bhermann

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 254 – Fore Yard 4
 
Work has continued on the lower fore yard over the past couple weeks while various necessary parts were being "mass" produced.  Some of these were described in the last few posts.  Among the most numerous of these parts are the stanchions for the jackstays that run along the top of every yard   The jackstays were 1" diameter iron rods, threaded through iron stanchions spaced about 30" apart.  Given the number and the small size of these stanchions I made these as simple eyebolts that would just pass the jackstays that were made from straight, blackened brass wire.  One of the eyebolts is being spun in the first picture.
 

 
These are spun from 28 gauge copper wire.  Holes along the top of the yard were described earlier.  The holes were sized so these stanchions could be pushed in without the use of glue.  Some of these are shown fitted to the central part of the yard in the next picture.
 

 
The bands and metal fittings in the center of the yard were blackened and the yard finished with diluted Tung oil preceding the work at the ends.  This was done to preserve the blackening of these parts through the continual handling of the yard during work on the outer ends.  In the picture, one of the boom irons is being positioned using an angle template with the yard supported at the correct angle.  These will be pinned with copper wire "bolts."  I believe I mentioned earlier that these irons had to be modified to bring the boom closer to the yard – after this picture was taken, I believe.
 
The next picture shows one of the yardarms during assembly.
 

 
The yardarm band and the boom iron support bands are shown.  The holes in the band for eyebolts have not yet been drilled.  The cheek block is inserted temporarily before blackening.  It will be secured by the large central pin and two small bolts through the side flanges.  The next picture shows the yard hung temporarily with the jackstays and some of the blocks installed.
 

 
The 4" footropes on the aft side of the yard were suspended from 3½" rope stirrups 3'6" long.  These had eyes at each end – the upper eyes for lashing to jackstay stanchions and the lower eyes threaded through with the foot rope.  In the next picture the six stirrups for this yard are being fabricated.
 

 
The method for spliced eyes used on the ratlines is also used here.  The pins in the fixture ensure equal lengths.  The next picture shows the yard held in an assembly fixture for addition of various parts.
 

 
This holder allowed all the required blocks, the lift pendants, the studding sail booms, and the footropes to be installed with minimal handling of the yard.  The taped threads are used to straighten the footrope stirrups which were then treated with diluted dark glue.  This process had to be repeated later after the yard was set and other work completed.  The next picture shows the completed yard assembly, ready for setting.
 

 
In the next picture the yard has been set. 
 

 
A permanent pin was fitted to the truss and the eyebolt on the chain sling was glued into the mast with CA.  The last picture shows the starboard end of the yard.
 

 
The foot rope stirrups are still misbehaving.  The lift pendant is draped over the studding sail boom which is fitted with jewel blocks.  The block shackled to the underside of the yardarm band is part of the reef tackle that will be installed later.  The other suspended block is to support the lower studding sail yard that will not be installed.  The blocks along the top of the yard are for bunt and leech lines. 
 
Ed           

I think I've manage to make a sail.
 
I started with the jumbo jib sail since it was small (wastes less fabric on each attempt), it only has 3 sides, and there are no curves.  I made a paper template first, then did a test run with some random thin white fabric I picked up at the craft store.  Since I had to buy a sewing machine and learn how to use it, the first two attempts with the random fabric were really just to get familiar with sewing.
 
Once I got my confidence up, I tried making one from the actual sail cloth.  It almost worked.  I pulled the fabric too much while sewing, which resulted in the edges not being straight.  The fourth attempt finally turned out usable.  The final version fits well, and the sewing is 'good enough'.  
 

Since I've chosen the port side as my 'display side' for the ship, I did my sewing from that side so any 'ugliness' would be on the other side.  I made three small rings and sewed them into the corners for securing lines.
 


Hopefully the remaining sails don't take as many tries!

My first trial of air brushing, doing this on the hull. And it turned out so much better than I expected, no running paint at all.
So I proceeded with painting the inside of the waist with the airbrush. So easy and the coverage great as well.
Looking forward doing more airbrushing.

