egkb

Well I've managed to fit the catharpins in place on the foremast shrouds. Seriously fiddly job with fitting them in place and i'm not entirely convinced that it's the neatest job but they're in. Created the catarpins themselves by threading 0.75mm thread through itself to create a spliced loop on each end. 
 
Used a sewing needle to pierce a hole at the required point in the thread.
 

 
Pushed the needle though halfway.
 

 
Then threaded the needle with the thread end.
 

 
Pulled the thread through itself.
 

 
Repeat for the other end, glue the joints with Cement, and trim down the thread a bit.
 

 
Once cement is fully dry then complete trim back.
 

 
I then fitted three of these between the shrouds using a couple of loops of 0.25mm thread.
 
Once in place I then started work on adding futtock shrouds.
 

 

Sjors, good to hear Anja still has a sense of humour after your latest....uh....investment
As for the Peterson book... I honestly wouldn't know, I've been meaning to pick up a copy. The thing with TFFM IV is that it takes you step by step in a nice logical sequence, and although the dimensions given are for an English sixth rate, they can easily be modified to suit larger ships.
 
Alistair, serving isn't that hard....honest.... Figuring out how to construct the individual components... Not hard either.... Once you get your head wrapped around them
 
Eamon, try a hobby shop that specializes in RC, especially one that actually does repairs, they should have a good supply of useable gears.
 
Andy

I've finally felt well enough to do a little work in the shop. I cannot believe I have not posted any progress since August 19. Before I type anything else, a big THANK YOU to all who kept my spirits up and kept me informed on their build, as well as entertained while recuperating. I enjoy watching and learning from each of your builds as well as the banter that goes on. Well.., it's time to get back to model ship building:
 
I have a few rows of planking completed on the starboard side for band A. The as received planks for Band A are ~0.097” wide by 0.0625 thick. The variation in the width of the planks from the supplier was a bit of a surprise to me, but I can live with it so long as I measure and sand carefully. The min to max width needed for this band, from Stem to Stern ranges from 0.046” to .094”. I'm using a three-butt-shift (photo below on butt-shifts) which may not be very visable once I airbrush the hull. In the photo of the bow you will see where I indicated a dent in the wood, caused by a clamp and probably too much water soaking time. The dent looks deeper than what I can sand out, so I'll try to steam the dent out with a new planking tool I recently picked up.
 
I purchased an electric plank bender from Model Expo. I posted a few pictures and my initial thoughts on this tool under “Building, Framing, Planking and plating a ships hull and deck.”
 
It's not much progress, but it's in the right direction (three steps fwd)...

Thanks all for your  thoughts. I'm having trouble deciding what to do. One side of me says to just leave it until there is some resolution of the problem by ME. The other side of me sees a challenge that's hard to resist. Stay tuned.
 
Bob

Thanks for the kind words everyone.
It's worth giving the paint effect a go as its just a matter of trial and error. Not much further added to the Granado in recent time but a bit of excitement with the plans of the original vessel arriving from the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.
They look very cool indeed and I'm debating wether to get them framed for the wall or possibly fix/laminate it to a wooden base and then mount the vessel via brass pedestals on top. That's all a long way in the future anyway so plenty of time to think about it.
The plans cost about $35nz but the same again for postage. If I lived in the UK and postage was cheaper I'd have stuff like this all over the house- much to my wife's disgust.

 
Probably not much building ahead for a while as my efforts have been diverted to an outdoor kitchen/BBQ/pizza oven area to work on over the warm months. If I make a hash of that it'll be back to boats.

Hi Mobbsie,
 
Look what the postman is bringing me today
A postcard from England with a lovely surprise in it !
THANKS my friend !
 

Wow, Sherry hand carved!!  I just give up, I couldn't even carve kindling
 
Eamonn

I really like Michael's "definition" for what I am doing.
It's actually quite true.
 
So....I did some more "juggling the order" and decided to carve the figurehead. It's not that I don't like planking, it's just a tad monotonous compared to other tasks.
 
The figurehead is in 2 pieces and was hand carved from a small block of basswood. The scalpel in the photo is for size comparison.
 
The figurehead appears larger than it really is when dry fitted on the stem because of the angle of the photograph. (That being said - it is probably a little off scale, but I'm happy with and will leave it as is.)
 

