Lin Feng

I use a dremel cut off wheel.

I use a dremel cut off wheel.

http://www.schiffsmodellflaggen.de/english/english.html

http://www.schiffsmodellflaggen.de/english/english.html

Much time has passed, but now i am back
 
Next step was to build the deadeyes and chainplates for the main-platform.
 
For the holes in the deadeyes I need a helpfull tool.
The tool it´s made from wood and brass.
 
  
 
 

 
 

 
 
The deadeyes are made on the lathe
 
  
 
 

 
 
After drilling the deadeyes the edges are chamfered  upward
 
  
 
 

 
 
Now it´s time to made the chainplates.
The plates have the dimensions of 1 mm x 0,5 mm x 12mm; above an eye and down a long hole 0.5 mm x 1 mm
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
The plates in position
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
The plates are fixed with glue on the deadeyes ready for stropping
 
 

 
 
The stropp for deadeyes is made with a real splice
The rope, made from three strands, will opend and for each strand i use a needle to made the splice.
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
All deadeyes are finish spliced on plates
 
 

 
 
Have fun

I just started with the outer hull ladders, the fenders and the chesstrees.
After I finished that, I with start with the catheads.
And when all goes well, I can start next week with the gunport lids.....
 
But it didnt go well ..............
 
When I counted the lids, I saw I had 4 lids less.........or......................nooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!
Studying the drawings again, I discovered, I prepared too many gunports for lids (poopdeck) :angry: :angry:
Two on each side...
Well, as we say.....**** happens!!
I will have to repare that and hoping it will not be visible...........
I am glad I didnt use the brass strips, and I made these strips of wood. Now I can remove them and repair the gunports........
 
 

Hi mates,
 
So lower mainmast is now completed. Here are some updated pics.
 
Now onto re-building a lower top for the main – need to order some rope from Chuck so shrouds pending.
 
Again – as always - thanks for the comments, the Likes and/or just dropping in for a visit.
 
PS: Nigel your pencil suggestion made such a great diff. Thanks again.
 
Cheers,
 
Michael
 

Thanks for the compliment, much appreciated.  I'm very happy with Chuck's rope and his blocks.  Both are way higher quality than what came with the kit.  In fact, looking back on the build, I ended up ignoring a fair amount of the kit-supplied material.
 
On to the mizzen yard.  This was pre-tapered and the correct length, so I assumed it would be dimensionally correct.  Unfortunately, once I got it mounted and rigged, I thought it looked a little "fat", measured it and discovered it's a little bit oversized from the plans.  Why they bothered to taper it but not make it the correct diameter is beyond me.  The dowel stock for the yards was really messed up in general - various pieces missing, other pieces too short.  I'll live with the slightly oversize mizzen yard - too much trouble to remove it and start over.
 
First, the tie and halliard.  This was a little tricky for me - it was difficult to figure out from the plans and other sources how the tie was attached to the yard.  The kit plans and the museum plans are very cluttered in this area, and I couldn't find good close-ups of the 1:10 model or Clayton's model.  There are clearly two loops around the yard, but only one sheave in the mast, and it wasn't clear how that worked.  Ultimately I ended up hacking something together that looked reasonable.  The tie is supposed to be quite thick - same diameter as the mizzen stay.  
 

  It passes through a sheave in the mast, then down the other side, where it's got an eye to which the tie's block is attached.  From there, the halliards are run down to the aftmost knighthead.
 

 
The parrels were also difficult, again because the plans were too cluttered to make out any detail, and I couldn't find good detail photos.  The book Rigging of Ships in the Days of the Spritsail Topmast was helpful here.  It notes that the mizzen parrels were designed differently from the others because the mizzen yard needed to be maneuvered differently.  It described a layout that looks like the following:
 

 
This seemed to tally with what I could make out of the museum plans and 1:10 model.  Then the book describes the parrel ropes leading around the yard, back through the block at the end, finally being seized together into a loop to which the truss tackle is attached.  All very complex.  When I tried to install the parrel assembly I failed miserably - it just didn't look right.  I ended up starting over and doing the assembly in exactly the same way as the other parrel assemblies, without the extra block at the end.  It looks a little odd because of the angle of the yard, but not too bad.  You can also see the truss tackle and its termination on the deck.
 

