Doreltomin

Hello Eberhard,
I was a little surprised when I read that you also cited F. A. Coste as a source.
But, as always, excellent research.

Thank you very much for the continued interest in this project 👍🏻
 
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Developing the Rigging Warrant
 
It may seem strange to talk about the rigging warrant at this stage, but as much of the supporting fittings have to be reconstructed from sources and certain fittings, such as pin-rails or cleats, have to be put into place before painting, now is the time to develop at least an outline for it.

Spar-dimensions as per table on original drawing by Möller
 
The original drawings comprise a sail-plan and a spar-list with dimensions, which is a good start. However, as this is the builder’s and not a modeller’s plan, there are no details on the actual execution of the rig. These have to be reconstructed from sources from around the middle of the 19th century, notably
 
BIDDLECOMBE, G. (1848): The Art of Rigging.- 155 p., Salem, Ma. (Reprint 1990 by Dover Publication, New York).
 
BOBRIK, E. (1848): Handbuch der praktischen Seefahrtskunde, Schiffgebäudekunde, Zurüstungskunde, Manövrierkunde, Ankerkunde, Tafeln zur Schifferkunde.- 604 p. + plates, Leipzig (reprint 1978 by Horst Hamecher, Kassel).
 
Costé, F.-A. (1829): Manuel de Gréement ou l’art d’équiper les vaisseaux et autres batimens de mer, de tout ce qui est nécessaire a leurs mouvements.-  282 p., tables, Paris (Dezauche).
 
Jaÿ, . (1860): Études sur le Greément d’après les réglement du 25 avril 1857, révisé en 1858.- Atlas du Génie Maritime, 2éme Serie, Annexe No. 1: 55 pl., Paris (Ministère de la Marine et des Colonies).
 
KIPPING, R. (1853): Rudimentary Treatise on Masting, Mast-Making, and Rigging of Ships.- 150 p., London (John Weale).
 
MIDDENDORF, F.L. (1903): Bemastung und Takelung der Schiffe.- 401 p., Kassel (reprint 1977 by Horst Hamecher). – this is a bit late, but has useful tables with dimensions of parts
 
While these works contain many useful tables and sometimes beautiful detailed drawings, I realised that they are of limited use for this project as they mainly deal with larger ships. Only occasionally they give information on rigging practice for single-masted vessels. In some cases information on the foremast and bowsprit/jibboom of topsail-schooner was useful, as their rigging layout is similar.  
 
The popular secondary literature on, e.g. British or French naval cutters, that have at a first glance a similar sail-plan, also is only of limited value, as they typically have a running bowsprit, and not a fixed one with jib-boom.
 
So, much had to be interpolated, also from secondary sources covering earlier or later periods.
 
I also studied numerous images of German, Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian sloops operating in the Baltic with respect to the arrangement of stays, shrouds, backstays, topmast-shrouds, -stays, -backstays, and the bowsprit/jibboom. A considerable variability in layouts was observed.
 
Although the models of sloops and topsail-schooners in the Altona Museum (Hamburg) were built and rigged at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century, the model builders included older professional riggers, who presumably were aware of the earlier practices. These models give a good overview of the variability of rigging layouts and the supporting structures at the hull and on the deck.
 
With this information it has been possible to develop a draft warrant for the standing and (part of) the running that will help to dimension and locate the necessary pin-rails, rigging cleats, bollards, etc.

Reconstructed dimensions for the standing rigging

Reconstructed dimensions for (part of) the running rigging
 
To be continued …

The shipyard had been closed for much of August, only the drawing office stayed open to prepare work for autumn ...
 
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Anchor-winch 4
 
The remaining item for the winch is the pawl-bit against which also the bowsprit rests. It is surprisingly thin, only 240 mm square, according to the original drawing, which conveniently translates to 1.5 mm on the model.
 
A strip a tad wider than 2 mm was cut from a scrap of 1.5 mm thick acrylic glass. Care was taken to cut it parallel to a manufacturing edge, which is clean and square. In this way, only one edge needed to be machined and the manufactured edge provided a good datum for this.
 
The pawl rest in a cast-iron U-shaped frame that is bolted to the front of the post (updating the design a bit from the older style wooden pawls drawn in the original drawing). Rather than adding this part to the post, I decided to mill it from the solid. Hence the 2 mm strip.
 
Originally, I intended to drill 0.15 mm holes for the axes of the pawls, but my drills turned out to be too short for that. This would not be really necessary at this scale anyway, but would have later, once a wire was inserted, facilitated the positioning of the pawls. I have to eyeball it now.