 

 

The error is more clearly apparent when you compare the final picture in my previous post with this shot from the NMM plans of the Sherbourne.
 

 
Note the fuller curve of the stern, compared to flatter curve on my model. In my enthusiasm to fair the bulkheads, I oversanded the aft-most bulkhead which created a much flatter curve on the stern. If not corrected at this point, the model would not look as it did in the plans.
 
To fix this, I traced the shape of the final bulkhead using the original piece of wood that it was cut from in the kit. When I taped that piece of paper to the model, the difference was significant.
 

 
The red-shaded areas in this picture clearly show where I over-faired the final bulkhead.
 
 
 
Next, I marked out the area on the template where the sternpost will stand, and glued strips of 0.5mm walnut to the template.
 

 

 
I then cut out the middle of the template so it would better fit the size of the stern, and glued it in place.
 

 

 
Afterwards I filled in the gap with filler and sanded it smooth. Here's the end result:
 

 

 
 Definitely closer to the curve shown in the NMM plans, I think.
 
After using so much filler, I was concerned that the hull might not allow the PVA used with the second planking to properly grip the hull. I'm not sure whether that concern was well founded or not. At the time, I searched on MSW 1.0 and didn't find any information that clearly stated whether that was an issue. So, I took the step of painting the hull with PVA to give the glue something to grip when I started the second planking.
 
Whether that made a difference or not, I cannot say. But I didn't have any issues with using PVA for the second planking, as I'll show in my next post.
 
 

Thank you for the kind words.  When I started this project the Internet was pretty new, to me at least, and it wasn't easy finding information, or other people doing such things.  Since then I've come across a bevy of wonderful models.  Some aren't much up close, but beautiful under sail, while some just boggle the mind at any distance.
 
Victor, who built the Royal William mentioned earlier, built a Victory some years before, same 1;36 scale I think.
 
 
"Bill Huizing (pronounced Hy-zing) of Summit, New Jersey in 2009 completed an utterly magnificent RC model of the Charles W Morgan whaler seen by visitors to Mystic Seaport." quoted from Mark Steel's column in DuckWorks   Bill doesn't do the Internet" built the 1:24 scale Charles W Morgan I think you'll appreciate.  There was  a YouTube video of it sailing, but it's become "private" sorry folks, it was something to watch it sailing about in Mystic Harbor, a harbor I've sailed about in myself a few times.
 
 
This little fella from Down-unda built himself the bark Sindia - now that's impressive - he can nearly get in it and sail it himself!
 
 
The sailing and static pictures are all very nice, but I tend to go looking for the shots that show the guts, how they handled control, and how they transport these beauties!  Guess I'm just an RC square-rigger geek.

.......

With the mastcoat in place the mast provided made for a reasonably good fit, but to aid in its location I cut a slot in its heel, which secured it over the keel piece. I then tapered the mast from about half-way up its length using a small modelling plane, being careful to take just a thin sliver off with each stroke, and finishing off with a fine-grade sandpaper. (Btw, it is important to always have a sharp blade in the plane which, I find, also tends to reduce ’catching’.) This procedure took a little while, but I didn’t want to give the mast too much of a taper – and I think it resulted in a nice-looking spar. The kit’s topgallant mast was also, to my mind, a little on the thin side and I wanted to both beef it up and lengthen it. I therefore substituted my own from a suitable piece of dowel. Both the topgallant and the lower mast were made of similar dimensions to those given for the Alert, in the AOTS book.
 
Because of the above changes I was unable to use the ’cross trees’ and mast cap from the kit but I had decided to replace these in any case as, from my point of view, they were too small. Both parts are in fact the same, with similar-sized holes drilled for the lower mast and topgallant mast. Initially I attempted to adapt them but, when endeavouring to drill out one of the holes to enlarge it to take the head of the lower mast, it split in half – so that was that, I had to scratch them! The replacements turned out reasonably well, with separate ’trestle trees’ and ’cross trees’, into which the lower and topgallant masts fitted snugly, the lower ’cross tree’ structure resting on a pair of bibbs either side of the mast. I refer to them as ’cross trees’ and ’tressle trees’, but this is really a misnomer as they do not seem to have been fitted on cutters at this date. The structure I made more resembled an oblong-shaped ’box’, open at the top and bottom, with an off-center division passing between the two masts reflecting their differing circumferences.
 
