'run in' but In Trial, I can't see any sheaves or attachments that would enable this to be done. What was the purpose of running the bowsprit in and out? David
  21. dunnock
    Bowsprit and Booms Steel’s formula for the bowsprit of a cutter would give a scale 304mm long and 8mm diameter. Looking at the photos of the model in RMG, the bowsprit is considerably shorter than the main boom so I have gone with the kit dimensions of 210mm and 6mm maximum diameter. The fit is checked and required some further filing of the hull. The kit has an assembly of two PE brass rings ( not sure what they are called) mounted onto the forward end of the bowsprit for attachment of stays, shrouds, etc but looking at the model there appears to be a different arrangement that I will try to adopt. I am indebted to Tony tkay11 (apologies but I'm not sure how you do that @name insert) for posting his close-up photos of Trial. They will be of enormous help when it comes to rigging. 18th and early 19th Century cutter models - Nautical/Naval History - Model Ship World™ I took a similar approach to the main boom and driver boom, using the tapering given by Steel and the overall dimensions given in the kit.. The greatest diameter of the main boom is 1/3 of the way in from the outer end and tapers to 3.75mm and 3.3mm at the inner end. The kit supplied jaws on the 1mm pear sheet now look too thin on my boom and also in comparison to the RMG model. I made a replacement by laminating three thickness of 1mm walnut strip. It looks a little rough in this shot but I have cleaned it up and used some acrylic filler which will be covered when I paint it black. I added cleats as shown in the kit plan but there are none shown on the RMG model. I will make a final decision on whether to keep them when I come to the rigging. The driver boom was made up in the same manner as the main boom and new jaws made from the three layer walnut strip sanded back to match the 2.6mm diameter of the inner end. The iron bands are not present on the jaws of the booms but three trenails can clearly be seen in the RMG shots of the model. Thanks for looking in and all the likes David
  22. dunnock
    Thanks for posting this great set of photos. I have been puzzling about the rigging on my model of Trial and although I have got the RMG pictures, your close ups of the actual model are going to be so useful. Many thanks once again David
  23. dunnock
    Lovely detailing on the guns Andrew. Knowing how small and delicate some of these pieces are, that is exceptional work David
  24. dunnock
    Thank you to all for the likes and encouraging comments, they're much appreciated. Topmast I looked at the kit plan, Lees and Steel and decided that my topmast would be based on a mizen topmast with square block and heeling. Whether it’s historically accurate or not I don’t know but I like the way it looks. The use of stop cleats at the head may be a simplification for the kit and looked a little too fragile to me, so I will make octagonal hounds. Because I am making a square heeling, the provided 6mm dowel is too small. I used 8mm and cut a square block and heel using chisel and file, initially to 6mm and then reduced the heel to 5mm and the fore and aft sides of the block to 4mm to fit the hole in the crosstrees. The heeling is 12mm: twice the length of the block. The hounds are 5mm long and were first filed 5mm square then finished octagonal after tapering the mast in the lathe. A sheathe is cut fore and aft in the hounds and the fid-hole drilled out and made square. The round hole in the cap needs to be sanded out to allow the cap to sit at the correct angle on the mast. The cap and topmast are not glued and will be disassembled for rigging Trial as she sits now.
  25. dunnock
    Many thanks for you kind comment David

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