Rick310

Jared. You are doing a great job, your masts are really well done!!. when I did the eyebolts for the shackles on the forecastle of my flying fish, I use the technique that EdT used on the Young America except I modified it to my needs. I took a micro drill that was approximately the thickness of the inside diameter that I wanted, and then used 28 gauge copper wire, because it’s softer than brass looped in parallel pliers, placed the loop over the drill, bed held in a vice, and then just hand, twisted the eye, this was easy to do and fast. When I finally get to making the yards in the mass, I intend to place the eyebolts through the holes in the mast. This will elevate the jackstay rod slightly above the yard which should be close to scale. Rick

Nice!!!! Rick

Really well done!! You’re doing a wonderful job!!! Rick

Thanks Jared, Each piece has taken multiple attempts to get something acceptable as I am learning as I go. Nothing is ever as good as l hoped but better than I expected. Pretty steep learning curve which is why it has taken so long. I really enjoy seeing what parts I can make myself.

You’re doing a great job!! Looks like a really fun build. Rick

It’s a WOW!!! Rick

George, my daughter and I started coming to Pemaquid 30 years ago when she was six years old. We have always come the last two weeks of July now for 30 years and I am here now with my wife and my daughter and her boyfriend. We would get here Saturday evening after having stopped in North Hampton, New Hampshire to visit a nautical antique dealer, and go sailing with him out of Wentworth, we would get up to Pemaquid late Saturday night, and every Sunday morning we would celebrate, beginning our vacation by going to the Seagull for breakfast and blueberry pancakes!! I used to live outside of Cleveland, but moved to Belfast Maine 3 1/2 years ago. I still keep my 2 weeks in Pemaquid every year!! No place I’d rather be. If you get back up here, let me know, would very much like to get together with you sometime. Rick

Getting really close now, FF looks great!! I’ve been on vacation in Pemaquid Maine for the last 2 weeks so I’m really itching to get back to working on the model. Well Done!!! Rick

George, I couldn’t agree with you more. Anyone building this model will need to buy more chain, wood, eyebolts, brass and copper sheet/strips. Over the years I have bought multiple lengths of chain when ever I could find it, especially in the smaller sizes. I also had difficulty finding the right size chain for the anchor chain and ended up using chain that was smaller than called for. But better than too big. The fittings supplied are pretty bad. Great job on the model.Really looks good, very impressive!! Rick

Thinking I was getting closer to masting and rigging, I realized that I had multiple small items to make first. I decided to start with the studding sail booms and brackets. The booms were made from Costello boxwood that I shaped by hand. I didn’t do a very good job on these, making 4 to get 2. Good experience at shaping yards; but I’ve got to find a way of making them better. These were stained with Ipswich pine stain which did not change the color much. All in all I think these will work alright, not great. The first problem I encountered was that there are 2 different sizes for the booms given on the plans. Both the sail plan and the hull plan show the booms longer than the masting and spar plan. These are significantly longer than EdT’s YA.. I ended up using the shorter boom which I shortened further by 1/8 in for a total length of 6 inches or 48 scale feet. The center band with 4 eyes was made from brass tube cut to 1/16 in wide and drilled for the 4 eyebolts with a #75 drill bit. The metal eyes were made from 30 ga copper wire which the shanks fit in the drilled holes. These were then soldered together. These came out well except that the 30 ga copper wire is so fragile that the eyes broke off several times while manipulating the bands to polish, cut off the shanks inside the bands (I used a small chisel as I found it almost impossible to file without bending/breaking the eyes) and fit them to the booms. This required redrilling and soldering on new eyes which was easily done although frustrating. The bands at the end which takes the gooseneck fitting was made from brass tube that I tapered and reamed out to fit the end of the boom. The hook was made from.02 brass wire bent to shape. All were blackened. The center band were glued first with cyano 1/3 of the way in from the outer end as shown in the plans and described by Underhill in his Masting and Rigging book. The “V” shaped brackets that take the gooseneck were cut and filled from brass sheet. As always the first one came out well, but it took 3 try’s to get the second one. The legs were embossed to represent bolts as I was afraid to drill them for real bolts due to their small size. I realized that these couldn’t be attached to the fore channels before the rear brackets were made and fitted. I deviated from the plans in that I used brass rod for the struts per Underhill. The main horizontal strut is 1/32 rod as is the hinge and the supporting strut is .02 in rod soldered to the band. The brass tube was cut at 1/16 in width I made flanges for the struts which are extremely small and probably not worth the effort. The V brackets were cemented with cyano, while the rear brackets are place but not get permanently attached so they can be removed for safe keeping. I also made the cap for the water tank. This was turned from brass rodnote , one is soldered and the other to be soldered

Looking good!!! Rick

Beautiful!! Rick

Rob, where is that beautiful model?

Well done and nice recovery!! Rick

Coming along well!! Rick

So much is open to interpretation. Most of the model is based on known common practice at that time. Combine that with artistic license, who can really say what was actually done. Both your model and Jared’s are coming along beautifully, and anyone can readily identify them as the Flying Fish. Rick

Both the China Trade painting and the Buttersworth painting show mast bands, on the mizzen, contrary to the Langford plans. I recall reading somewhere that single tree masts were also hooped for added strength. The spencer gaff rides on the spencer mast behind the mizzen, therefore mast bands would not interfere with raising and lowering the spencer gaff. Rick

Coming along nicely! Rick

Really great!! Rick

Beautiful!! I’ve really enjoyed learning how you solve the inevitable problems that arise during a build. I know Nic and Al at Bluejacket will be impressed with your build. Rick

Looks good Nic!! Rick

Nice start, interesting build!! Rick

The rudder with the preventer chain were finally finished. This required fitting the rudder head with a band and the emergency tiller. The band is brass strip, soldered together and drilled for the tiller which was made from brass rod and wire for the ring. These were blackened and the top of the rudder post painted black. The height was trimmed to fit under the wheel box and then glued to the top of the rudder down through the hole for the rudder. The preventer chains were tricky due to the small size. I used chain 36 links to an inch. The one picture shows this compared to the anchor chain which is 16 links to the inch. I wanted to place the shackles through the links but could only do that in the middle of the chain with 30 ga copper wire which was too fragile and kept breaking. I could get 28 ga wire through the ends and ended up using 28 ga wire around the links in the middle. I realized the the ring on the end of the rod coming off the rudder should have been horizontal so I end up redoing the connection to the rod in the rudder. I then made the capstans. These were made from mahogany and are similar to the capstans made by EdT on his Young America. Not having the tools to follow Ed’s technique, I turned the head, spindle and base in one piece. The rings were cut from 13/32 brass tube at .02 inches on the Byrnes table saw. I used a .02 inch blade for the spacing. The brass caps were made from brass rod a good friend gave me. This was the most extensive metal turning I’ve done to date. The whelps were made using Harold Hahn’s technique of shaping a block and the cutting slices off the block, approximately.04 inches thick. I wanted to attempt to make the bases from brass or copper, but couldn’t find a source large enough, including using telescoping tube. I ended up making the bases from cherry including my first attempt at boring with the lathe. The holes for the capstan bars were drilled on the milling machine. I made a jig to hold the capstan while drilling which also allowed me to rotate the head. I debated whether or not to make these slots as I was afraid that they would look bad if not done correctly. I also didn’t like the look without the slots. The results are far from perfect but are so small they don’t really show very much. I used a #70 drill bit and squared the slots with a file. The brass rings were glued on with cyano under the bottom edge and the capstans were stained with Ipswich pine and a semigloss coat. The bases were painted flat black. Mounted

Well done!!! Nice solution! Rick

It’s really coming along Rob! Rick