 
I will do more white airbrushing of the hull for the next step of black/blue and the dull red for the bottom.

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 253 – Wooden Blocks
 
There are well over 500 blocks on the model, ranging from 15" in shell length down to 4".  These include triple, double, and single blocks.  Some will be iron strapped, some spliced to pendants, but most will be rope strapped.  "Strap" seems to be the American usage for the word "strop" so I will adopt it for this American ship.
 
Some of these blocks, in a range of sizes, will need to be fitted to the lower fore yard before it is installed.  To avoid getting into one-at-a-time, piecemeal work, some mass production was adopted.  So the next major task will be to make at least a substantial portion of the full requirement.  The few blocks installed so far were leftovers from a previous model.
 
At the outset of the rigging work a detailed "Rigging List" was developed to describe every line on the model, including its components.  From this, a count of blocks of each type of block was tabulated.  To that was added an estimate for studding sail blocks.  Those lines are not included on the list.
 
The blocks are being made from my best quality European boxwood – for hardness, strength, and color.  Whenever I dip into what I have left of this wood, I immediately get frugal about waste.  For the full supply of blocks, I sliced off a wood blank about 2" wide, 8" long, and slightly thicker than the shell breadth of the largest size, 15" blocks.  The first picture shows strips sliced from this plank for all the larger blocks – down to 9" singles.
 

 
Using the thickness sander, the 2" wide blank was first reduced in thickness to the shell breadth of the 15" blocks.  A single strip was then sliced from this at the single block width.  There are no 15" doubles or triples.  For the next size down, the 12" blocks, the blank was again reduced in thickness.  Adequate strips for triple, double and single widths were sliced off that – and so on.  This one blank may suffice for all the blocks.
 
The pictures below show work on the 12" triple blocks.  I was surprised at the number of these – about 25 as I recall.  Their use in triple-purchase tackles for topsail sheets account for most of these.
 
To mass produce the blocks to specified dimensions, a table of block dimensions for each size was used to produce a drilling pattern and sequence.  This was used to drill correctly spaced holes in each strip, starting with transverse holes at the ends of the shells to delineate length and also to provide a slight top and bottom groove to seat the strapping.  This is shown in the next picture.
 

 
Before drilling, a shallow groove was scraped along the strip on both outer shell sides.  This is a modeling convenience that helps in seating the straps, especially  the round copper wire "iron" straps that will be filed flat on the outside.  Scrapers for this were made by machine grinding a razor blade for each shell breadth. 
 
  The next picture shows the strip rotated in the vise for drilling of the smaller, 1½" (.022") sheave holes – six in each of these triple blocks.
 
 
 
All holes were located using the calculated spacings, set by the mill's calibrated wheels. In the picture, the center row has been drilled and one of the outer rows is in progress.  These holes are very close together, so sharp bits, short bit projection, high speed, and very light feed are essential.  Even at that, the entry point of the drill in these unmarked holes may vary by a few thousandths as may be seen in the next photo.
 

 
Next, slots were pared out between the sheave holes and the sheave curvature cut, using a small chisel as shown in the next picture.
 

 
The chisel width was ground to match the drill size and then downsized for each smaller size of block.  The next picture shows the strip after this slotting work.
 

 
A knife edge file was then used to mark all four faces at the separation points using the first-drilled, transverse holes as guides.  The blocks were then given a preliminary rounding with a barrette file while still attached as shown in the next picture.
 
 
 The next picture shows blocks being cut from the strip using a fine-bladed jewelers saw. 
 

 
Each block was then rounded to its final shape using a sanding strip.  The last picture shows the finished set of 12" blocks, including two with iron strapping and hooks.
 

 
The strapping on the two blocks shown will be blackened.  The single blocks to the left have not yet been fully rounded.
 
 
Ed

Rigging is progressing nicely.  I've got the main boom, fore boom, jumbo jib boom, main gaff and fore gaff all rigged.
 
