Padeen

Hi Ulises,
Is it so much bigger than the Vasa?
 
I'll be happy to follow your build, le Royal Louis is one ship from my favourite period of history.
 
Enjoy your build!

18/03/2012
Well, I've not opened a bottle yet: maybe when I will have a case done for Le Camaret... And as I don't have a clear idea on how to rig the legs yet, I leave that for when I have a chance to go back to the seacoast (Remark 2013: not done yet...) and I give you a few more shots of my now finished model:



 



 

 
---

(Remark 2013: more pics in the completed model gallery...)
 
24/02/2013
She does not have a case yet but she is now at my parents', having survived a three-hour train trip in an overcrowded wagon last Christmas with only one wound: a ring connecting the "upper gaff?" to the upper part of the mast broke. It was easily repaired with a new brass ring and she now stands proudly in my parents' bedroom waiting for me to come back and fetch her!

11/02/2012 Well, well, well... finally some progress on Le Camaret: we are close to completion.     I finished the forth and last sail    , the anchor buoy (not sure if it is supposed to look like this but why not?...) and two lines of lobster pots with their flag buoys. I also made two buoys (the pink ones) that could be used if the boat was to moor along the quay.   To make the flag buoys, I used two blocks of wood were I drilled two holes and then inserted and glued a toothpick. The flag is paper and the colours are acrylics.  The mooring buoys were made from the cork of a Champagne bottle (I finally found a reason why I was right to keep these corks    ) and painted with acrylics.  The buoys were all marked with the boat number, which I thought appropriate.   Just the legs to try and we can fly! 

13/12/2011
Well, 
I finally got to complete the main sail!     
It was rather easy to fit directly on the model: I started by the upper end of the gaff, then all the way down the gaff with lacing (as per one of the options described in Zu Mondfeld's book):

 
... and then with the five mast rings (I tried with brass wire first but it was a pain so rope it is!   ):


 
I'm currently attaching the lower part to the boom.

 
I also corrected my jib mistake by having the sheet go over the stay. I can now change tack properly:

 
And I tried a small improvement on the rudder by cutting the nails shorter. I find it much better and that's a good thing as I don't have the nerves to unmount it and do rivets instead: that will be for Fly! 

 
Oh, and here is a better view of the flag:

01/11/2011
Wow! I can't believe it has been nearly a month since my last posting here... 
I still did not tried anything on the rudder as I have to buy tools and copper nails (thanks for the lecture on riveting, gentlemen, this video does make it look easy! (Remark 2013: I don't have the link to the video anymore and don't remember who posted it...)).
 
I did progress on the built, nevertheless.
After some colouring experiments (Remark 2013: originally posted in the sails & rigging tips... I reproduce those tests here:
--- sails colouring
I wanted to have my fishing cutter sails coloured in a brownish red.
I first tried to stain a piece of the kit sail cloth with tea but it resulted in a very light
ochre. There were two problems (as Sailcat helped me understand): the sail cloth had not been washed prior to dying which meant that there might be some chemicals remaining on the fabric that prevented the tea to fix on it; second my tea brew was probably not concentrated enough...
Ulises Victoria also suggested using fabric specific dyes which I did not try but that Uinsin used with success for his model of Le Camaret.
 
Here are the experiments I did:
In the first pic, we have (from left to right) one square of plain fabric, one with ink only, one with a light brew of Darjeeling tea and one with both tea
and ink. There was not enough ink to colour much the fabric but it did left some deeply coloured spots on defects, so I discarded the ink.

 
In the second picture, I tried a strong brew of Earl Grey tea (left) and a strong one of Darjeeling (right). This last one is not as red as I would have liked but it looks good and it is the one I chose for Le Camaret.

 
In the third and last pic, I tried to mix some red paint with Earl Grey tea (left) : the resulting colour is far too deep to my liking.

 

---)
 
So, after those colouring experiments, I finally started with the sails. They took a bath in a strong brew of Darjeeling tea before being ironed and sewn. There are four of them and the jib is already set:


 
I also made the flag: I used a black Faber Castell artist pen on a paper intended for Chinese calligraphy.

