Padeen

You have to remember though that the Pride of Baltimore is a predominantly fore-and-aft rigged vessel, and carries only one small square topsail. If the fore-and-aft rigged fore and main sails were set on the same plain as the topsail, when going to windward, she would probably get no power from the wind at all or very little - which somehow defeats the object.
 
You mention the cutting away of one half of the square sail, and the spar becoming a 'boom'. In fact something very like this did happen - but not with a square sail, and not with a boom. During the Mediaval period, the loose-footed lateen sail became the norm on the mizzen mast of most European ships, which was adopted when their seamen came into contact with lateen-rigged arab craft in the Mediterranean, somewhere around the fourteen hundreds. They noted how efficient they were in going to windward, but were cumbersome in operation. Eventually, towards the end of the 18th century, the sail forward of the mast was removed, resulting in the gaff sail as we know it today. The lateen yard remained for a little longer (I believe the Victory for instance retained hers until around 1796), mainly I think because of its usefulness in replacing other damaged spars. However that too disappeared, resulting in the gaff, to which a boom was added.
 
Square rig actually has significant advantages over fore-and-aft, particularly in ocean sailing, where the winds are predominantly from aft, and which is why it has lasted for so long and is still the favoured rig. The Portuguese could quickly adapt the rig of their ships between the two when occasion demanded. Fore-and-aft rig is useful for coastal sailing where winds are usually more variable. Square rig is also safer on downwind passages, and it is on record that the crews of the large barquentines, with their enormous boomed out fore-and-aft sails, were petrified they would be dismasted if the wind got on the wrong side of the sail. This did happen on occasion. Come to think of it, I've often though that modern ocean racing yachts have the wrong sort of rig for the winds – they should be square rigged! I wonder if that's why they too are often dismasted.
 
However I side track...

Well, it's been a lonnnnnnnnnnng time since I've posted an update.  This is partly due to the fact that not a lot of progress has been made, partly because I've missed a couple of days at the museum and also partly due to the fact that I keep forgetting to take my camera with me when I go in to the museum!
 
A few more frames have been raised and hopefully the framing will go a little more quickly from now on.  I'm finally at the stage where the remainder of the frames are rough cut, so while I'm waiting for glue to dry on one frame I can be finishing the next one ready for fitting.
 
A couple of frames are going to need adjustment at the fairing stage as, for some unknown reason they're slightly too long - but too long is easy to cut down at the final fairing stage.
 
John
 

 

 

 

Steering Rigging
 
I also rigged the Steering Wheel to the Tiller. I removed the previously fitted eyebolts in each side, as it's MUCH easier to strop the blocks to them in my vice rather than on the ship.
 
The blocks are 6" (3mm) from Syren Ship Models, and the line is 3" (0.45mm) from the same place - great stuff, thanks Chuck . I also seized the line to the starboard side of the Tiller off the ship :
 

 

 
Then I replaced the eyebolts/blocks on the starboard side and glued in the wheel :
 

 
Five turns around the wheel Hub, replaced the Port side blocks and did the rather fiddly seizing to the port side of the tiller - TWICE. The first attempt wasn't as successful as I'd have liked - I took over an inch of slack out of the line the second time :
 

 

 
Some views of the completed rigging. Note the very small nail in the centre of the turns on the hub :
 

 

 

 
See you all in a couple of weeks.
 
  Danny

Finally the buntlines were attached according Lees and belayed on the quarterdeck rail. This is all the rigging which will be installed on the main yard for now.
 
 

Buntlines installed
 
 

Belaying the buntlines. Note the 2 blocks stropped together end on end for the buntlines.

Thanks again Druxey, David and John.
 
Quarter Pieces
 
The Quarter Pieces on most Swan Class Sloops are elaborately carved, but the sheer plan of Vulture shows very plain ones. Whether this is correct or not I don't know - perhaps the draughtsman was just lazy . I've treated them in similar fashion to the Pilasters of the Quarter Badges and Stern Lights.
 
