bhermann

Thanks JJ,
 
Going off course a little bit, I worked on making some closed hearts for the bowsprit stays and shrouds--

 
I need two different sizes--4 for the stays, and 4 slightly smaller for the shrouds.  After doing a few after cutting them off, I realized it would be much easier to shape them before cutting them off--


 
Now I need to make a bunch of deadeyes for the topmast shrouds, as well as the backstays.
 
All for now,
Ron

The masts have all been shaped, and fid holes and sheave holes cut into them in various places also.  I blackened using my usual method (shown a few times earlier in this log), and here they are--

 
They are not completely finished.  Tung oil finish is only partly applied, as part of the procedure to minimize bleed of the staining.  I need to attach some eyebolts to the caps; and the shroud deadeyes and some blocks to the tops, but they can finally be temporarily assembled to see how they look--

 
And on the ship--


 
Next will be finishing those parts I mentioned earlier, and checking the deck to see if there's anything else that should be done before starting the standing rigging.   Also making the rest of the bowsprit, and the trymast that attaches to the aft side of the mainmast.  And I'm sure I'll discover additional things that should be done before the stays and shrouds go on!
 
All for now,
Ron
   

Fore Ratlines completed…

 Cheers 🍻 

Made some progress on the rigging.  The helping hands are indispensable for working on the blocks and there a bunch to do with the running rigging.
 
I created a quick "loop form", for lack of a better name, using some rigging line and a toothpick.  One end of the line is glued on the toothpick to keep it in place and the other has a loop, hardened with CA that I can slip on and off to position it once the block is held in one of the clamps.  Once that is in place I can tie the seizing line in-between the clamp and the toothpick, which leaves a perfectly sized loop on the end of the block.

After the loop is seized, I remove the block, wrap and glue the loose ends around the end, and then cut the line flush with the corner of the block.
As a break from the blocks, I added the marker lights to the forward shrouds and the star to the bow.  

Next I started rigging out the main boom.  I added the foot ropes and then moved on to the boom crutch tackle.  There are a lot of blocks and lines in a small space at the stern.  I have everything tied to the appropriate belaying pin or to a bitt, but nothing is permanent at this point.  I need to snug thinks up and want to think through adding the sail before I lock everything in.

Finished up with the topping lift.  Looking at the remaining main boom rigging, the rest will wait until after the main sail is added. 

Tim
 
 

Thanks, CiscoH, Håkan, davec and JJ, and all who are looking in and liking.
 
Yes, I like the "workaday" stowed look better than perfectly coiled lines.  The inspiration came from seeing how the working carronade on the Niagara replica ship had been tied down.   There is a photo of it earlier in this log (post #116), but here it is again--

 
My take on it is a little different (simpler to accomplish), but retains the idea of wrapping the tackle falls back and forth across the top of the carronade.
 
The 6-pounder long guns have been installed--


 
Now it's time to put the ship away again--


 
And continue work on Oneida's spars--

 
All for now,
Ron
 
 

I spent the last week lashing down the carronades--


 
At the bow are the tackles for the two 6-pounder cannon, and also their breeching lines.
 
The two carriages are nearing completion here, black monofilament fishing line was used for the truck "pins"--

 
After they were finished, fitting the breeching lines was next.  One end was lashed to it's eyebolt and temporarily fixed into the bulwark.  The line was checked for length, allowing for a loop around the cascabel, and the fastening to the other eyelet--

 
The cascabel loop was temporarily tied, as well as the first lashing of the eyebolt, and the length was checked again--

 
As the first breeching line was finished, the second could be made up more quickly using the first as a guide, without needing to check it in place on the ship--

 
 
I've reached my stopping point for the day.  
 
Ron
 

I got all the chain plates pined to the hull now using .013" brass rod.
 
 
 
I think they look a lot better.
 

 

 
Made the woodern box which covered the friction clutch while I was doing this I broke the hinges so will have to make again.
Then made a small step which went in front of the winch gears, saw this in the LB Jenson book.
Also another small item I had not made was the chain box so that is now made.
 