I'm not 100% sure if I'll end up adding sails or not.  I want to try, but I've never done sails before so I'm not sure they will turn out well.  So, I decided to go ahead and rig the booms and gaffs.  None of the lines were glued - they were all tied off, allowing me to remove the various runs as I tackle the sails.
 


Over the next week or so I hope to try making a sail.  If that turns out OK, I'll de-rig the appropriate runs and install the sail.  If I fail miserably, I'll probably just continue on with the running rigging and get this thing finished up.
 
Even without the sails, the ship just hit the 'impresses the in-laws' point.  With the booms and gaffs installed, it looks 'done enough' that non-modelers who see the ship are impressed.  For a second build, I consider that a success.  We'll see how sewing sails goes...

Vallejo has a white foundation paint, which I used on the waist and stanchions at the port quarter area.
Good or bad I don't know but I have a feeling this base might good enough for a single layer regular white.

It's bright but probably a good contrast as well.

The buffer house is now completed with the buffer inserted, some touch up paint is in need.
The part along with the rail is not glued into place yet, but I am pleased with the result.
 

 
 
The over view of the decking is showing the second layer of varnish, I used golden oak which is very universal varnish.
It's now drying and waiting for more add-ons.

 

So there is always curve-balls thrown at us ship-modelers, and this ball at the stern has really got me going.
For a while I was on my own creating my own boom sheet buffer. But I couldn't get it right so I stayed with the metal piece provided in the kit.
However, the legs weren't long enough to have them sticking down into the deck as the plans were showing.
Again, the think hat had to come on.
And this is the outcome.
Some extra sanding is needed and final painting too.



Oh, I had to add some extra material on top of the side parts as they were shorter than the stern piece.
 

So I tried various varnishes for my deck on separate planks.
Fell for one that enhanced just a notch, here is the fore-deck still wet.
I think together with the grey waterway and white inside of waist and stanchions it will turn out okay.
This is a lighter varnish, and maybe gives me a chance to make it darker if I like.

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 252 – Cheek Blocks
 
Iron cheek blocks will be bolted to the aft sides of the larger yards, on the square section just inboard of the yardarms.  Small upper yards will have sheaves set in mortises at this location.  These blocks direct the chain sheets inboard below the yard toward the sheet blocks described in the last post.  The first picture shows one of the fabricated, larger, 16" blocks.
 

 
The chain is threaded through as a test to ensure that it will pass.  The casings and sheaves on these are brass.  The large central pin/bolt is copper and will pass through the yard horizontally.  Two smaller bolts will be added to the flanges later when the block is installed.  The first fabrication step is shown below.
 

 
A length of square brass tube was sliced to yield the U-shaped cap, shown silver-soldered to a flat plate.  The blocks will eventually be sliced from this piece, after drilling all the necessary holes.  This drilling is shown below.
 

 
Again, the mill's calibration wheels were used to space the holes.  The center holes were drilled first, then one row of the smaller flange holes, then the flange holes on the opposite side.  The next picture shows the blocks being sliced off in the milling machine fitted with a thin slotting saw blade.
 

 
The strip was clamped for this.  The position of the fence and the downward blade rotation at the cut serve to keep the pieces from flying off.  The next picture shows an assembled block and the separate parts.
 

 
The sheave, conveniently, is the diameter of a brass tube, so sheaves merely had to be sliced off.  This is being done with a razor saw in the next photo, using a jig with holes of different depths and diameters that was described earlier.
 

 
The 2" deep hole was used for these.  The sheaves were also filed clean and polished in the jig.  In the next picture the sheave has been positioned and the axle pin/bolt inserted.
 

 
With the long end gripped in the vise, the outer end of the bolt was clipped and peened to form a rivet head as described in the last post.
 

Four of these 16" size are required – for the fore and main lower yards.  Fourteen of the smaller, 14" size will be used on the crojack, and the six topsail yards.  The smaller blocks will be made later.
 
The last picture shows one of these test-mounted on the port arm of the fore lower yard.
 