 

Technically the clewlines should be snugged up to the yard when the sail isn't bent to the yard, but that raises the tacks and sheets up high and makes them visually distracting, so I left the clewlines down and seized them to a railing.
 

 
Here you see the clew block, sheet block, and the sheet.  The sheet travels in a zig-zag path from a ring bolt on the hull, up to the sheet block, back to a block on the mizzen channel, then up to a kevel bitt, where it's tied off.  I soaked the rope and brushed it with diluted white glue to get it to hang naturally.
 

 
The tack starts from the clew block on one end, travels through the decorative sarcophagus-like sculpture (it has a sheave in it), then up, through the bulwarks and around a kevel bitt.  More soaking and glue to get it to hang naturally.
 

 
And the finished main yard rigging.  None of the lines have been given their final tensioning or been trimmed - that'll happen when the topsail and topgallant yards are done.
 

 
 

The kit supplies the correct 3-row parrel ribs for the mainmast.  They say you should use nine of them but that was way too many for me - I ended up wrapping over half the mast with six.  There isn't a clear "right" way to rig the parrel, so I just made an eye at one end and looped it around the yard, then went back and forth three times , then a fourth and fifth time in the valleys of each rib.  
 

 
The remainder heads toward the deck and terminates in a double block, forming the head of the truss tackle.  The other side is a single block seized to a ring bolt in front of the center of the main mast.
 

 
The lifts were very straightforward, rigged identically to the fore course yard lifts.  The kit plans are for once correct here.
 

 
The lift lines terminate at the bitt just aft of the mainmast.  Here you can see that, plus the halliards and truss tackle.
 

 
Braces were similarly straightforward, although the kit plans appear to be incorrect in the routing.  The museum plans and the 1:10 model both have the running end of the line traveling through a leader block, then over the railing to the nearest kevel bitt.
 

 
And a view of the entire brace.
 

 
Next will be the clewlines, sheets, and tackles.
 

Ferit, and Henry,
 
Henry your mouse looks really great.
 
Thanks for the information. I also had these "forgotten" jpg.s in my files.
 
I will try this technique for the main mast. The two mouse construction pics are from a MSW builder. I apologize, I don't remember who'se log I pulled these from - So I can't say thanks. BUT that seems to be a perfect way to do it. As you said Henry a bit labor intensive but great look.
 
I might redo the foremast mouse if the main comes out nicely. As always mates thanks so much for dropping by to this very very slow moving build.
 

 
 
 
 

First step in installing the sprit topmast was installing the top.  It took me a while to figure out a good way to mount the deadeyes.  The original ship seems to have had topmast deadeyes with iron strops, and iron futtock plates below the top, to which the futtock shrouds were attached.  The kit plans were as usual useless, with no information at all.  It looks from the kit photos like their modeler made a combination futtock shroud and deadeye strop from rigging line, but it's hard to tell.
 
I decided to fabricate combination strops and futtock plates from a single length of thin annealed copper wire, finished in black.  I took the wire through the top, then made a small eyelet at one end for the futtock shroud attachment.  Took a few tries to get it to look decent, but I'm happy with the result. 
 

 
Once the top was mounted, I mounted the topmast, which I had built a while back.  Then, on to the shrouds and ratlines.  The deadeyes are quite close together, but there's room to get everything installed.  I used 0.3mm scale rope for these shrouds, and 0.2mm scale rope for the ratlines.  
 
The futtock shrouds are supposed to terminate on ring bolts mounted to the bowsprit.  I thought that looked too clunky, so I just drilled fine holes through the bowsprit and ran a single shroud down, through, and up the other side.
 
And then the backstays.  The book "Rigging of ships in the Days of the Spritsail Topmast" (a very useful source for me) says that this is where the 17th century rigger really let themselves go wild, and the author is right.  There are three stays, each with an eye in the end, and just like the larger mast stays, looped through the eye and down.  I didn't bother creating a mouse to prevent slippage.  All three end with a single small block.
 