You did not model a scale pencil, did you? I had not seen this version of the cutter yet but I am truely amazed!
Keep on the good work, Michael!

Nearly there!  Had a good day for work at the museum last Monday (been away since then so unable to post) and have now come close to having the 'Pritt' completed.  Just have to do the sidelights, which I had hoped to have complete for next Monday, but things aren't looking good at the moment.
 
My first job last week was to trim off the fag ends from the ratline lashings.  As I started trimming I thought to myself, "Better be careful here, or you'll cut the topmast shroud".  Next snip and I cut the topmast shroud!   It was an interesting exercise to extract the cut shroud from the masthead and splice a new one in place again, but it was soon done.
 
Here's a photo of the dreaded cut shroud plus some photos of the model as it looks at the moment.
 
John
 
 
 

After several weeks away from the museum, I was finally able to get back there yesterday and get a bit more work done on the 'Pritt'.
 
I was able to get the anchor cable fitted (yes, her cable was common link chain - not stud link); lash the lifebuoys up in the mizzen rigging, and get quite a few of the iron bar ratlines rigged.  The bars take a lot longer to rig than ordinary rope ratlines as they have to be lashed to each shroud - a time consuming task.
 
So now I only have to finish lashing on the ratlines- and clean them up and paint them and finish the sidelights and fit them, plus a bit of detail clean up work, and she's done!
 
I'm reckoning on another couple of visits to the museum - interruptions allowing - to finish her off.
 
John
 
An overall view of the 'Pritt' as she is at the moment

 
 
The port quarter showing lifebuoys lashed up in the rigging pearler style - I'm not sure how quickly they could actually get one of these over the side if someone was silly enough to go over the wall!

 
The mainmast showing metal bar ratlines as far as they've got.  A lot of cleaning up still to do here.

 
The anchor and cable.  It took me ages to get the chain to look as though it had just been dumped onto the deck.

Hello fellow ship modelers. Here's some good and bad news.
 
I wanted to post an update when the whole transom was completely done. I have completed only the rear part, (not the sides) as you will see in the following pictures. The sides, the area where I posted before that the parts broke and cursed and blah blah blah, will have to be finished later.
I am still thinking of ways to do that area. So many options, so little... whatever
 
My sister, who is totally dependent upon me because her diabetic feet and other illness,  and lives with me, broke her hip, had to undergo surgery and today is being moved to my home.
So my building time and mood will be severely undermined for some time in the future.
So I decided to post what I have done so far.
 
As always, thanks for visiting, and every single word of positive criticism will be taken in account. 
 
I love you guys!!!
 
This area had to be filled

 
I used play doh to make a mold. then I moved the parts a bit downwards. I then filled the space with "Plastiacero" (Plasi-steel) which is a two part epoxy component with a metal charge that hardens very hard.

 
Here the two parts with the extension added and filed, and partially painted. Also the upper curved part partially painted

 

 
The upper part glued in place. The white wood parts you see are fillers which will be reworked later

 

 

 
Here the 2 vertical sections have been glued. You can see at the right the black spot plastiacero left. I used plastiacero to bond metal to metal, and 5 min epoxy to bond metal to wood.
 

 
Lower and upper  balustrades added.




 
Close up of one of the winged female angels. I didn't know angels had gender, but this one obviously do.

 
Thank you all for visiting!!!
 
Ulises

It has been a while since my last postings.  Summer is always very busy and leaves little time for modeling.
 
I built the forecastle hatch coamings and gratings.  These are made like the ones on the upper deck except the scantlings are all smaller.  When making hatch coamings, it it much easier to build the grating first and make the hatch fit the grating.  Needless to say I made two sets of hatches.  
 