Cutter lower masts and topmasts were in one piece at this date, hence the separate upper mast is referred to as the topgallant. The topgallant mast was also fidded abaft, or behind, the lower mast which meant that backstays were not normally required and could therefore dispensed with. Standing and running backstays were only fitted to the lower mast.  As a further historical note, Sherbourne was very likely one of the last of her type to have this masting arrangement. From around 1780, cutter masts followed the practice on larger ships, with which we are perhaps more familiar, and were rigged with a lower mast and longer topmast, complete with proper crosstrees, trestle trees, bolsters, and backstays. There are also some differences with the shrouds. On Sherbourne these terminate just above the position of the gaff (fitting over a shoulder or stop) rather than going as far as the doubling, but with the later rig the shrouds passed around the lower masthead. The number of yards and their hoisting arrangements also differ from later practice, but more about these later, except to say that pins were inserted into the masts to take the yards when fitted.
 

 
The after side of the lower mast head was fitted with eyebolts to take the blocks for the throat and peak halliards and the boom topping lift, and stops were fitted in various positions for some of the rigging, such as the forestays when they they are fitted. At the base of the lower mast, I fitted a saddle around the aft side of the mast on which the boom jaws rest, whilst below them five cleats were equally spaced around the mast, to take the falls of the running rigging which might be belayed there. I’m not quite sure yet what all of these lines will be but, as I mentioned before, there is an overall lack of belaying points – so I think providing a few more will be an advantage. The cleats were painted black, as were the crosstrees, caps and masthead, whilst the mast itself was stained a reddish brown.
 
The topgallant mast, as mentioned, was a replacement. As with the lower mast, this was carefully tapered at its upper end, and given a snug fit at the heel to fit the crosstrees and mastcap. Not immediately obvious to the eye is the fid, made made fom a small cut-off nail, which passes through a hole drilled through the heel of the mast, and which rests on the upper edges of the ’trestle trees’. As mentioned it is not that noticeable, especially as the whole assembly is painted black – but at least I know it’s there! Just below this is the sheave hole for the toprope, the rope itself being made fast to an eyebolt on the port side of the mastcap. There is a corresponding eyebolt on the starboard side, for the toprope block.
 
At the upper end of the mast there are again stops for the rigging, and at the very top I fitted a truck. This was not provided for in the kit, but I think any mast looks unfinished without one! This was easy to make, being merely a suitably sized piece of dowel rod, with rounded edges and a small capping on the top. Four small holes, two on each side were then drilled, which will take the flag halliards when they are rigged. The topgallant mast was finished off similarly to the lower mast, with the lower end and masthead being painted black, and the spar itself being stained a reddish-brown colour. The masts were then lightly treated with beeswax.
 
I decided to glue the topgallant mast to the lower mast before stepping them as one unit – and in the process completely forgot about how I was going to fit the mast hoops, since they would not now of course, fit over my nicely-made crosstrees! This actually didn’t prove to be such a disaster, when I gave it a little more thought, and the problem was satisfactorily resolved as I will mention later.
 
I opted to glue the mast in place, with a smear of glue around the partners at deck level, and with a spot on the heel where it fits over the keel piece. The actual stepping of the mast went quite smoothly, and it made a close fit. To locate the cut out in the heel onto the keel piece, I had made a small pencil marks on the mast at deck level, which showed the fore and aft position. By slightly twisting the mast this way and that, as I pushed it home, I felt the heel ’lock’ in place. The mast was pretty much vertical in the athwartships plane, according to my homemade plumbob gauge, although to be sure I put some gentle pressure against the top end of the mast whilst the glue dried. The rake fore and aft was, of course, fixed by the kit design.
 

 
We now come to the boom. The dimensions, from the AOTS bible, called for a spar of 62’ in length, which works out to a model length of 27.62 cm. This was not much longer than the length given in the kit instructions, but again I opted to make my own spar, it being a little thicker at 9.2 cm at it’s maximum girth. Both ends are tapered from this point, approximately a third of the length of the boom from the mast. The sides of the boom at the mast end are then chamferred, to fit the jaws. Since the kit supplied jaws would, of course, no longer fit the thicker boom (but which I otherwise considered suitable) I first split them in half, shaped the tail end to fit, and then glued them to the spar on either side. Finally, I drilled a hole in each side at the tail end of the jaws, to take a couple of belaying pins for the mainsail brails. With the boom thus shaped I painted both ends black, including the jaws, and gave it a beeswax finish.
 
