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bcochran

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Everything posted by bcochran

  1. bcochran
    I am most likely going to disappoint some people, but I have to put my Cutty Sark on hold. The reason is that I had major spinal surgery. I was in the hospital for four days and am home now recovering. To continue to rig my ship while I recover isn't possible because it would involve movements that I am not permitted to do, such as bending and twisting. . In the meantime, I will be building Pyro's Robt. E. Lee steamboat. It is just like the one I pictured here. That one was in process over 10 years ago. I stopped because I could not paint the lettering on the paddle wheelhouses. Practicing on the model I pictured her, I developed a method to do it. So for the time I am healing, I will build the steamboat. If anyone would like to follow along with me, I could start a build log I have a complete set of the old plans for this boat, but I can't follow exactly. Those plans are for a different boat. There were three Robt. E. Lees built. The first was broken up to build the second one using parts from the first. I have a hunch those plans are of the second Lee. Ir is much fancier than this model. But some parts are similar. There is a build log online using those plans. That boat is scratch built and is in 1/48 scale. I have those detailed plans along with "The Western Rivers Steamboat Cyclopedium" by Alan L. Baits. So if I start a build log on the steamboat, people can glean some ideas and learn from my reference material which I can photograph. I have seen other build logs of this plastic steamboat model, and I think the builder did not have much research material. So if anyone wants a build log of my steam boat, let me know. I promise, I am not giving up on the Cutty Sark. I have only the rigging to complete, and I want to complete it.
  2. bcochran
    I hope to come home from the hospital today. I have been here 4 days. It is painful to walk or move. I will be back working on my ship but I don’t when yet.
  3. bcochran
    A little confession. While putting my Cutty Sark on hold, I put a little time in on this Robert E Lee steamboat. I think about my comimg operation and didn't want to screw up the ship's rigging.
  4. bcochran
    Hi folks, I am waiting until after my upcoming operation to resume my build log. A week from now I will be in recovery, so some days after that I will be back.
  5. bcochran
    I usually don't work on models over the weekend in the summer. My wife and dog and I spend summers here at the beach whenever the weather and tides are right. It is just a short drive from our house. I could never live inland. I love the sea and not being land locked. We will be there tomorrow. Low tide is at 12:05 PM and air temp is 80F.
  6. bcochran
    I removed the cheeks from the fore topmast. I am going with Campbell and will be adding the eyelets he shows.
  7. bcochran
    Campbell agrees with that.
  8. bcochran
    My guess is that the masts and parts were changed over time. The masts were shortened as were the yards and the stunsail booms were removed. Quite possibly the trestle trees were changed also. I'll never know. Underhill and Campbell and Longridge are all different. There is no room for Campbell's eyelets under the trestle tree with cheeks there.
  9. bcochran
    I think I see another conflict between Revell and Campbell. Revell has cheeks under the topmast trestle trees like the lower tops. Both Campbell and Longridge do not have cheeks there. Also, Revell's trestle trees have bits of plastic where there should be open space between the spreaders and cross trees. I think that these should be removed. Anyone agree?
  10. bcochran
    That would make sense. Whether the lines were there or not, the padeyes and rollers would be. Cutty Sark sat at Sidney harbor for 3 months at times waiting for thr wool to arrive, Which makes me wonder why the hurry to get there to wait. It's like when I was in the army, hurry up and wait.
  11. bcochran
    I have been working on the fore mast. I am adding eyelets and deadeyes per Campbell. I am not sure which ones to add and which to not because I am doing a harbor rig, not sailing rig. Meaning, I won't be adding all the sail handling lines. As I go, I have to research everything, having no experience in rigging a ship.
  12. bcochran
    Thank you, Shipman.
  13. bcochran
    Thanks. I have a messed up spine per the doctor. Pinched nerves are causing pain in my legs. He will remove bits of my spine to free up the nerves.
  14. bcochran
    I finally completed the molding around the base of the deck houses. I have been putting it off. That completes the building of the main body of the ship except for the navigation lights. I am waiting to rig the deadeyes near where they go to mount them. I have been studying the rigging. I want to detail the masts off the ship, which is what I am currently working on. In doing that, I want to replace the plastic "eyes" on the tops with metal eyelets, but I am not sure where to put them. I need to understand the rigging that attaches to them before I can understand where they should be placed. I don't think duplicating Revell's placement is accurate enough.
  15. bcochran
    Today I learned that I will have back surgery on the 20th of this month. I will be more, or less, chair bound for a long while. I hope to use that time to rig my ship. So I will return for sure.
  16. bcochran
    I need to put my ship building on hold for a while. I have some jobs to get done around the house. I will be back soon.
  17. bcochran
    I found these instructions online which show how an anchor davit should be modeled.
  18. bcochran
    Campbell does show a fish-tackle. I suppose it is up to the modeler to add it or not.
  19. bcochran
    Thanks guys, I value your opinion.
  20. bcochran
    My first attempt at futtock shrouds. Not perfect, but useable. As Shipman says, eventually you won't notice them. When the lower shrouds are there, you'll hardly see them. Per Longridge the deadeyes should be closer to the edge of the top, but two holes were already there, so I used them. I have to remove the slight bends in the wires. They are soft metal. The masts are not stepped yet. I may go as far as attaching the yards before I glue the masts to the deck. My plan is to detail the masts and yards, then attach the yards to the masts, step the masts then complete the standing rigging. It is kind of pleasant not working around the fragile parts of the ship for a while.
  21. bcochran
    I got these strops and 2.5 mm deadeyes from HisModel. I will blacken them with a sharpie pen. There will be black wire futtock shrouds going from the bottom of the strop to holes drilled into the mast. These will also be used on the pin rails on deck for the back stays. Wire from the strop will be glued to a hole in the water way.
  22. bcochran
    Here is a good explanation of how an anchor was brought on deck using a fish-tackle. Cutty Sark may not have had a fish tackle since per Campbell it had a portable anchor davit. This explanation is from a book "Ship Models How to Build Them", by Charles G. Davis about building a model of the Sea Witch, built in New York in 1846. Cutty Sark was built more than 20 years later in 1869.
  23. bcochran
    Here is something odd I found. I am reading about the standing rigging. Hackney says, "the first rope over the fore topmast head is the fish tackle". Then he goes on to describe how to install it. I did not know what a fish tackle is. I looked it up in Ubderhill's book. He calls it the fish-tackle-burton or fish-tackle-pendant or fore-topmast-burton. He says, the fish tackle burton is used in all ships not provided with anchor cranes or davits. The purpose of the burton is to carry the fish-tackle used for getting the anchors over the bows for stowing on deck or putting them over when approching land. Campbell's plans show a "portable anchor davit." Underhill says in two pages before the above quote, "No mention has been made of tackle or burton-pendants on the lower mast, for they were obsolete before the period covered by this book." So my verdict is Hackney is wrong! Cutty Sark had a portable anchor davit, and fish-tackle were obsolete by 1869. Again it is up to you to decide. But it takes researching a bunch of references to get there! Not only is building the model a bit of a struggle, so is understanding the rigging. The reference books I have are pretty complete as far as information goes, but I must take a bit from here and a bit from there to understand it all.
  24. bcochran
    I am using Amati thread I got from HisModel. Thanks for the kind words. One of my favorite movies is "A League of Their Own". It is about the women's professional baseball league here in the U.S. during WWII. The lead woman wants to quit playing because she says it's too hard. The coach says, "It's supposed to be hard, if it wasn't hard, everybody would be doing it."
  25. bcochran
    Bowsprit and jib boom are rigged. Now I can get on to the rest of the standing rigging, deadeyes, shrouds, masts and stays.

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