To overlap the joints between the hull planking and counter planking I hollowed out the pieces :
 

 
Some progress pics through the stages of fitting them up :
 

 

 

 
  Danny

Ratlines are done !!!!!!!!!!!!     
For a while at least.....
The next ratlines will be on the Aggy.
The topgallant shrouds and lower shrouds are also done.
I also make the Mizzen stay, Main stay and preventer stay, Fore stay and preventer stay.
I want to do the crowsfeet next but Saturday , the Fonz goes on the road for a modelmeeting.
So next week I will make a start at those crowsfeets....3 times.
I hope it will work because it's gonna be the first time that I'll make those things.
We will see how it goes.
 
 
 

 

Finally got the main deck planking finished.  Crappy mobile camera shots - sorry.
Sanding is about half way through - it's mostly smooth, but I can still see and feel a few irregularities in the deck.
 
Not being able to see into the guts of the ship also gives it a much more finished feel straight away.
 


 
 
Short term to do list:
Finish sanding exterior hull.
finish interior planking. 
install main deck fittings.  I have a few things built, but just need to get down now and install ringbolts and cleats and work my way down the deck.  I'll probably leave guns until the very last minute before installing upper deck beams.
 
Colin

Right, these have just taken ages to type in, as I can't cut and paste.... Latest pics of progress, all the deck stuff is dry fitted and needs more work before gluing in place....
 
 

 

 

 

i have made a litle canot for my recouvrance and here is the results:
 
 
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Braces, sheets and tacks on lower yards will be installed last in order not to block access to the deck.
 
 
Next was the mighty main yard. First, the main sail was made similar to the mizzen top sail. Its size was reduced by about 30%. I need a little material to form a bulk in the middle of the furled sail and for such a large square sail this seemed about the necessary size. (The furled sail looks quite OK.)
 
The sail was bent to the yard and blocks for sheets and clues as well as clues and buntlines were attached. There will be 2 buntlines rigged according Lees. This means that only one buntline could be attached to the sail as it will lead through several blocks back to the sail as its own second buntline and can only be fixed with the yard mounted.
The buntline blocks on the yard were positioned wrongly (I put them up according the plans) and had to be shifted.
 
Then the sail was furled and now the yard brought to the mast. First a sling was put in place to hold the yard. Then it was held to the mast with the truss pendants (no parrel rope on this yard). The pendants lead towards the deck and are seized with simple falls via blocks to the riding bitts.
 
Now the jeers were installed and belayed to the main bitts. The clue lines were belayed on the riding bits. Finally the lifts were put up and the ends belayed – contrary to the plan, but according Lees- on the timber head near the first main mast shroud.
 
The belaying points according to the kits plans differ for several lines from those in Lees ‘Masting and Rigging...’ and I mainly followed Lees.
 
 

Main sail
 
 

Buntline attached in front of the sail. The legs through the outer buntline blocks can only be put in place with the yard on the mast.
 
 

Clew lines in place
 
 

Yard with sail furled provisionally put in place – looks OK
 
 

Thimble for the sling (in fact a spliced eye) and truss pendants put on the yard
 
 

Sling with its lanyard and the jeers
 
 

Belaying of jeers, falls of the truss pendants and clues (left to right)
 
 

The lifts are belayed at that timber head
 
 

Lifts in place

Thanks for the comments Alistair, Druxey, Joe, David, Mark, David, John, Remco, Alex, Patrick, Grant, Sherry and Popeye .
 
 
Alistair, it probably depends on the particular ship as to how much camber (or "roundup") the gratings have. On the Swans it's quite a bit more than the roundup of the decks.
 
 
Take a look down the page a bit Remco .
 
Continuing on with the wheel .... I turned the Barrel and fitted it to the wheel :
 

 

 
Last things to make were the two Stanchions that support the wheel assembly. These have a molded section in their faces, which I cut with an Xacto :
 

 
Here's a pic showing how small the wheel is compared to a 5c piece :
 

 
The wheel dry-fitted to the deck. I'll leave it off for now as it could get damaged fairly easily. Oh yeah, and the wheel is fully operational (or will be when it's rigged ) :
 

 

 

 
  Danny

Hello Mr Watton,
Welcome back on the site and thank you very much for posting this! Now I know for sure I will buy and build this kit when available! 
What's the length of the hull, by the way?