 
Then the crowsfeet, used to distribute the load of the sprit top backstays on the foremast stay.  There are three sets of eight; I ran each set through a 4-hole euphroe tackle that I fabricated.  The ends are seized to the foremast stay with clove hitches.  I needed to be very careful to maintain even tension on them before tying them off.  Here's where it's also important to have put a fair amount of tension on the foremast stay, otherwise it'll pull up when you tension the crowsfeet.
 

 
Almost done.  You can see that one of the euphroes is seized to the end of a running line, and the other two are seized to small single blocks through which the line zigzags, between those blocks and the blocks on the end of the stays.  The far end of the line is seized to the foremast stay.  By carefully adjusting the tension on the running line, you can get the crowsfeet also properly tensioned.
 

 
And the final result.  I over-tensioned the crowsfeet intentionally, then brushed them with very diluted white glue, and then removed the extra tension.  The glue let the lines stay rigid without undue tension on the foremast stay.  All in all I'm pleased with the result.  The kit plans show something similar, but without euphroe tackles, and with fewer crowsfeet.  What I did matches Clayton's model and various period diagrams from l'Art de Batir and the rigging book I mentioned above..
 

 

Hi all,
 
Thanks for the likes.
 
A little progress on the masts, tops and crosstrees:
 
Fore top detailing (I ran out of the walnut strip, but I've got some more on order from Cornwall Model Boats)
 

 
In the meantime I started making up the crosstrees:
 

 

 
I finally managed to drill some passable mast caps by drilling from both sides, and added some detailing to the fore and main masts:
 

 
And the progress so far...
 

 
Having made it through the frustration of making the mast caps (which was a patience-building exercise as I seemed to lack the ability to drill a simple hole no matter how many ways I tried!), it's all going quite well again
 
Happy building
 
Rob

Hi mates,
 
Still with the foremast, added a light Oak stain, then installed the pulleys. Started the mast rope wraps using the technique in last photo.
 
Also starting the foremast top. I had some issues with the bowsprit platform installation (my bad-still learning) this one will be easier. When I get it together I will post some pics as well as what I did wrong with the bowsprit top.
 
Still have not figured out how to properly scale the platform rings. The lower ring should be wider and flatter. Frank has a great tool for making those rings, but I don’t want to buy more tools (;-)
 
So small visual update, thanks for dropping by. 
 
PS: Mast wrapping technique I learned here, of course...
 

I've spent the past three months building the masts.  It's been a complex process, mostly because the instructions are terrible.  I've had to engage in a bunch of detective work to figure out which parts go where, because the layout of the laser cut plywood sheets doesn't match the instructions' layout, and the part list isn't descriptive enough (imagine 20 parts for the mast tops, all described as "top" and you get the idea).  Add to that a bunch of missing parts, as well as various conflicts between instruction diagrams and full scale plan sheets, and the fun just keeps increasing.
 
With that in mind, I started with the bowsprit and worked backward.  There were several false starts and backtrackings along the way, but I'm reasonably happy with the result.
 
Here's the front of the bowsprit, with various fittings attached.
 


  And the rear of the bowsprit.  I added the spiral binding, made of black paper, as well as reinforcing pieces on each side, made from thin veneer steamed into shape.  I couldn't find the kit-supplied cleats so I scratched some up.
 


  Oh wait, I found the cleats!  Turned out they were made of plastic and buried in with a bag of parrel beads.  I liked the shape better, so I removed mine and replaced with the kit's.  Note the gammoning: the plans don't mention that you need a pair of gammoning slots at the bottom of the beak.  The forward slot requires that you thin down the reinforcing pieces above the slot.  A little delicate but doable.  The light makes the spiral binding look purple, but it's black.
 



  And a view of the bowsprit in place.
 

 

Finished.Finally. Well, I finished up by rigging the anchors & finishing the running rigging.Not sure about some of the belaying points but I think it passes the galloping horse test . Sorry I was not a little more descriptive of some of the work but sometimes I get going on something & forget to take pictures.A lot of modifications were made but I think the end result was worth the effort. I would like to thank everyone for looking in & posting all the generous comments & hitting the like button. I will try to put a few more pics in the gallery. Now for the hard part - trying to decide what to build next .
 

 

 

 

 
/Mark
 
 

Hi again. Standing rigging done. Could have used 3 hands to do those crow`s feet. Also no ratlines on the topgallant shrouds. I used the rear-most lower deadeyes for backstays.
 