 
 
This picture also shows some rework that was done on the outer boom iron - the "Pacific" iron - and its inner partner (not shown).  An earlier picture showed these positioning the boom quite far out from the yard.  This has been corrected.
 
Ed

Hmm, so it seems that my bluenose got a little fat stern area...
Nothing that can be fixed.
First I checked the laser piece towards the plan, and found it accurate.

 
Well, placing the piece on the ship and I saw she was wider than I thought, must be all the ice cream consumed while modeling 
When doing so having the main rail part on the stanchions, I can have it flush with the waist without any overhang, but this will give her a large lip instead.

My solution and this was the easy way out instead of making a whole new piece.
I made two cuts into the part, and then will create fill pieces. Once painted only I will know along with everybody else following this thread.
This way there won't be a lip but also I will get the overhang I am looking for.
Pictures are exaggerated. 
 
 
 
 
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 251 – Sheet Blocks
 
Each square yard, except for the skysail yards at the tops of the masts, will be fitted with an iron sheet block suspended from an eyebolt below its center.  These "cloverleaf" type blocks contain two sheaves, one for each of the two chain sheets for the sail directly above.  The sheets pass through sheaves in the yardarms, or cheek blocks on the larger yards, through fairleads under the yard, then to the sheet blocks.  The blocks direct the sheets downward to tackles that are belayed on deck in most cases.  The first picture shows the seven fabricated, 21" sheet blocks with eyebolts attached.
 

 
Two of these have been blackened.  This size will be used on lower, lower topsail, and upper topsail yards on the fore and main masts and on the crojack yard on the mizzen.  The remaining yards will be fitted with smaller, 15" blocks of this type.
 
To make these efficiently, some "mass production" was used.  In the first step, holes for all the plate casings were drilled as shown in the next picture, through two long strips of .010" brass, ¾" at 1:72 scale.
 

 
The holes were drilled using the mill as a drill press, with holes spaced using the calibration wheels, in a prescribed sequence using calculated spacings.  The resulting strips, for both block sizes are shown in the next picture.
 

 
Part of the drilling guide sheet may be seen in the picture.  It shows each movement in a numbered sequence, with penciled spacings calculated from the full size dimensions.  The punch marks on the strips were added for matching. 
 
In the next picture two dressmaker pins have been inserted through the holes on the vertical centerline of two matching plates. 
 

 
The rough shape of the block was cut through both plates using scissors.  The two pins are close fitting, and in the picture below are clamped in a vise where the triangle shapes are being sized with a file.
 

 
There is a thin, drilled wood shim under the two plates for clearance above the vise.  In the next picture the triangular shape has been filed, the plates separated, and the pins have been replaced with lengths of drawn copper wire.
 

 
One of these wires has been threaded through a turned sheave.  In the next picture, with both sheaves fitted, the lower ends of the pin wires are clamped in the vise.
 

 
In this picture the upper wire ends have been clipped off just above the top plate and then peened to form rivet heads.  The assembly was then turned over and placed on an anvil.  The long bolt ends were then clipped and peened.  In the next picture the central pin has been peened on both sides in the same way and the top pin has been inserted through a spun eyebolt.
 

 
As before, the lower ends of the pin wires are clamped in the vise for peening the first side.  The block was then flipped over to clip and peen the other ends, completing the assembly.  The lower block in the picture below shows this stage.
 
 
 
Each side of the triangle was then filed concave, shaped to match the pattern and polished. The fourteen smaller sheet blocks will be made later.
 
Ed

Getting closer to final "dressing" of the stern planking.
The planking is certainly in need of putty and sanding to get that smooth surface Bluenose is in need of.

I have to make sure I do a backup of pictures for build log, this as I use both regular camera but also the phones camera.
Update from last night.
The interior stern planking is completed. And I didn't break the posts.
Remaining planking of transom/stern is now in progress (not for the moment this hour)

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 250 – Fore Yard Truss
 
Lower yards on ships of this type were attached to the masts using iron trusses.  The fore yard truss will position the yard about 6 feet forward of the mast.  It is configured in the form of a universal joint that allowed the yard to be "braced", that is, rotated around the mast, or "topped," raised at one end or the other.  The weight of the yard was taken mostly by a separate chain sling shackled to the center of the yard and bolted to the mast just below the hounds.  Making and fitting of both these parts are described below. 
 
