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cdrusn89

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Everything posted by cdrusn89

  1. cdrusn89
    While trying to build a gauge for locating the deadeyes for the main lower shrouds I encountered some difficulties. According to the plans it is just under 12mm between center holes of the deadeyes. However, I am using somewhat bigger deadeyes than are shown in the plans and if I use two deadeye widths as the gauge for the nominal distance (although I have seen both two and three suggested in various books) the distance is close to 18mm. 12mm is clearly too close for this size deadeye so I am going to build my gauge (as suggested by Srodbro in a previous response on this blog) using 18mm as the nominal spacing. Hopefully this increase will not have unforeseen consequences later.
  2. cdrusn89
    I have reviewed most of the Niagara build logs (at least the ones labeled "FINISHED") and have not found a consistent methodology for getting the rigging completed. My experience (and this is largely confined to two masted fishing schooners not square riggers) is the getting the belying pin racks populated after the shrouds are completed and the ratlines hung is a major problem (at least for me). Too many things in the way of getting you tweezers (regardless of shape and size) where they need to be. So my plan is to only rig the forward and after lower shrouds after the main mast are is raised. Once most of the running rigging (especially that which belays at the pin racks behind the shrouds (which is everything that does not go to a fife rail pretty much) I will rig the rest of the lower shrouds and back stays. Then the ratlines. We will see if the pain of doing the ratlines with the running rigging behind the shrouds is worth it. I am planning on working from aft forward, following a similar methodology except that the standing rigging between the masts will be done before the running rigging and shrouds/ratlines. Bowsprit will be last. Does this make any sense???
  3. cdrusn89
    Space Saver
  4. cdrusn89
    I got the Royal Clew Lines belayed at the sheer poles and moved the main Mast assembly to the hull. Before I set the mast I hooked the tackles for the Course Yard lift to the eyebolts inside the fife rail - one less thing to try and fit in with the mast coat in the way. Once I had the mast in place I checked the rake using the file folder template I made from the plans. As best I can tell it is pretty close and I made the tendon on the mast a pretty snug fit fore and aft so if the mast notch in the center bulkhead was at the correct angle then so is the mast. Then I used my laser level to check the mast and course yard for straight and square. As the pictures show it looks pretty good. At this point the mast is being support side to side by the forward shroud on each side clamped to the forward deadeye. I am tempted to pour CA all over the base of the mast and call it done but that would be very difficult to undo later if required.
  5. cdrusn89
    Working on cleaning things up and tying things down that can be tied down now. Finished belaying the Top Sail Reef Tackle and used a few of the rope coils left over from the guns. Wanted to get the mast coat for the main done so I don't forget to include that when I put the mast onboard. I looked through some of the other Niagara logs and think they were generally painted flat black (simulating tar I assume) so I did also. Here is a look at the maintop with the Top Sail reef tackle and Top Gallant halyard in the center. Although difficult to see the Royal Halyard is secured to the sheer pole on the port side with a coil of rope hung from the pole. Am working now to get the Royal clew lines secured to the sheer poles as well. When that is done and the mast coat paint is dry we are headed to the hull.
  6. cdrusn89
    Spent the rest of the day adding more lines to the main Mast: Course yard lifts, clews, four buntlines and two leech lines and a Royal clew I somehow forgot. Except or terminating some of the lines with blocks (Course yard lift, Top Sail halyard to name two (actually four, two each) that come to mind) I think the Main mast is almost complete "off the hull". I have to move it "on the hull" or make another mast holder so I think I will move it to the hull when the block terminations are done and I have checked for missing lines one more time. It will be interesting to see the mast finally "on the hull", hopefully tomorrow.
  7. cdrusn89
    Moving right along now that the Royal yard is mounted. Got the course yard installed and the halyards (one on each side) and the truss/sling lanyard wove. Top Sail clew lines added and Top Sail Reef tackle added but not "belayed to itself". I am waiting to complete most of the lines that can be installed here before belaying these as there are more than a few lines which influence the "tilt" of the Top Sail yard. More clew and bunt lines to run for course yard next. Then a final run through to see what I've missed than can be done with the mast off the ship.