 

 
Before there was any more detail to knock loose, I decided to apply the horseshoes and dovetail plates.  These are from Greg's photoetch set.  They were cut off the sprue and their outline was drawn onto the hull.  Using an 11 blade, I make a light impression just inside the pencilled outline.  Then I cut away the inner area with a 3mm chisel.  The bolts are blackened brass wire.  I enlarged the holes in the plates to a 75 drill bit to accomodate the wire.  The plates were then epoxied to the hull.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
I will be applying minimal planking to the forecastle deck.  The waterway was made by taking a template of the outline of the bulwark and then cutting out a piece of costello to fit.  The rebate was hand cut.
 

Work on the 'Pritt' has been very slow of late.  On my last couple of visits to the museum I've spent most of my time entertaining relatives rather than model making, however she's now reached the stage where the basic hull is complete and she's been brought home to receive a few coats of wipe on Poly to protect her as the build goes forward.  here are a few photos showing the completed hull - I'll post some more once she's got some finish applied so you can see what she looks like then.
 
John
 

 

 

Cheers Greg . My next Build will be in my Signature.
 
Here's the Celebration Pic :
 

 
 Danny

14/08/2010
Before moving to the planking (I needed pliers to hold the brass nail while knocking them into the planks, otherwise they bend under the hammer...    ), I finished planking and polishing the stand which is now ready on my cupboard, waiting for me to complete the rigging. Oups!    there will be a thick layer of dust on it before that happens!     
By the way, I found some here use syringes among other things to apply carpenter glue. I use a "paper fastener" (we call that a "attache parisienne" in French...): it's rather ridgid, I can choose the angle I want for the tip and it's easy to remove the remaining glue when it is dry (just pull it away!).


 

Pliers do help maintain the nails straight when knocking them, ...most of the time. I find it really great that there is more than plenty of those nails in the kit because my success rate is not so high!    
Anyway, I laid on my first plank last month and proceeded without too much difficulty untill now. It is really easy to work with these pine wood planks: it is a very soft and flexible wood. I had hardly anything to do but simply hold them in place while the glue dried for the first four lines...
...well, still, it is not so flexible if you does not help it a bit when you want to twist it at 90°!    That was my conclusion when a plank cracked.    
Again there are many techniques for bending wood in DDM. I decided for a mix between several of them that seems to work well so far:
1/ Put water in a kettle and wait till it boils.
2/ Pour the water in a bowl.
3/ Plunge the planks in the water for around five minutes (it's rather like for spaghetti actually    ).
4/ Mop up the excess water from the planks and put them on the hull where they belong.
5/ Hold everything in place with clothes pins, rubber bands and (possibly    ) a model Atomium.
6/ Glue and nail in place when dry.

18/03/2012
Well, I've not opened a bottle yet: maybe when I will have a case done for Le Camaret... And as I don't have a clear idea on how to rig the legs yet, I leave that for when I have a chance to go back to the seacoast (Remark 2013: not done yet...) and I give you a few more shots of my now finished model:



 



 

 
---

(Remark 2013: more pics in the completed model gallery...)
 
24/02/2013
She does not have a case yet but she is now at my parents', having survived a three-hour train trip in an overcrowded wagon last Christmas with only one wound: a ring connecting the "upper gaff?" to the upper part of the mast broke. It was easily repaired with a new brass ring and she now stands proudly in my parents' bedroom waiting for me to come back and fetch her!

22/09/2011
Thank you for the advice, gentlemen! (Remark 2013: hum, it must have been something to get all the shrouds at the same level... Don't remember who helped there (you were a few) nor what exactly was the tip but it involved temporarily putting the shrouds under tension and fixing all but one while attaching the dead-eyes one by one, but I may be mistaken...)
I began with the single pair of shrouds and had them the same lenght without too much trouble and then used them as a reference for the four other shrouds. Many paper clips and cloth pins were involved to mark the measurement and hold the cords while seizing the deadeyes in place. 
They are not perfectly aligned (the fore one on the starboard side is way to low...). I think it is mainly due to the fact that I thought it would be easier to seize things with the shrouds not on the mast: I suppose some of my cloth pins have moved a bit during the process... Next time, I'll try and do everything directly on the model. 
The lanyards were not a problem, that is when I was focused enough: I did have to do some several times having passed the cord in the wrong hole or even the wrong lower deadeye!    I used a "monkey tail"? knot (could not find a translation for this one) for the dead end of the lanyard.