Milling the groove into the ‘cast-iron’ frame
 
The post was milled to size, letting material for the frame for the pawls standing. The shape of the frame was then milled out and the ends rounded with a safe-edge file. In the final machining step, the groove was cut.

Shaping the head of the pawl-bit
 
I don’t have square collets (I plan to make one day a set of square insert collets for precisely holding square stock), so a round one had to make do for the next operation, namely shaping the head of the pawl-bit with different burrs. Because of the relatively soft acrylic glass and with light cuts, this is not a problem.
 
Shaping the head of the pawl-bit
 
The pawls will be short lengths of 0.2 mm x 1 mm styrene strips, but will be made only later, when everything comes together so as not to lose those tiny bits.
 
To be continued …
 

Thanks again for your interest !
 
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Anchor-winch 3
 
The winch drums were fashioned from 3 mm Ø round acrylic rod. Each side was built up from two pieces. The problem here were the square holes for the handle-bars. In principle, one could cross-drill two holes and file the square, but at 0.5 mm x 0.5 mm this would have been quite a challenge. There would be other options, such as broaching, but this requires specialised tools.
The simplest thing is to divide the drum into two parts, to slot the end of one part, cement the two parts together and one ends up with perfect square holes.

Set up for slotting the ends of the winch drums

Slotting the winch drums
 
To this end, a piece of rod was faced on both ends, and drilled 0.5 mm for the axle. It was then transferred to the dividing head on the micro-milling machine and the ends were slotted 0.5 mm deep with a 0.5 mm circular saw. Finally, a round disc of the same diameter was cemented to the end, leaving two perfectly square cross-holes.

Milling the eight sides of the winch drums
 
In the next step, the axle of the dividing head was tilted by 1.5° for milling the eight sides of the drum that is slightly conical. The drum is bound by iron hoops at both ends. These were generated by milling the drum to 0.2 mm diameter above the target dimensions. Then, the diameter was reduced by these 0.2 mm, leaving two ‘bands’ of 0.3 mm width and 0.1 mm thickness at both ends.

Close-up view of milling the eight sides of the winch drums
 
The thinner ends of the drum were faced off on the lathe to the correct length and then the drum halves parted off to the correct length.
 
The spill-heads were done in the same way, but are cylindrical (or eight-sided prisms), rather than conical (or eight-sided truncated pyramids). A smaller burr had to be used, as the distance between the reinforcement bands is only 1 mm. Before parting-off, the outside ends were slightly dished with a round-burr in the lathe tailstock.

Milling the spill heads
 
For the ratchet wheel a short length of 3 mm acrylic rod was turned down to 0.1 mm above the target diameter of 2.0 mm. The geometry for milling the ratchets was worked out on the computer. I arrived at ten ratchets 0.2 mm deep (= 32 mm on the prototype, which appears reasonable). In watchmaking there are special ratchet-wheel milling cutters that can also cut curved teeth, but I don’t have any, so I had to make do with a dovetail burr, which is good enough, as the ratchet wheel does not need to be functional. Also, two 0,2 mm thick discs as flanges were parted off.

Milling the ratchet wheel
 
Unfortunately, these transparent parts are difficult to photograph and, indeed difficult to see during machining. A first coat of paint will eventually show any errors …

The parts of the anchor winch made so far assembled

The anchor winch at its future location
 
To be continued …

On YouTube:
 
 
 

6. and now I am putting all the parts of the chimney together

It is unfortunate that the kits do not have a better quality of line. Getting 'real' rope is a game changer!

Anchor-winch 2
 
As planned, the drawings for the cheeks were printed to the correct size and stuck to a piece of 1 mm acrylic glass. A straight edge of the piece was used as reference surface.
 
The first step was to drill the 0.5 mm hole for the axle of the winch-drum. This hole serves, together with the straight edge as reference for aligning the two cheeks so that they can be made identical. The drilling gives me the opportunity to show the watchmaker’s pillar drill (https://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/tools/drills/drills.html) in action.
 
Using the micro-mill as a router, the parts were roughened out with the aid of a fine cylindrical burr. Then a process of hand-filing began, using a variety of small and fine watchmaker’s files.

 
The edges were slightly rounded using a three-sides scraper and a fine abrasive stick in the handheld electrical drill. Finally the parts were polished with a rotary bristle-brush.

 The lower edge of the cheeks is 9 mm long. Unfortunately, the transparent parts are difficult to photograph.
 
