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Runnymede, Thanasis posted something in the modeling tools section that may help you and a lot of us just a few hours ago as I write this regarding making seizings, and shows these with a deadeye as an example. Allan

Hello Peter,' There is no single book in any library I have seen that will answer all questions from keel to top of the mast. But, if you intend to build a specific British vessel from the mid/late 18th century, Endeavor, there are fewer books needed to answer most questions and as it has been probably been modeled thousands of times before, you will have a wealth of advice available. If you go with something that has not be built before, or at least not very often, once you choose a specific ship or a nation and type and era, then it is pretty easy to home in on appropriate reference books. There are books on framing, fitting, rigging, ships' boats, capstans, and on and on. It may turn out you will wind up with four or more books once you choose a vessel. The style of your build also makes a difference, kit versus scratch, plank on frame, plank on bulkhead or other method. Welcome to MSW! Allan

I would imagine the History Channel series was far more interesting from a fact base. The Last Kingdom is a four season series and has some pretty gruesome stuff. Takes place in 800's when King Alfred was trying to form England by uniting Wessex and Mercia. Some fact, mostly fiction, but interesting none-the-less, (to some friends and me at least -not the wives - too much fighting) Allan

Welcome aboard Jon, Vikings seem to be a more and more popular subject. Maybe due to the Last Kingdom series??? We ALL have a lot to learn in our pursuit to build a high quality model, and this is without doubt the best place to get useful advice from so many artists. Allan

Bob Friedman has had health issues (nothing to do with Corona virus) the past year or so thus the responses have been sporadic. Others have had similar situations but turns out to be OK in the end. As far as payment methods, I have no idea what that is about, perhaps others here that have had success in ordering a book for shipment to the EU can give some comment/advice. Allan

What Davy said for sure. There is normally no correlation between the lay of the hull planking and the fore and aft curvature of the deck. Allan

I print items to be cut out on label paper. Cut out the part drawing just outside the lines of the drawing, remove the backing and stick it on the wood to be cut. If the wood is clean when the paper is applied it will stay on for a long time. It peels off with relative ease and the wood is clean. I usually give it a scrape with a razor or swipe with sand paper just in case there is any residual glue although if there is any there, I have never seen it. Allan

Seawatch Books. https://www.seawatchbooks.com/ItemDisplay.php?sku=115003 Allan

I have had three draw plates and still have one from MicroMark which is OK for the most part. One of the holes is actually larger than the preceding one so a miscue on their production floor, and I still have the Byrnes. BYRNES IS THE WAY TO GO. I have made many many thousands of treenail strips from bamboo and pear with this plate and it never disappoints. One trick I learned some years ago (I think from Druxey) is to pull the piece through the same hole at least two or three times at slightly different angles before moving to the next smaller hole. Takes an extra few seconds, but well worth it. Allan

Thanks Eberhard, I appreciate you following this build and sharing your experiences now and over these past years. I guess if you get to the UK, steak and kidney pie will not by your first choice. 😄 I love snails as well, but my wife went from loving them to hating them when we lived in Southern California many years ago and she saw them always crawling on the side of the house and getting into the succulent plants for their own meals. Allan

I give you a TON of credit for having the patience to rebuild rather than try to fix/juryrig/coverup. She is looking really fine!!! Allan

Valeriy The shackles are terrific! Are you making the flanges separately and soldering the to the ends of the half round rods or flattening the ends then filing them to shape or some other method? Thanks for sharing!! Allan

Wefalck, when you give this sail making a try as you described, PLEASE post a "How To" along with photos here at MSW. As far as getting not being able to get the paper in Paris, based on my visits to your city over the years, I would very quickly give up the paper in exchange for a good bagette and jambon for lunch and a plate of rognan avec moutard for dinner!! Allan

