Harvey Golden

Flying Jib, Jib, and Foresail are all up and sheeted. I used Dr PR's method of making the hanks on the foresail, as noted on his build-log of the Albatross-- thanks Phil! The Øerifiken continues to perplex, particularly with regards to its purpose, and is so far omitted. I've got a book en-route that will hopefully help. The sheeting of the foresail on the traveler is made exactly like that in the paper Steggin linked to on the previous page-- one with a cleat mounted right on the side of the lower block. The foresail also has a downhaul rigged with a light line. The falls are mostly glued to the proper pins-- will be adding separate rope coils soon. Here are some pics: The model's keel is 1-1/2" above the floor (on the stand), and the mast tops out at over 36" high-- my usual work-space is too small for this model, so I've moved it to the living room floor (I live in a 1913 corner grocery store, so a very spacious living room with 11' ceilings). I've been working on the rigging for the gaff and boom, attaching anchor points for blocks on mast, boom, and gaff. More line and more blocks have been ordered. . . going through this stuff fast! H--

Thanks Siggi! I used archival pva glue to attach the bolt ropes. Just a line of glue along the sail edge, then push the rope against it; once it is situated properly, I elevate the glued section to dry (ensuring it doesn't adhere to the table). I just do about 4-5 inches at a time. Hope this helps! H-

I just saw your build of the St. Roch-- that is a lovely model!!! I've been aboard at the VMM some years back, and it is good to see it preserved. First, I know very little about handling ships like these, but the idea of a fixed cleat for a sheet connected to the traveler seems like it would restrict the movement. I had been thinking maybe it was cleated to a cleat affixed to one of the lines adjacent the blocks, or something like that-- figure 117 in the paper Steggen linked to shows a variation of this, where the cleat is affixed directly to a block. Now I'm wondering what the cleat is for on the St. Roch (also wondering how wrong I am about all of this 😉). Thank you again! H-

Thank you Steggen! This is very helpful. I'll have to take time to digest (and translate) this. I see figure 111 has a line labeled Ørefiken, and it is shown (unlabeled) on the plans I have. Seems to have good info on the traveler as well-- thank you again! H-

Thank you Bruce! Yes, the museum may have some info on that detail-- figured I'd try here first. Wefalck has generously shared some photos of the Gjøa at the museum, and alas, the traveler itself is not even place (probably a tripping hazard, as the ship is open for visitors). Best, H-

The Flying Jib and Jib are up! The panel lines pattern is modeled after that shown on the 1950 Model Shipways plans . . . I hope they're correct, as I've also seen them represented bisected/joined at the clew, perpendicular to the luff (forgive the poor description...). I can't recall seeing photos of the Gjøa with her rig up, at least not ones clear enough to see the panel lines. Two historic paintings (by Fredrik Sørvig) of the Gjøa do show panel lines like on the MS plans, though the paintings were done well before Amundsen bought it in 1901 (The paintings are reproduced in Amundsen's Diaries, 2017; Fram Museum). Here she is: As you can see, the foresail is also in progress. While I have copies of the 1950 plans, I do not have instructions and there is a term on the sheeting/pin-rail plans that I am not familiar with, and can't seem to turn it up anywhere: "Ørefiken." The term on the plans is keyed to belaying pins on port and starboard, just behind the pins marked for the Squaresail Tack; the starboard pin related to the mystery term is shown below. Any ideas, or better yet, a definition? Another question I am struggling with is in regards to how the foresail is sheeted to the traveler. I'm inferring that a double block with an end ring is hooked to the clew, and the line runs through a single(?) block hooked to a ring on the traveler, but where does the fall go? Any help will be most welcome! In other news, I've learned (for next time) to put mast hoops on before the trucks, stays, crow's nest, and shrouds are in place 😉 H-

Thank you! I'm definitely warming up to Silkspan.

Hello all! Am still at it despite being busy with many other projects. It has taken a while to wrap my head around the silksspan-for-sails on what is a very large model. I started with the Gjöa's square sail, which will be furled; it's visible in the photo, un-furled and not cut full-size. I need to brush up on how to properly furl a squaresail; I must have been sick the day they covered it in middle school. I've painted up enough paper for the Gjöa's sails, using a roller as-per Tom Lauria on youtube. The jib and flying jib are cut so far. A good way (for me) to get a hang of these sails was to re-rig old models I had laying about. Here is a Garvey from Barnegat Bay, N.J. built from Chapelle's drawing in "American Small Sailing Craft" (modified slightly to represent a full-size version I built). I chucked the old cloth sail and put this one on: It's got separate edge pieces glued on, penciled panel lines, roped edging, and a few patches here and there for good measure. Practice makes passable . . . hopefully!

The chain drive on Gjøa thread is here, mostly on page 2: https://modelshipworld.com/topic/34394-gjøa-1872-by-harvey-golden-roald-amundsens-cutter-built-at-rosedahl-norway/page/2/#comments (thanks to all that helped with that puzzle).

Hello All! The rigging is progressing nicely, albeit two steps forward, one step back. The boats on the quarters are hung; it's a little odd, but they quite conceal the Gjøa's name board. A discrepancy of where the crow's nest was has been resolved: My plans had it 10' higher than is shown on other drawings; historic photos showed I needed to lower it. Also started in on weathering the hull: It was Golden brand acrylic Red Oxide, which I've just gone over with a brown wash; it'll get a gray wash then some green sponging, then white sponging. The squaretail yard is coming along, as is the gaff and boom. I noticed some historic images of Gjøa (during her famous transit) do show the square topsail in place, so I'l be making that as well. Here she is today-- loving the Ropes of Scale line; I've replaced the backstays with it.