A pattern for the yoke that connects the truss to the yard is pasted to a 1/8" copper plate in the first picture. 
 
 
This curved yoke lies in the horizontal plane, has vertical holes at the ends for bolting to yard band brackets and horizontal hole through its center for a bolt to a universal fitting that will allow vertical rotation and topping.  The shape of the yoke was first cut out using a jeweler's saw, then filed to a rounded shape.  The next picture shows the shaping in progress and the yard band bolt holes drilled.
 

 
The wide band at the center of the yard will be drilled for the sling eyebolt.  The next picture shows the universal fitting bolted through the yoke.  It has an eye at the aft end to fit the bracket in the mast band that was installed earlier. 
 

 
In the picture, two long wire bolts have been inserted through the yard band brackets and yoke eyes.  These were first peened to form rivet heads as shown in the next picture.
 

 
The pliers in the picture have half-round slots filed into the jaws that allow wire to be held for peening of the end. I believe this process was described earlier, perhaps in a Naiad post.  In the next picture one of the long bolts has been clipped off on the underside, leaving just enough for its head to be peened, locking the yoke arm to the bracket. 
 
 
A flat-end center punch was used for this.  The other bolt was then inserted, clipped and peened to complete the attachment.  Unfortunately I did not take photos when making the universal fitting, so a description of that will await work on a later mast.  Note in the picture that the yard bands are pinned to the underside of the yard with small copper bolts.
 
The weight of the yard, as mentioned above was mostly taken by a chain sling.  This is shown in the next picture, shackled at one end to an eyebolt temporarily inserted through the central yard band.
 

 
To set the length of the chain, the yard was temporarily hung and the chain held with tweezers as shown in the next picture.
 

 
The tweezers were used to hold the chain at a link that could be fitted with an eyebolt into the mast that would hold the truss level.  The chain was cut at this point and an eyebolt spun onto it.  The hole for the eyebolt was then spotted on the mast, again by holding the eyebolt with tweezers and marking the height that would hold the truss level.  The next picture shows the yard hung temporarily with eyebolts inserted.
 

 
The next picture shows the yard fully braced around to the point where it contacts the forestay and almost touches the forward lower shroud.
 

 
There is still much work to do on this yard before installing it permanently, some of the parts were shown earlier.  Others will be described in the next parts.
 
Ed           

Mike,
I bought that saw from UMM-USA.
Back to the stern construction.
 
There are two post to be added at the stern, I saw how they are installed they would be prone to break off once installed.
So I used this lateral plank for support.

Having the notches cut out I dry installed one of the post just to get a verification this was getting somewhat right.
 

 
Then it was just to add the glue and have them put in place.
 

Once the glue had set in a little I corrected the angle of the post to left.
I will use this setup and plank the inside first, doing so will create a sturdy area for exterior planking.

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 249 – Lower Fore Yard 3
 
There is a variety of ironwork to be installed on every square yard.  Beginning with the iron sling band at the center and the reinforcing bands on made yards.  These and other bands, as well as some structures attached to bands, like studdingsail boom brackets, must be sized to each individual yard.   Others, like iron sheet blocks that hang from the center of the yard, cheek blocks for sheets at the yardarms and to some extent iron trusses, are more standardized and lend themselves to a "mass production" approach, if making seven or eight identical parts can be considered "mass."  So, while the work shown in this part and the next was able to proceed, progress was soon hindered until a batch of standard parts could be produced for all the yards.  Developing processes for those has taken some time and this has slowed work on the first yards.  This and the next part describe work on the fore yard before interruption to make sheet and cheek blocks, to be described later.
 
The first picture shows iron (i.e. copper) banding at the center of the yard.
 