Thanks John, Christian, Ben, Adam and Nils .
 
I've finished fitting the Channels, Standards and Drift Rails to the Port side :
 

 

 
Quarter Badge Crown
 
I've also carved the Crown for the Upper Finishing on the Quarter Badge. It's certainly not up to the standard of some of the great carvers on this site, but I'm happy enough with it. Here are some pics from the rough-cut blank to the finished article. I used English Box - it took me about 3 hours work. It measures 6mm wide by 4mm high :
 

 

 

 

 

 
  Danny

Well, some actual work to show you!
 
I'm continuing to make frame blanks and rough cut the frames, but I've now made my framing jig and have actually raised the first frame.  This is the forward most square frame, so with that in place I can start to finish off and fit the cant frames.
 

The framing jig ready for business
 


The 'backbone' in the jig
 


First frame fitted
 
The entire frame will be cleaned up after all the frames are fitted and faired.
 
John

Interior Fit:
 
While also working on the exterior some of the main deck components have been assembled.
 
Capstan Step,
I think this was Holly - It's been oiled so looks different in the last photos to the deck planking.  It's 3 individual pieces slotted together.

 
Gratings and Coamings:
 
Gratings were manufactured from Boxwood, one side notched, with straight pieces glued across the notches.  I made larger then cut them down to size.  The coamings are of jarrah, beveled, rounded off, cambered, and I used a camber on the inner face to force the gratings to bend a little to reduce the sanding involved in shaping them.
 


 
Ladders:
jarrah and holly, coamings made the same way.
 

 
Mainmast partners:
Made from Holly.  This was one of the interesting components to build, as the plans disagree on different views.  Some views they are notched to allow for the outboard leg of the chainpump to pass by, in other views it clears the partners and no notch is needed.  Building the chainpumps showed the latter was correct.

 
When you put them all together...



 
You can see also in this the riding bitts have been completed and are in place as well.  Deck planking between the structures has started there as well.
 
Colin

Continuing on.
 
Getting there.
 
I can't find any pics of the lower hull planking in progress apart from this .

 
Coppering:
Coppering is done with individual plates, prestamped with a nail pattern.  I bought 7/16" (I think) adhesive copper, and cut into 3/4" lengths.  I was really pleased to find a width of copper that was exactly right at my scale.  For the whole hull I used an entire 32yd roll with about 100 to spare.
 

 
I tried an experiment to get the nail pattern right.  I took a 2mm thick peice of strip, glued a nail pattern on and drilled holes in the appropriate place.  Then I used acupuncture needles through the holes and on 2 edges.  The AP needles are 0.25mm diameter, so are actually pretty close in scale to the nails.  The nail pattern I produced was like this...
 


 
Pros: good pattern that burnishes down beautifully.
Cons: Fiddly.  There are 40 odd needles that need to be in place, even depth, glued down.  They are smaller than the smallest holes you can easily drill.  They are designed to pierce skin easily. They do blunt, and bend.   To make the press easier to hold, I created a handle out of scuply around the rear side of the needles.  
 
I got delayed in coppering so the first few plates went on about 6mo before the rest.  I decided to take a pic to show people what you can expect from copper that has been handled, and exposed to air.
 

 
Progress....





 
Just visible in the last pic is the batten along the top edge of the copper.
 
Colin
 
 

Pictures !!!!!    
Between work I can do something.
Placed the upper shrouds and tops deadeyes on the mizzen mast.
Make the first ratlines.
I can see that I don't have the " touch " again.
When all the ratlines are there ,maybe I change this one.
All the beginning is difficult......
 

Thank you Mark, overdale, Grant, John, Duff and Richard.
 
Entry Steps to the Waist
 
There are two sets of Entry Steps attached to the fixed gangways, one either side. These have "Winding" treads to transition from the curve in the gangways - quite tricky things to get right as the angles for the slots in the fore stiles are different to the aft ones.
 
I cut the fore slots at 30 degrees, and the aft ones at 27.5 degrees. This gave the required "twist" in the steps.
 