 
 

 
Finaly got a coat of Danish oil on the decking, its been quite a few years.
 

Was just checking the the fit of the Jumbo Jib Stay Bail which I had made a couple of years ago, was trying to get the eye bolts to go in holes I had drilled in deck when the soldered joint gave way.
So thought I should make a different way, started by drilled two .032" holes into a piece of .062" brass rod, then rebent bail legs, made a small drawing so that I could make the couplings to fit the eyebolts better, and so that they would be able to solder to the .032" legs, used 1/16" square brass, machined one side down to .048" the other side machined to .055" thk, then drilled the .020" & .032"holes, the slot was made with a .020" slitting saw, after doing all that it was all soldered together.
 

Then blacken it.
Small thing but made better second time around.

 
Thanks to all who look in, and make a comment, and I appricate the likes as well.
 
Regards
Richard
 
 

Greg, your Dories look great. 👍 Very creative alternative solution to those kit supplied parts. You are making very good progress. 
 
John

An update on my dories... After not having great success using the kit-supplied pieces to construct the dories, I needed to come up with an alternative plan.  One of the other participants in our local Kansas City-area shipbuilders' club also does a lot of 3D printing for tabletop RPG activities.  I provided him the dimensions for the dories needed for this Bluenose, and he (quite easily, he states) printed out a handful of 3D resin models. Sweet! 
 

 
In the picture above, the dory on the left is what he was able to print and he printed a bunch for me to work with.  The dory on the right is where I began to cut and paste the cleats and battens using 3mm wide strips.  This is where a lot of trial and error came into play.  It was very difficult for me to get these hand-painted well (still not good with the airbrushing technique...) with the wood pieces glued in.  So, I needed to paint these first without any inside work.  I also tried to prime these first and then apply paint, but I wasn't liking how that was looking on a few I tested.  I finally landed on simply painting these directly with no primer, and the paint spread pretty nicely, albeit I probably put 4-5 coats of the acrylic paint on each dory.
 
Once they were all painted, I was then having difficulty cutting the rails using 1/64" and even 1/32" thin wood, so I decided to use some thick 80 lb/118 gsm cardstock for the rails.  I was still able to use the 1/32" wood for the cleats and battens, as well as for the thwarts (seats).  I also drilled holes in the cardstock for the thole pins.  I was also able to easily drill holes in the resin-printed dories for the beckets using a #74 bit (0.57mm).  The beckets were made using 0.50mm tan rope.
 
              
 

 
I made the oars using 1/16' x 3/16" stock.  They were cut to 50mm length with a 30mm handle.  They were stained with Red Oak and the handle grips were painted with Mars Black acrylic paint.
 

 
I had previously built the dory kids and placed them aside.  I now finished those dories, placing eyebolts at the base for the tie-downs.
 
        
 
                   
 
Although I am going to wait until I complete more work on the masts and some of the rigging on and close to the deck before I secure these dories and kids to the deck, of course I had to see how they are going to look on the deck... They look ok! 
 

 
So, now it's time to work on the masts!  The work just keeps on getting more challenging! Appreciate the reads, comments, criticisms and advice!
 

Interestingly, the increased precision machine tools provide requires more thought up front. The plan is to take a brass rod or rectangle(rectangles are hard to find in really small sizes) and cut it to the dimensions needed. Here are the dimensions scaled from the plans:

The largest dimension is 1.75 mm. A little trigonometry gives us the smallest rod that 1.75 mm will fit inside as 2.48 mm(~3/32"):

The first step is to cut the rod to a rectangle of the largest dimension:

At this time the holes were drilled in the wide end. A partial slot was cut to simulate a sheave. The mill made this easy as incremental small steps can be accurately cut to approximate a round object in the slot. The piece was then centered in a 4-jaw chuck on the lathe and the round part of the shaft cut from the bar:

After the final dimension was achieved the shaft was polished. It was then reversed and clamped in the 3 jaw chuck. The rough shape of the sheave end was cut and then finished with a file and sandpaper. The part was bent with wire bending pliers and blacked with Caseys:

There was no information on the plans about rigging the anchor. The only information on the was the location of the rigging eyes and belay pin. In researching this I found the "Suburban Ship Modeler". This is a really nice blog with excellent photography. Here's his blog about Bluenose anchor rigging. Be sure to check it out; https://suburbanshipmodeler.com/2017/04/09/anchors/
This is a diagram from that blog:

Adding the various attachments was next. The through link was made with .5 mm brass wire. Two of the brass eyebolts supplied with the kit made the eye and hook. The closest chain to scale I could find was 42 link/inch copper from Model Shipways. This presented a problem as the link inner diameter would not fit over the .5 mm brass wire. I used .3 mm wire to make a connecting link. Though difficult to form and thread through the link, it works. The sheave axle bolt was a short piece of .5 mm wire cut slightly long and crushed in place with flat jaw pliers:

Some closeups of the installed cathead and anchor:

The cathead is an interesting piece. It also turned out to be difficult to construct. My initial approach was to use a brass screw and cut it down to size with a mill in the drill press. Then drill the holes. I simulated the sheave by drilling two holes and partially milling the slot. A straight pin sized hole was drilled in the end. This was then soldered to the pin with silver solder and shaped appropriately with files and sandpaper. The initial cathead turned out not to bad but was not accurately sized. Note the supplied part next to the pieces. I could not manage to repeat the process for the other cathead. I made several attempts but could not repeat the first attempt. The brass screws are made from quite hard material and are difficult to work.


This frustration fed my resolve to find a real machine tool solution. I'll describe the machine tool process in the next post.

Next up; The anchor and ancillary equipment. The construction of the anchor itself is aided by the provision of a couple molded parts that only needed some cleanup. The drawing of the anchor in the plans is to scale. These are quite large anchors. I was surprised by the size of the cross piece. There's quite a lot of information on the anchor and it's utilization. However, there are no pictures of the original ship with the anchors secured on the ship or rigging diagrams for it. There is a nice drawing of the cathead, which is not the same scale as the rest of the drawing, but the scale is not noted.
 
To finish the anchor I simply used a large toothpick shaped per the drawing and inserted into the anchor. This is held in place by seizing cord wrapped on either side of the anchor. The second anchor is not rigged but lays on the deck for display. Paint is simply flat black.

Hi Nils, and thank you.  I can’t believe I put this log in MSW almost 11 years ago.  Once our kids became active hobbies like this collected some dust.  I’ve begun on it again, backtracking a little bit, fixing a few things I wasn’t happy with.  Maybe more to come, here in the month(s) ahead.
 
Elia

Thanks, JJ.
 
Now that I have finished stropping the blocks, the ship comes out on to the table for rigging the carronades, and two 6-pounder cannon--
.
 
Tackle lines have been cut, dyed a little darker, and are in process of tying to an eyelet in one of each pair of blocks--

 
I had assembled one of the 6-pounder cannon carriages a while ago, now I need to assemble the other one, as well as finish the first with cap-squares, breeching rings and other eyelets.  I have two extra axles pieces here!--

 
All for now,
Ron 

I like the gripper pads idea -- gonna have to copy that one.

Finished up the standing rigging over the weekend!  This was quite a process, as I redid several of the lines (some multiple times) not liking how they turned out (too tight, too loose, I didn't like the way it looked, etc).  Hopefully I have learned enough from the standing rigging work to limit the number of redos on the running rigging

I ordered the 3 clamp ;helping hands from Micromark.  I used fuel tubbing from my R/C stash for extra grip on lines and to keep the clamp teeth from digging into the blocks. This will be a huge help as I get more into rigging blocks for the running rigging.

Tim
 

Rat Lines continued…

I chose to place the rat lines across three of the four shroud lines. Each rat line starts with a half hitch on the first line. 

I then verify the distance. (5-6 mm)

I then place a tiny drop of CA glue on the half hitch knot. Using a paper towel I immediately wick of the excess glue. 

I then complete the series of two more knots across the shroud. 