Roger, I have gone the exact route that you describe. I did indeed do some testing to check if much tension would break or distort the finished rings. Holly being the choice I made turned out to be a good one as they held up to my makeshift tests with no issues at all. If this were to be a pond model, I would likely have gone with something stronger. As it is static and the sails will be my first go at using silk span since I built a few planes WAAAAYYYYY back in time, they will be quite light and should present no issues. I have read and re-read David Antscherl's booklet on making silk span sails and will post my results once I begin making them. Got the materials he listed so ready to go in the near future. Wefalck, I was able to get the scale size wires I was looking for from my go-to supplier, McMaster Carr. The hardest part was they had so many wire choices that I had to spend a lot of time to be sure I made the right selection. Your comment on wheel chairs on a sail boat is well taken. The boat is designed for leisure day sailing, but of course any wind can cause her to heel over, so I am positive it is something the designer and builders have considered. Their yard is busy as can be right now getting Ernestina back to sailing condition which will be a treat to see when she is back in the water. Allan

Keith, I had never used styrene in the past as it is non-traditional and I TRY (although do not always succeed) to stay with traditional contemporary materials whenever possible, ie. wood and metal. Regarding boring out a rod, I should get a cutting tool and give it a try as it has been so long since doing it and there are times when it would be more accurate than a drill bitt. I am pretty sure it should be nothing more than the right size/shaped cutting tool and setting up the tool holder properly but would love to hear and see anything you can offer to avoid mistakes. Thanks for the offer!!! Allan

Keith, Wood is what is proposed on the actual vessel so I thought to give it a try. That and the fact that I could not machine a hole 0.65" diameter in brass stock. I don't have the skill to do that nor a drill bitt that large to do so on the lathe. If it had been 1/2" or less I could have drilled a hole in a piece of brass stock and then cut the rings. IF the wood does not work out I will bite the bullet and see what I can do to to get a proper sized drill bitt or learn how to machine the hole with a cutting tool. I remember doing this in a shop class back in the 60's on a full size lathe aboard ship, but over 50 years later, memory is not serving as well as it once did. :>( Regarding the anchor, I did a search on line to see how these types of anchors were assembled and found a few drawings as well. I made the arm in two pieces as there is a pivot, then made the flukes separately. I made all pieces from styrene, then silver paint to represent the galvanized finish on the anchor. The ring on the end of the arm is just a piece of brass rod. Not overly complicated. I had never used styrene in the past but after following Garry's Stonington Dragger build log thought to give it a try and found that there are definitely items that warrant use of this material. Allan

Made the plough anchor and anchor roller which is attached to the bow sprit. Also making hoops for the main and fore sails to go on the masts. I have made them of brass and colored them in the past, but trying wood this go around. I have soaked strips of holly that were cut to the proper width and thickness then wrapped them around a dowel slight larger than the widest diameter of the masts. Once dry they will be cut slightly oversized, taken off the dowel and glued to form the hoop. So far, looking good but the jury is still out on this one. Holly is extremely easy to bend without splitting when wet so I have high hopes on this. Allan

Pete, perhaps the below contemporary drawings will help. Note that these cutters have no ears, but many of the other items mentioned previously, plus the floorboards. (Sorry, not sure of the proper term on this one.) Also note that the first drawing shows six cutout for the oars, but there are actually three per side unless it is double banked. As it is between 6 and 7 feet in breadth, I am pretty sure it would be single banked. If you need scantlings, feel free to PM me. Allan

Hi Pete Assuming it is wood I have never had any problems building cutters and other lapstrake craft using carpenter's glue. These include 18 foot long boats which are right at four inches long with planks only 0.02" thick at 1:48 scale. I do like to use holly for the planking as I have never had a plank split or break but will be OK with any wood. I looked at pictures of your boat on their website and the finished boat does look nice, but I would be concerned that the drawings and photo of the finished model are missing a lot of items found on most cutters. This include such things as the thwart with a cut out for the mast, the ears, chocks, and breast hook to name a few. There are what appears to be places for three oars per side, but they look to be aligned rather than offset so every other thwart has no place for an oarsman to place his oar. On all the contemporary drawings I have seen (there are a lot of them available for free at the NMM Collections site and Wikimedia) there is also a cross thwart at the transom for the helmsman which is not shown in their pictures. Some of these items may or may not have been present depending on the year, but in Mays' book on ship's boats he gives scantlings for all of these items for cutters of various lengths, so some or perhaps all of these missing items likely should be present. Perhaps their plans are more detailed and show these parts. Allan