To be continued …

Thank you Pat ...  Back from another travel, I turned my attention to the
 
Anchor-winch 1
 
I spent quite a bit of time perusing contemporary drawings and near-contemporary models of small mid-19th century Baltic vessels in order to get a good idea of what, at that time, the anchor-winch of a modest small vessel might have looked like. While the archives of the Danish Royal Shipyard in Copenhagen indicate, that winches with mechanical advantage, such as those driven via gears and an idler-shaft or patent-winches seem to have been known by the mid-1830s, they don’t seem to have been common on more modest vessels. Vessels, such as this Rahschlup, were built in small shipyards with limited forging and other iron-working capabilities, let alone gear-cutting facilities. Gears could have been bought in, but this would have been too expensive probably for this kind of ‘subsistence’ shipping.

Profile of the winch – Detail from the Original drawing by Möller.
 
This research was needed, because the original drawings show the profile of the cheeks, but there is no plan view, that indicates the length and shape of the barrel. In the Danish archive I found the drawing of a single-masted jagt of comparable size with relatively detailed rendering of the winch. It may be a bit older than the Rahschlup, but the original drawings indicate an eight-sided barrel, which at that time was already a bit old-fashioned. Other drawings from the Danish archive of the mid-1840s showed already more modern looking round barrels.

Jacht THETIS (1842) – Late 19th model from original drawings in the Altonaer Museum, Hamburg.
 
The Danish drawings and various photographs from similar vessels under restauration confirmed that the cheeks were surprisingly thin, only about half a foot in thickness. Similarly, the post against which the bowsprit will rest was only ¾ of a foot in cross-section.

Detail from a drawing F150-119 for a Jagt, Rigsarkivet Copenhague.
 
Based on this information, I drew the barrel and the cheeks as working drawings. The drawings for the cheeks will be printed and stuck onto 1 mm acrylic glass as a guidance for sawing them out.

Working drawing for the anchor-winch of the Rahschlup
 
Workshop results coming hopefully soon …

Again, I managed to eek out a bit of time for the workshop between travels and addressed myself to the 
 
Parcel Hatch
 
The ’parcel hatch’ is a common feature of such trading-smack type vessels and proved access to the cargo hold before the mast. As the name indicates, this space was typically used to store general cargo, while the main hold was used for bulk loads, such as bricks or coal, or grain in sacks.

The laser-cutting template for the parcel hatch lid
 
This hatch will be shown closed and therefore a ‘core’ (the actual hatch including the coamings) was milled from a piece of acrylic, while the lid was built up from laser-cut parts. I could have milled the two parts in one piece, but milling the camber of the lid would have required a more complex set-up. On the real thing lid was made to fit over hatch like the lid on a box.


 
These hatch lid was tied down with two iron straps, the ends of which slipped over eye-bolts in the deck, to be secured to them with cotter-pins presumably. As these parts will be painted in a different colour from that of the hatch and have to fit tightly, they will be made and fitted later, once the hatch is installed.

The parcel hatch and crew companionway provisionally deployed
 
To be continued …

In spite of a week's travel for business, I managed to get done a part:
 
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The Main Hatch
 
The main hatch will be shown closed, so I could revert to my usual technique of milling it from a solid piece of acrylic glass. In fact, the piece forms a core and as sharp corners for the recess into which the hatch covers fit is needed, around it strips of 1 mm acrylic glass were cemented. This arrangement was milled to size and shape as shown previously. To make it visually more interesting a quarter-round cove was milled into the outer edge with a 0.5 mm ball-burr. In real life, this would also prevent the wood from splintering, when hit by something during loading.

Milling a quarter-round cove into the coaming of the main-hatch
 
The cover was assumed to be in three parts, each planked with short lengths of plank. The cover is made from a tight-fitting piece of bakelite paper into which the planks were engraved, as was done for the deck-planks. Making hatch and cover in separate pieces allows to paint it with sharp edges. The cover will be simulated to be natural wood.

The main-hatch with the cover inserted
 
Eventually, the hatch will be fitted with clamps for the battens to tie-down the canvas cover. That will be done at a later stage to avoid damage during fitting the part into the deck.
 
To be continued …

Thank you for the photo of your Frankenmill, Eberhard! You made me smile.

Well, it's a vintage milling machine that never was: https://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/tools/micromill/micromill.html. The key mechanical parts came from antique watchmaking lathes.

https://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/tools/micromill/MF-V1.mp4
 
The miniature vice is shop-made: https://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/tools/attachments/attachments.html#Micro_vice

That is a fascinating looking vintage milling machine!

To end this thread here Emiel's display of 'an English seascape'

Thank you for your attention.