We fast forward to the top, where it really gets tough. 😬

I use nail clippers to trim each line, taking care not to clip the shroud. There are Fifty rat lines per shroud, that’s 100 tails to clip. Four sets of shrouds means I will have 400 clippings to clip on 200 rat lines. But who’s counting? 😆

1 of 4 should completed…
Onwards 🍻
 
 

Thanks Håkan.
 
Only a few photos today, but I'm happy to report that I worked up the motivation to finish the carronade tackle blocks.  This shows the 13 sets that were done, and last four sets (16 blocks) I still needed to do--

 
The total here is 17 sets, because one is on the already rigged carronade that has been on the ship for years.  And here they are done--

 
That was probably the least pleasant task I have had to do on the build so far (literally taking me years of off and on work), and I'm glad they are finished!  
 
And here is one of the topgallant masts roughed out, next to a topmast, and the other topgallant blank--

 
Next is rigging the carronades, and continuing work on the masts.
 
All for now,
Ron
 
 

Rat lines continued…

OK, I’ve decided not to let OCD get the best of me and let well enough alone on the deadeyes. I did start over on the rat lines. 
 
Onwards … Cheers 🍻 

Thanks Håkan.   I can only guess that when they were assembling that page of the book, the true scale illustration just looked too small on the page, so they enlarged it and didn't change the caption.  Who knows?!  Hopefully I will remember to always double check the illustrations.
 
I finished the trestletrees, and test fit the pieces, checking to make sure they would also fit on the topmast--

 
Then I made a rudimentary jig to hold the trestle pieces, for gluing the crosstrees.  I rarely make these kind of jigs, because I am too impatient and lazy, but it was a good idea to do this, and it only took a few minutes--


 
I ended up making deeper notches in the trestletrees, and none in the crosstrees, though you can see I had marked some, and even started to cut a couple notches in one of the crosstrees, before deciding it would be wiser to just notch the trestletrees even though not historically accurate.  I test fit the crosstrees many time, adjusting the notches in the trestle trees for depth, and to make sure the crosstrees were parallel to each other, and perpendicular to the trestletrees.  I then glued the crosstrees in--

 
The photo makes that first set of notches look very bad.  It's not so noticeable in person, but I'll fill the gaps and all will be stained black when done--

 
There is more work to do now on the topmast: filing a tenon on the end, for the cap, and angling the top of the octagonal haunch so the trestletrees sit parallel to the water line--
 

 
Now it's on to the topgallant masts.
 
Ron  
 
 

Yes, Håkan, more practice!!
 
I had cut out the trestle trees, and glued the crosstrees down to a piece of paper, to "hold' them while I filed the tapered undersides.   But a nagging feeling that they were too big wouldn't go away.  After holding the topmast close to them, I was pretty sure of it.   I looked at some photos of other models and then got out Lee's "Masting and Rigging", and calculated the length of the crosstrees according to that source.   Sure enough, it appeared that I had made them about 50% too long.   While I love Petrejus' book, this is the second time I've gotten burned using his illustrations without checking the scale accuracy.   Although the caption for the crosstree illustration read "full size" (meaning full scale size), it was actually quite a bit larger.
 
Here are the new crosstrees, roughly shaped, compared to the previous ones--

 
I glued them down and tapered the undersides--

 
I cut out new trestle trees, and here they are along with the crosstrees, and a wrong sized trestle tree and crosstree--

 
The crosstrees need some more work, generally narrowing the depth and breadth a bit, and cutting notches for the trestle trees.  The trestle trees need deeper notches, and some further shaping, then I'll try assembling them and see how they look on the topmasts.
 
Ron  
 
 

Finished up the ratlines on the main mast.  

Didn't get much else done on the Bluenose over the holidays other that a few detail touch ups, as I was waiting on more rope to come in from Ropes Of Scale.  The stays and bowsprit rigging line sizes were not close to what is supplied in the kit and I did not want to use the same size line for everything.  Once the line came in I got to working on the bowsprit rigging.
 
I created turnbuckles using 1/32 brass tubbing and 1/64 brass wire.  The brass wire fit perfectly into the tubbing and I used solder to secure the wire.  After the wire was secured, I bent and shaped the hooks on either end.  These seem to be pretty close to scale.