 
I also made the bowsprit stays:

 
And the anchor is in place, though not properly attached yet. The working windlass was greatly apreciated to get the anchor chain around it!    I wonder where the end of the chain is supposed to be fixed, though...    There is no indication for that on my plans.

It's been a while.
 
I was working on Victory, but then I was sent my new designs for the Prince in laser cut and PE parts, so I figuered I'd build up the prince hull first, so that I can courier the hull over to Amati. They will then get a very good carver to make all new carvings for the model, have them cast, and then send me back the hull and loose catings. I can then continue, and finally finish the Prince!
 
When the prince is with Amati, I shall complete the Victory drawings/plans/instructions, which should be no later than Summer.
 
I know Amati are keen to finalise both Prince and Victory, and I am hoping Victory will be ready for release either late this year or very early next.
 
I have attached a couple of pics of Prince in progress. I have just completed the first planking. I re-done the designs to include three more main bulkheads, (almost) full length decks from lover gun deck upwards, and the new gun port designs that are now intergeral to the hull, rather than the 1mm ply gun port patterns of the old design.

I've also fitted the fore topgallant shrouds and backstays. These were done in similar fashion to those on the main mast.
 
This concludes all the standing rigging apart from the Guy Pendants Falls. These have been partially rigged and will be finished off when the Spritsail Yard is fitted.
 
Here are a couple of pics of the completed standing rigging :
 

 

 
 Danny

13/09/2010
There! I finally completed the hull planking.     It took me two full months! I now have to sand it and put on the keel, stem and sternpost so that it looks respectable...
Well I'm not ashamed of my result even if I did some mistakes. First of all, I'll try and remember to taper planks at the bow next time I plank a hull. I said before that the instructions in Constructo's booklet were good and I should have paid more attention to the pics: you can clearly see that they tapered their planks so that there are as many on the bow as on the main frame...       As Kester wisely foresaw, you can avoid tricky strong plank bends at the bottom of the hull if you taper the planks all the way. I'll know for the next one.
 
Since my last entry, I discovered paper clips and strong rubber bands which I now find invaluable: no plank can have the last word when tied up with a solid rubber band    ... nor can any hopping clip!    
 
They say "practice makes perfect", (I prefer the French version: it is by forging that one becomes a blacksmith (that does not mean the blacksmith is perfect!!!)... I now manage to knock brass nails properly! 



 

There are also a few bumps here and there, mainly due to a bad clamping during drying time, I guess. And the hull would definitely need some caulking if it were to float because of the few gaps between planks below the water line!!!
 
I decided on planking the deck before I get carried along and forget to do it before glueing the bulwarks...    The instructions said to do it before hull planking but I was concerned about spoiling it with glue stains from my fingers while maintaining planks for the first minutes of glue drying...
I decided on a three plank pattern with 5 x 60 mm planks which seem reasonable at this scale. Here are the first three planks laid down.
I also tried a caulking technique: I used a brown pencil (Faber-Castell Dark Sepia #175) between the planks after glueing and sanding them and applied one layer of varnish. I find the result satisfying though I should put a bit more (the sanding between varnish layers removes it a little).


 

19/09/2010
I completed my deck planking today.    It went all right even if I realized it was a good thing not to spoil any plank, considering what I am left with...    I said there were plenty of planks provided but if it was true for the hull (eight full length planks left plus a huge amount of big pieces) it was not for the deck: just enough of it.
I also owe an apology to Constructo: reading the instructions again, I found that they tell us to use 8 cm long planks and to use a two-plank pattern...    
 
Next step: finish the hull!