 
Most of this is ½" thick x 4" wide – actually slightly thicker (.010").  The center sling band is thicker (.015") – and wider.  It will eventually be drilled top and bottom to secure eyebolts for the chain sling and the sheet block.  Outside of that are two more thicker bands that will secure the iron yard truss, then the first reinforcing band, a band to secure a block,  then a band than will attach a sheet fairlead, then two more bands, one reinforcing and one for a block.  Additional bands were added out to the first studdingsail bracket that is described below. 
 
But first, the basic banding method.  This was described in an earlier post.  The first step is cutting banding material to a length that will form a ring slightly smaller than the yard diameter at its location.  Some ways to do this were described earlier.  The ends of the band are then butted together and silver soldered.  A soldering setup to keep the ends together is shown in the next picture.
 

 
Two steel blocks were used for this.  After soldering, the misshapen bands are then pushed on to a wooden mandrel to shape them and provide a holder for filing (if needed), smoothing, and polishing as shown in the next picture.
 

 
Using a separate mandrel for this helps keep the spar clean.  This one is maple, one of a pair in different sizes to be used for this purpose.  The mandrel may also be used for sizing bands.  This was described in Part 184.  After this step the band is fitted to the yard, with the last ¼" or so a forced fit.
 
The next picture shows fabrication of a studdingsail boom bracket.
 

 
The band is made a fitted to the spar first.  The square piece of hard brass is the silver-soldered to it as shown in the picture.  The two brass bands under the brass leg are used to center the leg on the band width.  The leg is then cut to length and the outer bands for the booms soldered on.
 

 
These are test fitted to the studdingsail booms as shown in the next picture.
 
 
 
The outer boom irons are made in a similar way, with the addition of a simulated roller on the bottom side of the boom band.  The next picture shows the setup for soldering the roller to the bands.
 

 
The rounded out area on the copper wire will be placed under the band in the final setup before soldering, after clipping off the wire.  This is a simplified simulation of the actual roller, which would be on an axle within the band diameter.   In the last picture, the outer arm has been bent and inserted into the end of the yard and shown with the yard temporarily mounted.
 
 
There is more work to do on these parts, including blackening.  Also, the reinforcement of the yardarm is not shown.  This includes a u-shaped band wrapped around on the axis of the yard and two circular reinforcing bands over it.  I will show pictures of this later.  Also, this photo shows the yard truss that will be described in the next part.
 
Ed

Ratlines, top mast shrouds, and running lights are done.
 
The ratlines went faster and easier than I was expecting.  I ended up making jig out of some strip wood to help keep the shrouds apart and the ratlines at the right intervals.  It is made of a couple strips that are glued together on one end then clamped over the shrouds.  A vertical piece has tick marks to help with ratline spacing.

I did my best to tie them all with clove hitches, or at least something resembling clove hitches.  Even though I tied 488 of them, I probably still couldn't tie a proper clove hitch under normal circumstances.  But tying a clove hitch-like knot for ratlines using tweezers?  No problem!
 

 
Once the ratlines were done on the lower masts and upper masts, I ran the top mast shrouds.  I had held off on these since they would be in the way while doing the ratlines.  These were run from the top of the top masts, through the spreader bars, and down to the chain plates.
 

The running lights were made with some strip wood and the cast metal pieces from the kit.   I wasn't a huge fan of the kit's castings, and considered trying to replace them, but decided it would take too much work and likely not look any better.
 
They were painted red and green.  I decided to paint the backs and the edges black - no idea if that is accurate or not - but I felt like it made the colored areas pop out a little more.

So, 590 days into the build, and I'm finished with all the rigging on the masts themselves.  Next I'll be starting to install the booms and gaffs.
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 248 – Lower Fore Yard 2
 
The assembly shown in the last picture of the last post was slit into two and the one for the fore yard downsized to make the 22" squared "first trim" for this spar.  In the first picture holes along the centerline of the spar, in this case jackstay eyebolt holes, are being drilled in the still-square spar.
 