  8. cdrusn89
    Royal Yard back in place. Now have three yards, the hard one remains. I added clew and bunt line to the Top Gallant and Top Sail yards although they are knotted off at the fairlead or block since there are n o sails. I debated for sometime whether or not to include the blocks and lines for these. I am putting a piece of tape on the end of each line with the pin number where it belays. I also now have the first complete piece of running rigging. The Top Gallant halyard and tackle are now "DONE". I am going to finish the Royal halyard too before I start on the course yard.
  9. cdrusn89
    Since I had to redo the Main Royal yard a bit after yesterday's "incident" I took the opportunity to make the fixed lift exactly the correct length. Originally I had just sort of guessed at it when I was outfitting the yard. I am working on the parrel now and will have this in place today. Then on to the Main Course".
  10. cdrusn89
    Tragedy strikes on the first day of year two of my Niagara build. While tensioning the TG yard halyard the TG mast broke at sheave (aka hole) where the halyard passes through the mast. Must have been a weak point in the wood - I was not pulling that hard. Anyway I was too distraught to take any pictures. Since the TG masts are the same both Main and Fore, I got the Fore one and was able - so far - to get it in place. I will have to adjust the TG shrouds and remount the Royal and TG yards but I think the real issue I making another TG mast. I am not sure I have the right size yellow cedar (all the masts were made from square section yellow cedar left). Once I get the main mast back where I was I will have to take a look. So here is the Main Mast with the Top Gallant and Top Sail yards in place. The Royal yard is going to need some additional repairs before it can go back on the mast. Nothing a few hours at the workbench won't fix but that delays the Course yard and building the new Fore Top Gallant mast a bit more.
  11. cdrusn89
    So today was the first yard arm day. I got the Royal and Top Gallant yards mounted on the main mast. Here are the two yards as installed. The lines running from the Royal yard are the brace lines - probably could have left those off (similar to the Royal back stays). Another for the "lessons learned" file.
  12. cdrusn89
    It is amazing what you can find out when you actually "READ the MANUAL" as I just did for my Canon EOS 60D. Turns out fixing the depth of field issues was not that hard. Just need to know how to control the lens aperture - which now I do. So here is a picture of the aft TG shroud going behind the sheer pole and secured to the Top Mast shroud. Yea, I need to clean up the glue residue. Considering using "India Ink" to attempt to darken/dull the line. The 50/50 water/white glue mix and the CA can make it appear shiny or lighter than it should.
  13. cdrusn89
    On to the Top Gallant mast. Sandwiched the mast into the hole on the upper top and just as with the Top Mast there was not enough room with the stays passing through so I decided on the Fore Mast I will put a place holder for the Top Gallant mast on place before I rig the stays. Maybe there is a way to route them around the mast rather than through where the mast should be. So I got the sanding sticks out and put a taper on both side of the bottom 1/2" of the Top Gallant mast so it would wedge itself into the space provided. I drilled holes (or actually redrilled the holes that I put there in the mast top assembly process - they got filled with paint) in the spreaders for the Top Gallant shrouds. I ran the shrouds through the holes and put a 2oz weight on each one and left them while I ate lunch. When I came back I put a spot of m edium CA where each shroud met the spreader and then took a nap. That fixed the shrouds above the spreaders. I put the small sheer pole at the very top of the Top mast Shrouds, just below the lower block entrained between the first two shrouds. The plans say the TG shroud goes around the pole and then is tied off to the Top Mast shrouds. There is not enough room and the loop around the pole IMHO would look really out of scale. So as a compromise I ran the shroud behind the pole and then tied it off along the Top Mast shroud. A picture would be worth a thousand words but I am having a hard time getting a good. I just got the Canon EOS 60D for Dummies book. Hopefully I can figure out what I am doing wrong. Anyway I got the TG shrouds tied off, the TG sheer poles and the ratlines done on both sides. I guess it will be time to start mounting yard arms tomorrow!