Cabin companionway and binnacle
 
The layout of the access to the stern cabin is somewhat puzzling, even taking into consideration that accommodation in this kind of vessel was spartanic and cramped. There seems to be a skylight over the cabin that was most probably protected by a grille. However, it is just in the area over which the business end of tiller sweeps. The helmsman would have to pay attention, where he puts his feet. Rather close in front of it seems to be the companionway that leads down into the cabin. Unlike for the other deck openings no coamings are drawn. Normally, there would have been a movable binnacle behind the companionway, so that the helmsman has a good view. The binnacle at that time was constructed like a cabinet and would be lashed down to the deck. However, the space between the skylight and the companionway seems to be too narrow to accommodate this kind of cabinet.

Details of the stern arrangements, original drawing by Möller (1846)
 
By looking through contemporary paintings and drawings of similar vessels, I chanced upon a somewhat naïve watercolour of a local painter from Trondheim, that shows a combination of binnacle and companionway. It also opens in a somewhat unusual fashion, where a segment of the roof is hinged to flip backward – rather than the usual sliding cover. Not sure how this would behave in any kind of stronger wind. Not all the details and the perspective in the watercolour seem to be right, but overall, it looks credible.
 
The whole arrangement is actually quite similar to that of the original drawing, also with the skylight right under the tiller, which actually is worked quite casually with ropes by the gentleman with straw(?)-hat sitting on the port stern rail.
 
Anyway, I opted for this solution as it is unusual and solves the space problem. As a bonus I don’t need to worry about rendering the lashings of the binnacle.

The Norwegian jægt HAABET (1849). Source: Town archives of Trondheim - https://www.flickr.com/photos/trondheim_byarkiv/3539132719.
 
The companionway-binnacle combination was again built from laminations of laser-cut pieces. The main objective was to show the panelling. So, each side was built up from three layers, the outer ones simulating the frames with the cut-outs for the panels. The profiled coamings were simulated by adding two further layers.
 
 
 

 
The collection of parts for laser-cutting
 
Assembly of all those parts was a bit of fiddling and I prefer my usual method of assembling companionways etc. around a solid core milled from a piece of acrylic glass, but this obviously only works, when they are shown closed.
 
To be continued …

The chainwales:
No details are discernible in the Brueghel painting. Chainwales aren't even visible for the fore-shrouds.
 
My interpretation:
The main shrouds are attached to chainwales, while the fore-shrouds simply have their wales reinforced at the lower edges of the forecastle. Its bent side makes wide chainwales unnecessary. The shrouds still run freely from the side.

 

I finished the yacht last month. Here is the result:
 

The model is exhibited below the drawing hanging on the wall in my living room:

Emiel tried to match the pictures he took with the drawing. It looks as if I was not far off:

Once he is finished with his photoshop painting I will present the result.
 
 

Thanks to all the people who liked the model and especially of course to @flying_dutchman2,  @Michael Mash, @dvm27 and @druxey for their comforting words. Much appreciated.
Druxey: The funny thing about the rigging is that Charles II was transported from Breda to Scheveningen in a group of several yachts with spritsail rigging. The Mary, which that was sent to him as a present from the Dutch however sported a standing gaff rigging. From what I saw on pictures the English type of this rig differed from the Dutch in for instance the topsail, having no braces and lifts. It was just a flying sail, only having blocks at the lower tips, through which ropes from the lower yard were led and sometimes, but not always bowlines leading to end of the bowsprit. The sail was stored on deck until it was needed and hoisted with a halliard that ran through a sheave in the top of the mast and through a loose 8-shaped shackle around the top. The lower yard was stowed upright against the mast if not in use. In that case it hangs on a long pendant. The fact that this square rigged sail was handled on deck was the reason why Dutch yachts did not have ratlines on the shrouds.
There were more differences about which perhaps another time...

A lot of time passed since my last posting. Most of it was caused by people, family and friends, who start to die all over the place. In a very short period I lost six relatives and close friends. That takes away a lot of one's motivation and working power.
Anyway, the model approaches its finishing stage, after which I will come up with better pictures than these.  
There is a lot to say about some choices I made, but as a whole I think I am reasonably satisfied with the result. For a ship with a totally different background the result could have been worse (and better for that matter).
In a later stage I will give my remarks about the rigging, which on this model is mainly done after Dutch sources, quite different in details from the only rigged dockyard model I have found so far.
 
Back to flags, anchors, lanterns and sailors.

Thanks for your comments @mcb!
 
It is actually the 'old' duroplastic material invented by Baekelundt. It is essentially one or more layers of paper soaked in phenolic resin and cured between steel plates to ensure uniform thickness and a mirror-like surface.
 
It is still used for electrical insulation and certain types of PCBs, a class called FR-2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FR-2.
 
It is available from thicknesses from 0.1 mm up to 6 mm or even in blocks and rods (usually with cotton-fabric, rather than paper). I got a life-time supply about 30 years ago from a specialised dealer in Berlin, who sold it by the meter.
 