 
This method and the alignment of the vise using a center-finder was described in Part 226.  Using the center-finder helps locate the holes on the precise centerline.  Pencil marks for the quarters, the square near the end of the yard, and the end of the yard arm may be seen in this picture.  The next picture shows the second trim, that is, the tapering of two of the four faces.
 

 
In the next picture the spar is clamped in the planning fixture and one of the two remaining faces is being planed.
 

 
The next picture shows the completed third trim, with all four faces tapered but still square in section
 

 
In the next picture the spar has had the corners of the octagon shape scribed with the tool described in an earlier post and the V-grooved planning fixture is being adjusted to prevent the now-curved spar from rocking.
 

 
This adjustment uses screws to depress the center of the bed to the shape of the spar.  All four corners were removed and the spar rounded on this fixture.  The following picture shows the spar with the first few "iron" bands fitted.
 

Because this is a made spar, it is round in section through the center to allow shrunk-fit reinforcing hoops to be installed to hold the assembly together.  These bands plus a variety of others will be fitted, beginning at the center and working outward.  The bands are made small enough to be force fit into their final positions.
 
Ed

A pictorial update.
This block is just balsa to show how I started out.
The final part was made out of boxwood.

After I had somewhat the right size of the boxwood block the Dremel came into use.
There are a lot of angles to consider.

I made one block and then made a mirrored part.

Then dry placing the part at the end of the quarter deck, to figure out how much to cut off.

This part in the middle is the right one to install.

Here are the port and starboard part testing the area.

Some more trimming and then it will be time to add the waist parts.
Below is all my trial parts.

 
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 247 – Lower Fore Yard 1
 
One of the nice things about this stage of the project is that many directions may be taken in the construction.  I could, and will, be ploughing on with the shrouds, stays, and ratlines on all three lower and top masts, but for my own sanity and for the interest of those following this log, other work is on the agenda.
 
One of these directions is the square yards for the masts now installed.  Apart from being different work, this will open up other areas, like the standing and running rigging for these yards.  But before yards can be fitted, they must be made.  A lot of work is involved.  The spars themselves are straightforward, but making the array of yard fittings – trusses, cheek blocks, cloverleaf sheet blocks, studdingsail ironwork, etc. - will be a major task, some of these parts will be "mass produced" and some fabricated one yard at a time.  Making and fitting out the 18 square yards is the largest of the remaining tasks to complete the model.
 
The lower fore yard was the first to be made.  In the first picture, the yard is shown with its structural ironwork – the bands that hold this "made" yard together – plus some bands that had to be fitted first, like the sling band, the truss bands and the fairlead bands that go between structural bands.
 

 
This yard and the main yard are "made" from two pieces joined by a long scarph.  The fore yard was 82' long and 22' in diameter at the center.  The main yard was slightly larger.  This size yard would most likely have been an assembly of two trees, perhaps more.  Both these yards will be made yards on the model.  The next picture shows two scarphed pieces before assembly.
 

 
These pieces were made wide enough to be used for both the fore and main yards.  After gluing up and squaring, they will be slit to form the squares for the two yards.  The next picture shows the scarf been milled in a plank wide enough to produce the two pieces shown above.
 
 
 
The angle of the scarph is only about 2.5 degrees.  The Sherline tilting table was used.  In the picture most of the surface has been milled.  To complete the work the clamp will be relocated to an already milled location.  The next picture shows the final milling step.
 

 
A 3/8" diameter end mill was used.  With the tilting table this is a simple milling task - once the correct lip depth has been set at both ends of the joint.  In the next picture the milled plank has been slit in two and is being glued together with dark glue.
 

 
In the next picture the glued-up piece is being planed to level and square one side.
 

 
This piece was then passed through the thickness sander to level both sides and reduce it to the size of the larger main yard.
 
 
This will then be slit and one piece further reduced to the size of the slightly smaller fore yard, which will then be shaped.
 