This will be my summer project, as I believe I mentioned in my Sherbourne log. Rather a change from the cutter I have been working on, I’m sure you will agree – well, for a start, there aren’t any guns! But why this particular ship, and why a half-hull, you may well ask? Well, read on, but first a bit of history…
 
The ’Statsraad Lehmkuhl’ was built as a steel barque for the German Schoolship Association and launched at Bremerhaven-Geestemunde in January 1914. She was originally named ’Grossherzog Friedrich August’, after the then Duke of Oldenburg, and used to train merchant navy cadets. Taken as reparations by the British after the First World War, she was then sold to Norway in 1921 and renamed ’Statsraad Lehmkuhl’, after the minister Kristoffer Lehmkuhl (Statsraad meaning cabinet minister), who had worked in the interests of sail training. She was put into service in 1923 as a sail training ship for Bergens Skoleskib and used as such until the Second World War, when was taken over by Nazi Germany and given the name ’Westwärts’. Following hostilities she reverted to her previous ownership and name, and was put back into service following renovation. She continued to sail until 1966, when she was laid up due to financial difficulties, until in 1978 she was bought by shipowner Hilmar Reksten, who donated her to the Statsraad Lehmkuhl Foundation. She is based in Bergen. (She will be referred to as SL hereafter.)
 
Today the organisation welcomes ’trainees’ of all ages and nationalities to sail on board, and she is also used by schools, and employees in corporate business. In 2000 German naval cadets trained on board whilst the ’Gorch Foch’ was being refitted, and since 2002 she has been officially used for training cadets of the Royal Norwegian Navy. Her voyages have taken her across the Atlantic to America several times, and she is a frequent participant in the Tall Ships Races. Under sail she has frequently reached a speed of 17 knots and, on at least one occasion, 18 knots was recorded. Her website contains further details, both about her and her training programme.
 
Although I have referred, colloquially, to SL as a ’ship’ she is of course, and always has been, rigged as a barque – square rigged on the fore and main masts, fore-and-aft rigged on the mizzen. By convention, the barque as originally conceived had three masts and reference to their number was not normally made.
 
There are four main reasons for my building this half model:
 
1) I had spent three weeks aboard the barque in the June/July of 1988, sailing from Bergen, Norway (where she is based) to South Shields in the UK, back to Bergen and thence to Leith, Scotland. I had originally booked for two weeks on board and had intended to return to the UK from Bergen by ferry. However, following my cruise, the SL was due to sail to Leith to pick up a Norwegian girl’s choir that had been appearing at the Edinburgh Festival. Thus, courtesy of the captain, I was able to spend another week aboard the ship – at no extra charge.
 
2/ On board I met the Swedish girl who was later to become my wife. Therefore the model is largely being made for her.
 
3/ This year, 2014, marks SL’s centenary. The late Harold Underhill thought her to be perhaps being the most beautiful of the barques of that time, and I tend to agree. Even at 100 years old, I think she is still better looking (from any angle) than some later vessels.
 
4) Half-hulls are interesting in themselves historically for, although they are now largely used for decorative purposes, they were originally used as part of the building process of an actual ship.
 
 
Approximate Dimensions:
 
The ship: Hull length, 277.’ (84.60 metres); Sparred length, 321’ (98 meters); Beam - 41’ (12.60 metres); Draught -17’ (5.20 metres); Gross tonnage - 1516 tonnes; Height mainmast: 157.48' (48 metres); Sails: 22; Sail area: 2062 m2.
 
The model: Hull length - 36” (91.44 cm) Sparred length - 40” (101.6 cm); ’Half-beam’ - 2 ¾” (6.98 cm); Draught – 2” (5.08 cm); Gross tonnage – 0!
 
The model will be built using plans drawn up for the ’Grossherzogin Friedrich August’, by the late Harold Underhill – the Lines and Profile, drawn to a scale of 1/8th” to 1’ – which will make the model of a good size to admit of some detail. Even though the plans are for the ship under her original name, the deck layout and other details have not been altered a great deal and any changes that have been made appear to be minimal – such as the positioning of boats, alteration to the figurehead, etc. How much detail I will include, I have not yet decided, but there will of course only be stump masts.
 