  14. cdrusn89
    The hull was feeling neglected since I have been working on the masts so I put five coats of Wipe-on-Poly gloss on the display base and moved tom hull from the Amati holder to the display base. Once I get ready to work on the hull again I am going to cover the base in wrapping paper to keep from messing it up while doing the final rigging and such.
  15. cdrusn89
    Steve, Sorry I forgot that using the tab key (at least in IOS 12) is the same as "Return". Anyway, thanks for the tip. I will certainly try this when I get to that point. I was able to get both sides of the Main Top Mast shroud ratlines completed using the overhand knot method. Because the overhand knot is not as secure (in MHO) you have to be more careful about moving the shrouds out of alignment pulling on the ratlines. I had to redo several of the every third ones as I got to them. I am not yet convinced this is easier in the long run. However, the lower shrouds will be my first experience with more than four shrouds (as the top mast was my first experience with more than three - I was a schooner kit builder (Smuggler, Bluenose, Pride of Baltimore and Benjamin Latham) before Niagara. So now on to the Top Gallant mast and since there is not much to do there (one stay and the Top Gallant Back Stays - I will leave the Royal Stay and Royal Back Stays until later as there is nothing to be gained by rigging them now (aka, nothing in the way later). I did notice that there seems to be a divergence between the fwd and aft set of shrouds (on both sides). Because of the two blocks between the first and second shrouds, the point where they diverge to their respective deadeyes is lower than it would be absent the blocks. I intentionally moved the junction of the aft pair to be approximately where the fwd set was. However, this did not eliminate the divergence (just lessened it somewhat I think). Because I took the pictures below from in front of the mast the division is not distinct in the photos. I will get a better shot tomorrow when I have the Top Gallant ratlines done (hopefully).
  16. cdrusn89
    Steve,
  17. cdrusn89
    In my previous builds I struggled with ratlines using the recommended (at least it was recommenced in the places I looked) clove hitches. I could never seem to consistently get the tension between the stays correct. Frank Mastini ("Ship Modeling Simplified") suggests using overhand knots instead of clove hitches. He contends that clove hitches look out of scale and are hard to tie. So this time I am using overhand knots. It took we a few sets to get them consistently tied correctly and it is easier to get the inter-shroud spacing correct. I decided to first do every third ratline and built a wooden stick three times the plan recommended 7/32" between ratlines (a scale 14"). My plan is to do every third one on one side and hit them with the 50/50 glue/water then do the every third one on the other side and return to the first side to finish. The glue should have set up enough to help keep from squeezing the shrouds together. Here is the port side with every third ratline rigged and glued but not trimmed.
  18. cdrusn89
    With one set of shrouds done it is time to start thinking about ratlines. Both sets of upper shrouds will have the ratlines rigged before the yards are attached so I looked to see what I had to use for ratlines. On previous models I have used black .005" thread from Bliuejackets but for Niagara decided to go with tan. I have seen it done both ways and am not sure what is "correct" but I am the Captain so... Anyway, Bluejackets also sells their .005 linen thread in white, and it is really light - lighter than I want to use here so after some searching around I found some Minwax Fruitwood wood stain that I put onto a sponge and then ran the nearly white line through by pressing it into the sponge with my finger. Here is how it looks before on the spool from Bluejackets and after rolled onto a toilet paper tube. Not the tan from Syren but not white either.
  19. cdrusn89
    After the little debacle with two of the Top Mast deadeyes I finally got things straightened out (at least to my satisfaction which is getting somewhat low as I approach the one year anniversary of this build in a few more days (June 6th). So, I got the lanyards rigged on both sides and can now move on to the Top Gallant mast at then the yards. I have given the process going forward some thought and now think perhaps I will not mount the course yard before the mast is stepped. Since the lower shrouds and ratlines are going to have to be done after the mast is stepped I think the course yard will be too tempting a target for errant tools, arms, fingers while those tasks are being accomplished. I may change my mind as I get closer to having to make that decision but for now I think I will wait to install the course yard until after the lower shrouds and ratlines are done. So herfe are the shots of the Main Top Mast lanyards. My spacing jig worked except in one case where the deadeye was not down far enough. I am not sure what happened on that one but I was glad I had not permanently glued the deadeye to the shroud.