You can find suppliers on the Internet (including on ebay). Most of the material seems to be produced in India and China these days.
 
It glues very well with CA - some 25 years ago a made little clinkered boat with bakelite-paper planks glued with CA and it still looks pristine. For larger flat pieces I also used zapon-varnish, which adheres well.
 
The edges of the bakelite-paper are quite brittle, so care and sharp tools are needed, when cutting it. It sands well with fine diamond nail-files.

Thanks, gentlemen, for your continuing encouragement and the many 'likes'
 
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Fitting the deck
 
The deck is made from 0.4 mm thick Bakelite-paper. I find it easier to engrave the deck-seams consistently into this harder material with my tools, then into the softer styrene sheet. Perhaps I should get some day one of those hooked engraving tools the plastic modellers use (I have the suspicion these are the same tools as dentists use to scrape of ‘plaque’ – I have one of those and perhaps should have tried).
 
I first printed out the deck-drawing, cut out the shape and fitted it to the ship. Using the paper template, the shape was cut from the Bakelite with a small margin. This then was fitted very carefully in an evening’s session. Fitting started from the stern working forward, taking off material with a diamond nail-file while checking the fit after a couple of strokes.
 
A tight fit is important, as the whole idea is to paint the deck off-ship to avoid a complex masking exercise. Also, the painting process (as described in the build-log for SMS WESPE) would be difficult to exercise within the constraints of the bulwark.
Tools used for engraving the deck seams
 
The fitted deck was taped to a printout of the deck with the planks marked as guidance for engraving. A heavy steel ruler ensured straight lines. First, the plank seam was marked with a scalpel to provide some ‘tooth’ for the graver. Then a narrow engraver’s graver was run twice along the ‘seam’ to clean out the shallow groove. Once the engraving was completed, the whole deck was thoroughly brushed with a rotary bristle-brush to remove burrs.
 
I ended up doing this three times, as in the first two attempts I lost count and cut a skewed seam. This is unrepairable, so I had to start all over again. However, the first fitted deck provided a good template, speeding up the fitting process: after scoring the material with a scalpel around the edges of the template, one can break the new deck out of the bakelite sheet. Only comparatively little fitting was required then.
 
In fact, scoring the bakelite-paper with a scalpel twice and then breaking along the line is a quick and clean way of getting straight cuts that just require a bit of sanding with a diamond file.
 
The next step would be to cut out the openings for the companionways and hatches. However, these have to be tight fits to them and it will be easier to first build those and then file out the openings – back to the drawing-board for some time.
 
To be continued …

A really interesting project! Unfortunately much of this rich heritage of the Baltic trade is almost lost so you surely will do them some justice by drawing attention to these ship types. Also I must add a special mention to these wonderful pictures which you amassed here to illustrate the ships. A big thank you for the thread, will surely follow with much interest!

Thanks for the 'likes' !
 
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Fitting the rails
 
The rails are 0.75 mm x 1.50 mm styrene strips on top of the bulwark and a 0.75 mm x 2.00 mm strip over the stern. The edges of the strips are rounded.
 
To this end I cut a scraper from a piece of razor-blade which is held in a short pin-vice. The strip is held in a simple jig made from cardboard. Strips of cardboard were cut with clean and vertical edges and glued to a cardboard-base so that styrene strips of 0.25 mm, 0.50, and 0.75 mm thickness can be wedged into the resulting notch, holding it straight and vertical.
 
In this way a clean and uniform profile of the styrene strip can be achieved quickly.
 
The styrene strips then were pre-bend, holding them lightly in round-nosed pliers and by ‘massaging’ them around my thumb to make them conform to the sheer-line as closely as possible. They then were glued onto the stanchions and the top bulwark strake using styrene-cement.
 
As can be seen from the cross-section shown in the previous post, the profile of the rail may be even more sophisticated with some cornice planed in. I simulated this my lacquering a 0.1 mm copper wire into the outboard corner under the rail.
 
The next step will be puttying up any small gaps that have developed during the planking process.
 
As one can see on the pictures, I also started to work on the deck by making a paper template for it.
 
To be continued …  

After a few attempts, I think that the deck planking was not so horrible...
 


 
The hole you guys see in the middle section was the fruit of my illusion to add some real miniature grating      ... All the gunports were also painted red. Due to the small size, I think I'll have to use CA glue to secure the bow planks in place, so instead of wood, I carved/sanded a plastic piece (to make it easier, I think...).
 
The same was done with the other decks...
 

 
With a bit of improvised weathering (yeah everything's improvised!!!      )