As mentioned this will be a summer project (for the approximately four months we are here at our cottage) and I intend to store her here over the winter, suitably protected of course, and continue working on her next year – and probably the year after that!  At a suitable stage she will be moved to the flat in town, where a spot has already been designated for her, atop a long bookcase. Unfortunately, there are plenty of other jobs to take me away from the project, but I hope to be able work on her whenever I can – so watch this space! In the meantime here is a link to one or two photos of her:
 
https://www.google.se/search?q=statsraad+lehmkuhl+%2B+photos&client=firefox-a&hs=rRS&rls=org.mozilla:sv-SE:official&channel=sb&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=sCbEU5T3Goe9ygO-8YDYDA&ved=0CCIQsAQ&biw=1065&bih=509#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=uMfSHUqYE4cyxM%253A%3B9Ix4jWbc9xIczM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Feuroclippers.typepad.fr%252Fphotos%252Funcategorized%252F2008%252F11%252F10%252Fstatsraad_lehmkuhl_mudie_1.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Feuroclippers.typepad.fr%252Fuk%252F2008%252F11%252Ffinancial-cri-1.html%3B500%3B768

The sails and the yards on the main mast are also in place...
 
Still the fore mast to go and the bowsprit yards.
And then all the rigging that goes with it.
It keeps me still busy for the time being.......
 
Sjors
 
 

..... continued.
 
To drill the holes at an angle in the Saddle I set it up in my mill vise :
 

 
The Saddle and Gammoning Cleats fitted :
 

 
The inboard end gets a "iron" band made from thin card :
 

 
The outboard end of the Jibboom has a shoulder cut into it and a tiny sheave :
 

 
Some views of the bowsprit assembled. As with the other masts nothing has been glued yet (apart from the fittings) :
 

 

 

 

 
  Danny

Thank you mhegazi, and a warm welcome to MSW to you Mark .
 
Forecastle Railings
 
I'm nearly at the stage of "Stepping" the Foremast, but I realised that it would be nearly impossible to fit the Forecastle Railings if the Shrouds were already fitted, so this was my next step.

The Stanchions have a wide flair at the bottom, so to simulate that I silver soldered some 1.6mm tubing (ID of 0.85mm) to the bottom of some 0.8mm brass wire. I calculated the length of each stanchion first - none are the same length.

Then I soldered a piece of 0.6mm ID tubing to the top of each stanchion for the Eye through which the rope will pass :
 

 
I made the eyes a little on the large size to make soldering easier, then filed them down to the correct size :
 

 
The top rope has an eye seized into one end, and a lashing at the fore end secures it :
 

 

 
The aft end terminates with a seizing on an eyebolt :
 

 

 

 
  Danny

A bit of extra time at the museum of late has allowed me to get ahead with the Pritt.
 
The counter rim frame is now roughed in and will stay like this until after hull planking, at which time I'll finish fairing it in properly.
 
I've also made a start on the deck beams.  Once these are completed I can start to think about planking the hull.
 
John
 




 
 

David,
You'll enjoy it!
 
Brian,
I just feel like you: I already read them twice in French and I'm nearnly finished reading them in English... and there will be a twice soon! He is the Jane Austen of the sea and indeed it is sad that he passed away so soon... But there is always something to be gained in re-reading the series, and the more you make models, the more you actually understand the nautical terms, well... a bit more than Stephen hopefully!