For long guns, assuming the Falconer drawing is accurate, it looks as if the recoil is closer to 4 feet plus/minus. According to Caruana in volume II the History of English Sea Ordinance, for a nine foot 32 pounder for example, in the Regulation of 1723 the breeching line was 6" in circumference and 30' long. In the updated Regulation of 1747 the circumference was 7.5", then reduced to 7" in 1765. He could not find circumferences for later years but comments that with the introduction of cylindrical powder about 1800 and the resultant more bang for the buck, the circumference of the breechings may have increased yet again. The length remained the same, 30 feet for 32 and 42 pounders. The length of the breeching for 9 to 18 pounders was 28 feet and 27 feet for smaller caliber guns. This seems it would allow more closer to 4 or more feet of recoil. Allan

Keith, I usually make my molding scrapers by chucking the grinding wheel in the lathe then hand hold the stiff back razor on the tool holder to grind the grooves in the blade. It appears you have the grinding wheel chucked in a drill press and have the blade in a vice. I can see this being much easier to control and safer assuming the vice is on an X-Y table/movement set up. Is this the case in your set up? I am going to go this route in the future for the precise control and safety it offers. Allan

Pat, Keith, and Kurt, MANY thanks!!! I did receive the stainless steel wire and crimp pieces for the larger diameter wire and will be doing some experimenting in the near future. I also will be going to Michaels for supplies setting up sail making stretcher board frame and such as explained in the sail making booklet by David Antscherl so will get some beading wire to see how it compares if they have appropriate sizes. Even if they just have the crimp pieces it will be worth the trip into town. I have an electricians' cutting/crimping plier but will look at the crimping tool as well. As you say Pat, some experimenting into this new venture is no doubt appropriate so will be doing just that and will post the results here. Thanks again gentlemen. Couple updated photos. Deck cleats have been made and "bolted" to the deck. Each cleat was drilled and has a brass rod epoxied in place. A hole was drilled in the deck for each cleat and the cleat then set in place with the rod passing through the deck and epoxied in place. Small fife rails were installed as well. The pins are brass and were made on my lathe and the mini drill press was used to file and sand the end of the handle portion. They were then cleaned with acetone and blackened. The first two coats of clear finish have been applied. A light steel wool rub is needed in a few places and some touch up spots for sure, then the last coats of finish will go on. Allan

Henry, for the sprit shroud deadeyes you make a great point and Lees does point out that the lashing should lie on top of the sprit and one leg would indeed be shorter than the other. But there also some deadeyes at the top of the sprit for the stays, and some underneath for the bobstays and these did not usually have eyes that were lashed together, but rather were spliced together. Not an easy task on a model though!! Lees comments that after 1773, hearts were used in preference to deadeyes for the sprit shrouds which would be appropriate for Constitution, IF she was rigged similarly to the British. Same goes for the forestay and preventer stay. Allan

Bob, pages 49-50 of Lees' Masting and Rigging give great detail on the various deadeyes including outer bobstay, fore stay , fore preventer stay, sprit shrouds and so forth. For the time period of the Constitution, assuming she was rigged similarly to the British vessels, each deadeye would have a collar which was always spliced at the outer most point of the groove of the deadeye. The collar would be served for it's entire length. Often the collars were covered with leather as well. There were wooden cleats, usually four or more, attached to the sprit for each collar to prevent them from sliding along the sprit. Lees also addresses the order of dressing the collars and deadeyes of the bowsprit for each time period covered in the book on page 158. Allan

Welcome Doxi Just saw your post and when I saw you are from NE Ohio it brought back a lot of great memories of time spent on Pymatuning Reservoir catching bass, lots of walleye and the occasional muskie about the time you were working on the Constitution. Allan