  20. cdrusn89
    One step forward and one step back. While working on the Top Mast shroud lanyards it became obvious that the blackened copper wire I mused to strop the deadeyes is too small (at least on some of them) because when I tried to tension the lanyard the wire strop on the deadeye started to "unwind". When I put the deadeyes in to main (and fore) top I took the easy way out and did solder or otherwise join the wire into a continuous loop (of sorts). I left a small gap in the wire just below where the strop passes through the top to form the eye on the bottom for the futtock shrouds. When I tension the lanyard, the deadeye starts to rotate (to the left) and bend the strop up away from the top. This has happened twice out of three lanyards. I have tried soldering the blacked (actually it is painted) copper wire without success. I have some phosphor bronze wire (.020") which I tried to use but it was too stiff. I annealed some (heated to red hot then let cool) and made what I think is a better strop which IS soldered together at the bottom although my first attempt I did not get the "eye" at the bottom closed completely. I have another piece of wire that has been annealed and is being chemically blackened for my next attempt. So here is the one lanyard that is done and my first attempt at a new deadeye strop.
  21. cdrusn89
    While trying to rig the deadeyes on the top mast I discovered that I really needed some way to hold the upper deadeye while I get the shroud configured to the correct length (and still keep the deadeye in the correct orientation (i.e. center hole at the top). I have tried several ways to do this but none have proved satisfactory. Since this model has 16 Top Mast deadeyes that need to be rigged (not to mention 28 lower shrouds/backstay) I thought it time to give it another try. In Frank Mastini's "Ship Modeling Simplified" he uses a "U" shaped wire between the center holes. The center holes stays on the top due to the tension in the shroud. I tried without much success. Its probably just me, old hands, losing dexterity, etc. So I took that idea to the extreme and built a jig with three "U"s soldered together. I took a couple of tries to get the spacing correct and to get the wires cut to the correct length - the three wires at each end are different lengths to make it easier to get them into the deadeye. Don't ask me how I know this. Anyway here is a picture of the jig holding a deadeye while the shroud is attached. I guess the proof is when I rig the lanyards and the deadeyes all come out in a horizontal line. Maybe tomorrow. Or the next day.
  22. cdrusn89
    Once I had the Top Mast shrouds in place I noticed that the blocks that are part of the fwd set did not fall in the same place on both sides. Further investigation (after removing all the Top Mast standing rigging) showed a fairly significant difference in distance from the center of the port shroud to the first block compared to the stbd side. I decided to redo both the forward sets to make them more identical than they are at this point. Not sure how I missed this when I made the shrouds but I did. Checked the fwd set and they are much better.
  23. cdrusn89
    So, with the lower mast as complete as I can get it for now, I moved on to the Main Top Mast. Two pairs of shrouds on each side (total four shrouds per side) plus two Top Mast Back Stays per side makes things pretty crowded. Add in the Spring and Top Mast Stay and you have a real crowd. I assembled the Top Mast apart from the lower mast and then moved it over. It looks like a real mess but I think everything is accounted for. To get the Top Mast to fit in the hole in the Main Top, I had to taper the lower part of the Top Mast. If you look closely you can where the paint is missing at the bottom of the top mast. I will have to do something similar for the Top Gallant mast. I am not sure there is any wood-to-wood contact between the top mast and the lower top. Once all the shrouds are connected it probably won't make much difference although getting the masts aligned correctly and glued that way would be nice before I try and pull them out of alignment by tensioning the shrouds and stays when the masts are mounted onboard.
  24. cdrusn89
    I got the new Main Preventer Stay completed and installed and then got the Course Yard Sling on. I am not sure whether the Course Yard Sling goes above the Stays (which have a chock to position them) or under them. For now it is under, atop the shrouds. I collected the futtock shrouds on each side and put a single clip on each set. As promised here are two shots of the main Mast in the Jig with all the lower "items" set in place.
  25. cdrusn89
    Rick - I am interested. How about $240 (US) total including shipping? Gary Howarth Rockledge, Florida

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