Ed

Per - I did something similar with my hatch and cabin tops.  The older versions of the kit (back in the Model Shipways days) came with walnut veneers strips as an option to finishing the hull.  Since I was painting the hull, I used the walnut in the same way you used the mahogany.  I agree it is a much nicer look than the burnt umber painting.  Overall you are doing a fine job on this grand old lady.
 
Concerning the practicums direction on painting - it does not match the plans in a number of areas.  The sides and tops of the rails are reversed black for white, as one example.  Also the finishing of the cabins and hatches may have some discrepancies - don't quote me on that one, it's been a few years.  I followed the paint scheme from the plans rather than the practicum - I think it produces  a more "normal" look than the practicum.
 
As I recall it was that difference in color schemes that made me start questioning some of the practicum details and considering other ways of doing things.
 
Bob

My "baby" now has teeth (the stanchions) and are in place.
Now I am working on the stern part.
It's a delicate area and it's giving me a challenge.
However, I do  like it....... thus giving me a time to experience carving.

 

Rigging continues.  I've realized that posting updates about the details of rigging is a little tedious...rigging is kind of repetitive and most of the details aren't that interesting.  (Once you've done one block, the rest are basically identical).  So, I'll just kind of 'sum things up' and get my build log up to date.
 
(If any Bluenose builders out there are really looking for details on every line I'm running, I'm putting all the boring details on my blog...link in signature...but not adding them here as they'd be a little redundant given the amount of great rigging tips/advice available here).
 
Anyway...the update...
 
I've installed the top masts, and run the spreader lifts, main top mast shrouds, pullback stay, main top mast stay, and balloon jib stay.  These were all pretty typical.  Lots of eye splices and a few lanyards.
 
I've also run the port and starboard flying backstays.  These were fun, as they required some blocks and such.
 

I still need to run the shrouds that go from the top masts, through the spreaders, and down to the deadeyes.  But I think once these are installed, it will be harder to tie all the ratlines.  So, I've gone ahead and added the sheer poles and started in on the ratlines.
 

This is my first time doing ratlines (my first build, the Phantom, didn't have any).  I've quickly become very familiar with clove hitches, or at least a fast way of tying clove hitches for these ratlines.  The plans indicate that the ratlines sometimes cover all four shrouds, but often only cover three.  I've gone with three shrouds simply because it means fewer knots to tie.
 
I'm about 60% done with one lower set, so I have a long way to go.

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 246 – Main Topmast Backstays
 
The main topmast backstays are exactly like their foremast counterparts – two pairs of 10 ½" lines looped over the topmast head and secured to the channels with deadeyes by 5" lanyards.  The alligator clamp holding one of the 16" backstay deadeyes in the first picture was very useful when tying the throat seizing and in setting the deadeye height.
 

 
The throat seizing is being tied in the next picture.
 

 
The two round seizings above the throat were made with a series of clove hitches.  The easiest way that I have found to tie each hitch on these and on the ratline knots is shown below.
 

 
After tying an overhand knot one one leg of the stay the tweezers are placed through the loop in the line that is passed behind the stay. The tweezers are then used to grip the end and pull it through to form the hitch.  This process goes very fast and yields a tight seizing from the first hitch.  I am using three hitches on these. 
 
The threading up of the aft deadeye lanyard on this side is being completed in the next picture.
 

 
The first tensioning is started in the next picture.
 

 
The linen lanyards are pretty stiff, so pliers are used to grip each leg in turn, pulling up on the inboard legs and down on the outboard until all four stays have about equal tension and the forward stay is taut as well.  In the next picture the upper aft deadeye is being adjusted to make its face parallel with the stay.
 

 
This can be done by gripping all three of the outer lanyard legs and raising or lowering them until the deadeye faces are aligned. 
 
The next picture shows the four fairleads for these stays ready to be lashed on.
 

 
The lashing thread was first glued to the perimeter groove on the inboard side to make these easier to lash up.  The last picture shows the two starboard fairleads installed
 

 
The loose lashing ends will be trimmed later.  The lanyards will be wound around the stay later after a final tension adjustment in a week or so.
 
Ed