 

 

 
/Mark

I bought the flags from this german supplier.
http://www.schiffsmodellflaggen.de/english/english.html
Very good quality.

Thank so much for your kind comments,
 
George, Buck, Capt, Steve thanks for being always supportive
 
Frank (Riverboat) whoa your post was such a heartfelt honor. Certainly made my month lol super king of you....
 
Frank (fmodajr) those figurines are a bit much indeed.
 
=================================
 
Speaking of figurines, here is what I had done with the four brass Winged Pegasus, that I purchased from a friend of yours. to be used as the base stand for the ship.
 
Polished
antique highlighted
lacquered
 
Cheers,
 
Michael

Hi Mates,
 
Thanks for your kind remarks, and likes.
 
Follow up to trying to splice together two dowels for the bowsprit mast.
 
After making a pattern for the cutouts first used a ¼” Dremel sanding band, then one of those sculpturing bits, followed by and end mill bit, and lastly a small file.
 
My first use of the Proxxon lathe was comfortable.
 
The light dowel was then stained a bit, as it seemed too white.
 
Now onto adding the tip vertical masts, platforms needed blocks, metal strips to wrap the two pieces.
 
Regards,
 
Michael

The stern lantern was tricky.  The plans have almost no advice (and conflicting photographs!), and neither the original ship nor the 1:10 model have a lantern.  So I made something up.  Six sides, the frames shaped with a little detail to make them interesting.  The top and bottom are turned brass.  I primed the pieces and painted them an antique gold.  The kit is supposed to provide clear acetate but I couldn't find any so I used some from a clear presentation cover.  I really wanted to put plastic screening behind the "windows" to simulate window panes, but I couldn't attach the screening to the acetate without making a blotchy mess.  Scribing lines on the acetate didn't work either - the ink kept smearing - so I left them clear.  The result isn't too bad; I'm going to live with it for a bit and see if I get any ideas to improve it.
 

 

 
Forward of the lantern is the flag pole.  This was fairly straightforward.  It wasn't clear from the plans what dowel stock to use, and I didn't want to accidentally use some that was intended for masts or yards, so I took a wooden skewer and tapered it until it looked right.  I attached it to the spar behind and then simulated some iron straps with black paper.
 

 
And now the hull's done!  Here are some photos of the result.
 

 

 
Now I need to go off and think about masts for a while.  The plans are pretty sketchy here, and in the absence of Vasa II, I'm going to need to look at as many photos as I can before proceeding.
 
 
 

Please check the entry for the "Wasa" from Billing Boats, the nation is Swedish not Swiss.

Update - still working on the masts. All the platforms & cross trees are built. Now all I have to do is put all the masts together. The mast caps provided in the kit were English style square caps so I made my own rounded caps out of basswood & then stained everything to sort of match a little better. The iron straps holding the mast sections to the caps were made from copper strips & painted black. The pulleys on the sides of the masts are just short pieces of dowel - I did not bother to groove them as they will not be seen after the ropes going through them are in place. Foremast assembled - only 2 more masts & the bowsprit to go.
 

 

 

 

 
/Mark

I added the blocks to the bottom rear of the sail and pre-rigged some more lines.
 


 
Here are some pictures of the yard and sail mounted onto the mainmast. Remember, a lot of the pre rigged lines will stay loose and unfinished until later in the rigging process.
 




 
Yard attached to the mast
 

 
Lifting lines finished to deck


 
Front of mizzen sail attached to deck
 

 
Now I am starting to work on adding the lower main mast shrouds and ratlines.
 
Thanks,
Frank
 

Hello!
Thanks for all the "likes" 
 
I just returned from a great week of fishing down in the Florida Keys and I finally was able to get back to work on the shrouds and ratlines!
 
I made some spacers out of metal wire in order to try to keep my deadeye spacing consistent.
 


 
Finished the lower mizzenmast shrouds and tackle.
 


 
With ratlines installed
 

 
Now I added the Lower Mizzen Stay.
 


 
View of lower mizzen ratlines and stay
 

 
Working on the mizzen upper ratlines
 


 
Mizzen topmast sail almost finished with "pre-rigging" and ready to mount on mast soon
 

 
Thanks,
Frank