Thanks Ed! Looks like some interesting old boats around town-- 'Peterhead' boats, I suppose? I'd love to get up there someday; I've been to Nunavut, but on the East Side of Baffin Island. It's an incredible place!

Thank you for the kind comments, Arlo! As mentioned by Steve, his popular account is in re-print (two volumes). His private journals are a superb accompaniment-- there's a photo of the book cover on the first post in this thread. Best, H-

Hello All! Still at it. . . I finally sourced the info I needed for the rigging, so I'll be tackling that with more energy. For such a big detailed model I decided to up-my-game a bit: I've ordered rigging line from Ropes of Scale, which are simply incredible compared to the line I had been using (various weights of thread, etc.). Also, I've decided on Silkspan sails-- I've bought enough to do the Gjöa, as well as to re-do a number of my older models. For practice with the Silkspan, I made sails for the skiff and faering. I've brailed them up, as shown in the photo below (I've also added oarlocks, oars, and even rivet-heads to the faering, which look quite good [just dots of glue]). I'm still uncertain if I'll have the Gjöa's sails up or drawn in-- I suppose that's a great advantage of Silkspan, as you can decide after they've been made up.

Interesting-- I had thought she was built at St. Helens; I didn't know she was completed elsewhere. I've been to the site of the St. Helens yard many times; the yard burned in the 20s if I recall. Here's a photo postcard I picked up showing the launching of Merced, ca. 1912-13. The next photo shows the only remaining evidence-- the ways shown in the post card. Looking forward to this project! -H

I heard back from Model Expo-- they have nothing available (plans) and said the Gjöa kit is discontinued. I may DM other builders or wing it.

Thank you Vossiewulf-- I wondered if that might be the case. I will try that! Thank you Wefalck. I've seen a low-res image of the plans, and I think they will still be especially helpful. I had noticed in your photos that the upper portions weren't photographed, but then I saw in museum pics that the upper portions aren't there(!) I've noted several discrepancies between how she is set up now versus how she appeared on the voyage, e.g. two yards versus one on the voyage-- the kits seem to all have two square yards. It's a blessing she was preserved, but she is quite stripped down, and indeed cut down as you said. It all keeps the process interesting!

I need assistance. As I get down the nuts and bolts of the rigging, I'm finding the plans I'm working from are wholly inadequate (and often contradict each other); Wefalck has generously shared images of the Gjöa, which has been an incredible help for the deck fittings and much of the bow rigging-- this model would be a mere caricature without his help. Poking around, it seems the Model Shipways Plans may be what I'm looking for, but I can't find the company on-line. I see some of their plans are sold by Model-Expo, but no sign of the Gjöa there. Can anyone point me in the right direction? I'm happy to purchase a used set, if someone has them laying around. Many thanks in advance! -Harvey

Getting the bowsprit rigged. I'm using the smallest ring bolts I could find, but still had to clip them open and resize them. Also had to trim the threaded end for length-- real fun trying to screw one in with the point gone!

Thank you Paul. It looked very lovely with natural cedar, black iron bands (paper, actually), and raised rivets (glue dots) . . . was saddened to see the original was painted(!)

The ratlines are completed-- never will I forget how to do a clove hitch after all that. The process went very well-- didn't need tweezers at all, just all finger work. I think they came out mostly okay; I'm happy with them. I've also attached the name boards, also visible in the photo. The bowsprit is in place, and I threaded the anchor chain through the hawse pipe-- will hang it shortly. The crow's nest is also built and attached. Historic photos show it was painted some light color; I went with a light grey. I'm getting ready to hang the boats on the davits, and have found very little about how they were hung/cleated in quite a number of model books-- is this sort of an overlooked aspect, or am I just looking at the wrong books? Best I can find in my library is an illustration in "American Merchant Seaman's Manual" (1942). It looks correct to historic photos of the Gjøa, except it runs to a winch instead of a cleat, and the davit heads on the Gjøa have integrated double blocks.

Thank you-- I've seen several images of this being done on other models. I did make a paper spacing guide and I marked out with white ink (on the outer shrouds) where the ratlines should go, so I think I can keep things proper looking. . . we'll see. I used square knots on the outer shrouds (first and last), but I like your suggestion as it would hide the trimmed ends. Thank you as always!

Happy New Year to all! A tiny bit of progress today: My very first ratline! At least, first tied ratline, as I think I glued them on one of my older projects. I'm terrible with knots, and line, and tangles drive me insane . . . I think I'm part kitten. Nevertheless, I sought out instructions for clove hitches, and by practicing AND by drawing the knot, I think I have a handle on it. Here it is, pre-trimming: Seems to have a nice natural sag to it between the shrouds. . . hope they all turn out this nice. I'll be doing them intermittently (every fifth one), and then filling in. (I still need to lash the sheer pole on... just held on with glue at this point). Anyhow, here's the drawing as well:

The shroud lines are all in place! Sheer poles, as well. I just need to glue down the lashing ends so they aren't defying gravity. The ratlines ought to be a mind-numbing challenge. Attachments for the bobstays are also in place on the stem-- upper a simple curve, with the lower twisted for an eye. Bowsprit is permanently affixed. The back stays are in progress-- just need to attach them to the mast. I'm pleased with how things are taking shape, and am learning a lot about this rig.

Some progress, including blundering (as expected). I had to re-do the deadeye attachments on the shroud lines, because I got a little ahead of my skis when following the instructions in Peterson's "Rigging." The Gjöa's deadeyes are metal strapped to a solid thimble in the shroud-end instead of the usual way of running the shroud around the deadeye. So . . . a fix and then proceeding with the rigging... compare with the above photo showing the incorrectly-made shroud ends.

They do . . . will double check the pics. Thank you. -- They look about right, not knowing exactly how thick the original's are. They are rods and not strapping. They seem proportional to the shroud size I'm using.