The pics will tell the story of how I made them :
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
  Danny

Shipwrights - a little progress on my dearest Arethusa.  Third time is a charm, at least for me and the yellow cove.  I redid one last section of it on the starboard bow, eliminating the last offensive (to me) waver.  Done.  Yipee!  I have added the ship's name and hail port in the appropriate locations, using Woodland Scenic Dry Transfer letters, and have repainted much of the upper hull black.  I have completed the checker board guide installations, the boom buffer, the cleats, the chocks, and the stanchion located ringbolts.  I have also installed guide pins for the deck furniture to ensure proper placement and to ensure better retention of the components.  It is surprising how much time all of those little elements time.
 



 
Though not show here in photos I have completed 16 of the 20 double wire strops for the deadeyes, have stained the deadeyes (Minwax Ebony stain), and have fabricated/soldered much of the catheads.  I hope to show all of these elements assembled in the not too distant future.
 
Cheers,
 
Elia

Adeline, the pencil is a regular full size drawing one. your comment reminded me that I did make a couple of yellow pencils for a customer survey station about 15 years or so ago, My son has those pencils now they are about 5 feet long about 3 inches in diameter.
 
Thinking about fine line for rigging it occurred to me that most threads are made from a number of smaller strands.
 
I first took some .025mm nylon canvas thread and unraveled it (tricky) but once the end is spayed you can pull out a strand with a pair of fine tweezers. the brown and sharp gauge puts the .0014 at 47gauge
 

 
I have a bench micrometer that is metric but the charts I have for wire gauges are all in imperial so I made a small stand for my imperial Moore and Wright 1" micrometer I need a fixed micrometer to measure the tiny stuff this way I can adjust the micrometer until the thread just slips between the anvils. The metal strands in the background are 35 gauge.
 

 
I laid one of the strands on the deck and it looks right for the fine standing rigging plus 500 times .0014" is .7 of an inch at full size so it is still a tad on the large size.
 

 
The key will be tying a knot. I have not tried that yet.
 

 
 
Time for some shut eye.
 
Michael

Hum... well, that's a good thing you were not happy with the first shrouds then! As my granny used to say: "doing and redoing, this is working"...
So, we'll have a new shrouds picture next time?

Hi Andy,
I missed the beginning of this log but I'll follow it from now on. That's a very interesting build... and quite a change from Peggy!
Have fun!

Beam set 7 includes the opening for the fore hatch.  These carlings are a little larger than the standard ones.  As I am building the lower deck structures as I move aft, it was time to build the aft sail room.  The fore sail room is one of the small rooms on the port side near beam set 4.  This was a fun little structure to make.  The lateral walls have louvers to allow ventilation into the room.  I do not own a mill so the mortises for the louvers were made with an 11 blade.  On Atalanta, the door into this room is a slider, not a hinged door.  Consequently, the door must be made wider than the opening and it will be on the outside wall of the sail room.  There is a pillar on the inside wall precluding placing the door there.  Not having built a sliding door before, I went over to the local stable and looked at my horse's stall door.  The latch is a L-shaped bolt on the door with a U-shaped piece of metal on the door frame to receive the bolt.  The bolt measured 3" x 4" x 3/8".  This would require making a u-shaped channel 0.01" square.  Needless to say, this is well beyond my skill set so I have a flat piece of metal on the door frame representing it instead.  Decking was placed under the assembly on the starboard side.  The last two pictures show the sail room assembly before and after a coat of finish.
 

 

 

 

 

somme news:
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Thank you, and you're most welcome Mark, Remco, Christian, Grant, Jeff, Maury and Neal .
 
Forecastle Planksheers
 
The Planksheers for the Forecastle and Quarterdeck need to be fitted before I can continue with the Timberheads.
 
For the quarterdeck I could soak and laterally bend the four required as they only have a shallow bend. Here's the first one fitted - there is a smaller piece still to be fitted on the inboard side :
 

 
The four on the forecastle are a bit trickier. I cut these from wide stock. Fitting the forward one around the Knightheads was quite a task - I had one reject, and used at least 30 "dry fits" on each before I was happy with the result :
 

 

 

 
  Danny