Before moving on to the yard strops, there were one or two problems to sort out. The crew figure mentioned in my last post (I’m calling him the bosun – since he has an official-looking hat, now with a badge) has been finished and positioned – and is in the act of hauling taught the fall of the larboard running backstay. This was left hanging in my last post. One problem I had here was in fixing the line to his hands, there being no slot or hole in them for the rope, which would certainly have made the operation a whole lot easier – manufacturers please take note! I therefore cut the line into three and attempted to glue the lengths in their respective positions whilst the figure was off the model. The line between the hands took quite easily, but unfortunately the other two (the one from the long-tackle block to the left hand, and that from the right hand to the deck) came away on moving him. I therefore decided to glue the figure to the model before attaching the latter two lines. However, the line from the LT block to his upper hand, which I had stiffened with glue, wouldn’t take, I think probably because I couldn’t keep my hand still sufficiently – and no, I hadn’t been drinking, or was suffering from caffein deficiency! I then hit on the idea of hanging a weighted length of thread and stiffening it with glue. When it was dry, and straight, I was then able to cut it to the right length, and glue it between the LT block and the hand. Then it only remained to glue the line from the right hand and realistically trail it along the deck.
 
My other problem was with the acrylic paints that I had recently purchased (a neat set of 18 colours in 12ml tubes) with which to paint the four remaining figures, including the bosun. I had been under the impression that they would have dried to a matt finish, as had the bottled paints (now largely dried up) that I used previously for the lieutenant. Unfortunately, they dried to a semi-sheen – there being no indication of the type of finish on the box. On reading about acrylics however, I learnt that a matting agent is mixed with some types to dull them, and which had seemingly been mixed with the previous paint I had used. Luckily, I still had some of the older colours left, some of which I hadn’t used for some time, where the paint had separated and sunk to the bottom of the bottle. This had left a clear liquid on the top, which I reasoned was the matting agent, and it gave me an idea. I syphoned a little of this off into a small container, being careful not to include any residue of the paint – a dark brown(!) – which I then brushed over the painted figure. On drying, the paint was dulled somewhat but did not turn out quite flat, however I can live with it – just. It will probably be better to mix the liquid in with the paint for the remaining four figures or, if that doesn’t work, give the whole paint set to my wife who is something of an artist, and buy ones that dry to the desired, flat, look! Anyway, here’s the finished result:
 

 
Following that somewhat windy digression, I’ll now return to the yard strops. The AOTS book on the Alert, shows that three of the four yards were hoisted from blocks seized to rope strops on the fore side of the mast. From the bottom, these were the spread yard, square sail yard, and topsail yard. The exception is the topgallant yard, its halliard running over a sheave set in the topgallant mast head and thence to the deck. The hoisting method for the three lower yards appears to have been the practice up until around the 1780's, when it was modified to reflect normal ship practice – and as seen in the arrangement for the latter yard. Since the Sherbourne is dated some fourteen years earlier than the Alert, she would almost certainly have had a similar system. At around the same date the whole masting and rigging of cutters underwent a revision. The lower mast and topmast became separate sections, with the topgallant becoming an extension of the topmast. The shrouds now passed around the actual lower masthead as per large ship practice, and the top mast was stepped forward of the lower mast, necessitating the introduction of topmast backstays.
 
The three lower yards on the Alert/Sherbourne, were simply hoisted at their appropriate positions, at large single blocks suspended from strops, the halliards most likely being made fast at the foot of the mast (or at least that’s where I intend to belay them). It would seem that parrels weren’t used, apart perhaps from one on the topsail yard. It does seem an unlikely arrangement, and the wonder is that it lasted so long. The first strop and block above the backstays, is that for the spread yard. The strop I made of 0.50 mm black thread, with a 5mm block turned into one end and seized, as per the blocks for the backstays. This is the longest of the three strops and is set at what I thought an appropriate distance from its yard position. Next above that is the strop and block for the square sail yard. Again, 0.50mm black thread was used and a 5mm block was turned into its end and seized. Somewhat shorter than the strop for the spread yard, it too is set at a suitable position for its yard. The last strop and block over the masthead was that for the staysail halliard, and smaller diameter 0.25mm black thread and a 3mm block were used for this.
 
Since the yards will not be rigged for a while, I decided to temporarily make the blocks fast to their appropriate mast cleats to prevent any movement. The staysail halliard I have belayed to the centre pin in the bitts in front of the mast:
 

 
 
Next time: the staysail horse, and forestay.