I blackened the turnbuckles and attached them to the bowsprit.

I threaded and seized the lines to the turnbuckles and then ran the lines to the bobstay plates and guy plates and seized them in place.  Still have the add the back rope and foot rope and stirrups to finish up.
 
Tim

 
 
 

Rat Lines…
 

Sheer Poles made from blackened copper wire…

Started the Rat lines last night, but I think I need to tighten these a bit. 😆
 
Cheers 🍻

Happy New Year!  Thanks CiscoH and jereramy, and those liking and looking in.
 
To replace my toothpick topmast fids, I filed a pair from brass--

 

 
Next these were blackened, along with some eyebolts, ringbolts, and four hooks that I need to finish the carronade tackle blocks--

 
Next task is the topmast crosstrees, following the illustration in Petrejus' book "Irene"--

 
I glued six blanks together so I could do the rough shaping for all of them at once--





 
When I was satisfied that the rough shape was close, the block was given an isopropyl alcohol soak to separate the pieces--

 
I notice some irregularities, mostly the right side end is a little "bulbous", and they look just a bit chunky to me, but there is still a lot of work to do on these: drilling holes in the ends, notching for the trestle pieces, tapering the underside, and refining the overall thickness and curves--

 
All for now,
Ron

An update on progress... (or lack thereof)...
 
It was a bit frustrating in the shipyard these past few weeks.  Besides the fact that I had several travels that interrupted shipyard time (spending some great time over the various holidays with family, though, so it was totally worth it despite the shipyard absence), my time in the shipyard was a struggle completing some things successfully.  Guess it is all a part of the build journey and learning along the way.
 
Wanted to start working on the dories and tried to use the supplied pieces in the kit.  The dory sides were difficult to shape properly, so built a little jig to hold them after wetting, shaping and drying.  That helped some but I still found it incredibly difficult to shape them and build them using the kit-supplied brackets.  
 
         
 

 
So, after visiting with another local builder who gave me some alternative options, I decided to shelve the dories project for a little bit.  Hopefully, I should be able to finish some dories in the coming weeks, so... perhaps an update on those in my next post.
 
I did, though, work on the dory kids that the boats will sit on while stored on the Bluenose deck.  Measured, cut, fitted and glued the small wood strips.  Set them aside for now waiting on what I finish with the dories.
 
          
 

 
Time to work on the bowsprit.  Shaped it to the measurement needed at certain points on the 1/4" dowel.  Started at first using my small handheld planer, then went to various grit sandpaper.  Squared off the aft end that fits into the bits and added a small brass rod to fit in the hole I had placed in the samson post.  After it was shaped, it was time to add bands... after soldering some type of rings to the bands for the various backropes, footropes, and stays.  Uggghhh....   I am still not very good at soldering.  Getting better with some practice, but I was not able to duplicate the band rings I have seen on other build logs.  So... I settled for using brass hooks placed through holes drilled in the brass strips.  I also needed to determine how I was going to simulate the turnbuckles.  Without a milling machine (yet), I didn't really know how to duplicate.  Got online and found a company that had small model turnbuckles that looked the best (these are 16mm x 2.5mm), and decided to use those.  Another "settle for" on this bowsprit.
 
             
 
          
 
Worked on the gammon iron, the guy plates and the bobstay plates.  The Proxxon drill again became useful for that operation.
 
      
 
Completed, then, all of the rigging from the bowsprit to the bobstay plates and to the guy plates, and also ran the rope for the backropes and footropes and tying those together at three intervals along the bowsprit.  Finally, ran the jibstops through the holes in the bowsprit strips.
 
     
 
Not my most exciting work to-date on my Bluenose,  but I'll get better.  I'll definitely have to, though, as I look ahead to the next huge task, which is the mast work.  Lots of detailed soldering work will be needed there, as I have looked at other build logs and the awesome work they have done on the mast caps, spring stay bails, shoulder bands, etc.
 
Taking another quick trip to watch a granddaughter in her "senior day" basketball game, and then the hard shipyard work will start again.  Appreciate all the guidance many have provided as I look at other build logs.  Thanks!