PierreJean

,

As the title of this thread is "Nautical Fiction Writers" I feel that this is on topic (just).  I've read POB, Stockwin, Reeman, all the authors mentioned in the previous posts.  They all have their good as well as bad points.  It's a matter of taste which you prefer.

Two much more recent nautical books were written by the Dutch writer Jan de Hartog.  The one is entitled "Captain" and details the life of a salvage tug during WW2.  I found it brilliant, here is a review that I found on Amazon:

" It’s an incredible chronicle of a converted tugboat used to rescue sailors from sunken convoy ships in the North Atlantic in World War II.

More important, it is the story of a man’s growth from innocence to fear to terror to cowardice to finally conscience and understanding of the inhumanity of the wanton, mass destruction of human life in modern warfare. The Captain presents a convincing argument for conscientious objection to war."

The other book loosely connected, is called (here I'm having a senior moment)  something Jim (can look it up on Google) but I haven't read that one.

de Hartog wrote a number of other books (not nautical), all worth reading.  I think he is a much overlooked writer.

Regards

Pierre

Have now read most of the book and the contents are truly fascinating.  The only downside for me is the very bad editing of the book, the change to electronic format has not been well done. I found it was quite an effort in places to work out what was a footnote or the beginning of a chapter etc..

Still am enjoying the contents.

Pierre

Thank you for the link - have downloaded and look forward to reading it!!

Pierre

I found one of the most  useful "tools" for rigging is  a needle threader . I bought about 4 at my local haberdashery and found them invaluable for threading lines through 2mm blocks. I made one longer by soft soldering the thin wire to an extension so I could reach hard to get at blocks. I made something similar to a crochet hook using a thin wire with a small hook at the end, the other end epoxied into a small piece of dowel.

Pierre

SpencerC

I salute you Sir! Every one of your posts has caused me much amusement!

Please keep posting - I love to see how the dark side lives!

Best Regards

Pierre

Sorry but this sounds really weird - I've mixed cyano glue with paint as an experiment and it turned out as a failure. Try it yourself and let us know - you might have better results!

Pierre!

Very ingenious.....thanks for sharing! It's certainly given me some ideas.

Pierre

Absolutely AMAZING!!  Seems like witchcraft to me, but really inspirational to me.  Having dabbled in 2D I know how much time you  must have spent on your project!

Best

Pierre

Hi Bob

 This should be a fascinating project which I will follow with interest.  A lot of people are fascinated by tugs - I spent 30 years on them!

Attached is a 1970s pic of the tugs I started on in CapeTown - there were four, all steam powered, two were coal burners and two were oil fired.  The last one was only scrapped around 1998 (I think).

Like you I've made models of tugs and IOMs but lately the "dark side"of static models has grabbed me.

 Pierre

Oops

Cant seem to attach files

Pierre

Hi

Quite a while ago I built this "freestyle"cutter to no particular plan but some rather sketchy drawings on scrap pieces of paper. It is 1.4 meters overall from stern to bowsprit.

Irun it on a six channel transmitter, though I only really use three channels - one for rudder, one for the sail winch and a third for the emergency motor (fwd only) in case I'm becalmed in the middle of the pond. That has happened occasionally.

I'm still learning how to attach files but I hope that the second picture shows the sail winch working on a "closed loop"system. The mainsail sheet is attached to one end of the loop and the jib sheet on the other.  

I did experiment with a second winch to control the flying jibs but found that that was more trouble than it was worth. They now are both on loose sheets and they move over the forestay by wind power.

There is a lot of good information to be found on another forum: www.modelboatmayhem.com.

Hope this helps.

Pierre

Aaaargh, looking at this beautiful work, I realise that I am just a dilettante!  I doubt that my work will ever equal this and other great build logs on this site.

Bit dispiriting really.

Wonderful work Steve.

Regards

Pierre

Thats brilliant - I've made a note of that, I need to make a couple of nameplates!

To Edward and DFellingham - thanks guys, one can always get an answer on this forum!

Pierre

Hi All

I am rigging the Caldercraft Model of HMB endeavour. I have reached the futtock shrouds but my plans are a little ambiguous about the metal bar the shrouds are attached to.  Is the bar on the outside of the lower shrouds (the seaward side) or the inside (the mast side)? Studying the forces involved seems to indicate inside the main shrouds would be logical, but I would like to be sure.

TIA

Pierre