Fittings include: a preventer tackle beneath the boom, consisting of two double blocks fixed to two widely-spaced eyebolts, the fall of the line rove between them coming off of the after block, and being belayed to a small cleat on the side of the boom; two stops on top of the spar at its after end, between which the upper double sheet block strop is fastened; a sheave hole for the mainsail clew outhaul, which also belays to a small cleat on the boom; an eyebolt on top of the spar at the aft end, for the topping lift; another eyebolt, near the jaws, for the tack of the mainsail; there is also a small cleat for the ensign halliards.
 
Having finished all these fittings, it was then time to fit the boom to the mast. The mast end would rest, and be glued to, the boom saddle and I would further secure it (as with the yards) by a pin positioned in the mast. The aft end, however, could still move if not fixed so I decided, since the sails would be furled, to make a boom crutch. I had no reference for this (other than more modern ones I have seen) so I made it out of two simple, substantial-looking cross pieces, with a pin through them where they cross. I have it in mind that they fold when not in use, and can be stowed away. It is simply glued to the deck, behind the two lockers, but it made for a stable support for the aft end of the boom.
 

 
Two jobs remained to be done. The first was to fit the parrels, connecting the jaws to the mast, and here I opted to use the black parrel beads supplied with the kit. Then it was simply a case of tying a length of black rigging thread to one end of the jaws, through the hole already drilled, threading on the requisite number of beads required for it to pass comfortably around the mast (being careful not to make it too tight) and fastening the other end of the thread to the opposite jaws. A small touch of glue on the knot would prevent it from untying.
 
There was one other small job to do before the boom was finished. I thought a small footrope at the after end, overhanging the taffrail, might look the part. This was made from a length of black rigging thread, with simple overhand knots tied at intervals, and fastened to the spar. I fitted another stop to anchor the inboard end, the outer being fastened by a simple loop over the boom.
 
Next time: Some items of rigging, the gaff, and the mainsail.

My two bob's worth, stain should not preclude wood glue adhesion because it works by getting into the grain so as long as the stain is not one that seals and finishes then it should be alright. Having said that, I have never stained a hull as I work on bringing out the natural beauty of the timbers involved. Robbyn, I am not a woman but I like what I like too
 
If not, what I have done in the past where I have applied the finishing coat out of necessity before all parts are attached is the sparing use of araldite epoxy and if it is a structural joint then cross hatch the surface with a craft knife first.
 
I know the moment has passed but when I do second layer planking I simply apply PVA aquadhere sparingly to the plank then run my finger gently over the plank to spread it thinly and offer the plank to the hull and rub the plank along it's length from centre to end several times which creates what is known as a "rub joint". the rubbing pushes all air out of the joint so the fluid glue holds the plank almost by vacuum. It only takes a few minutes of checking and pushing and re-rubbing to get the bond to a sufficient strength to hold the plank. Then run a knife edge along the exposed edge of the plank to remove excess glue that would interfere with the next plank and continue. I find second layer planking quite enjoyable and fast except for the obvious need to cut the planks to taper and have never had to use anything to secure the planks in place.
 
Steve

Hi Eamon,
 
Good for you on picking the Sherbourne! As I mentioned, she makes a nice little model, so have fun.
 
Yes, it's always good to check the parts first to see they are all there. Sorry to hear that one of your bulkheads is missing, but hopefully your seller can resolve it. If not, perhaps you could try contacting Jotika who might supply a replacement part.
 
Sorry, but all that I've posted is all there is. Unfortunately, I didn't start a build log from the beginning, and only began one after the hull was finished so it wouldn't have disappeared in the crash. The log, such as it is, is written in retrospect so I don't think I can help much with the early stages, even with photos – and I'm afraid my memory is not that good!
 
I'm glad though my offerings, such as they are, have been of some help. I would suggest you check out the other logs of the MSW Sherbourne fleet, as you'll probably glean some assistance from them.
 
Good luck.

Definitely a rake to those masts!  Looks like it is going over 10 knots standing still.....
 
I also really like the look this provides.
 
Mark

Very nice lines on that boat, thanks for posting the 'Profile' shots.. do I detect a good 'rake' to the masts? she looks very like one of the Great Lakes Clipper-Schooners which are tasty looking boats (like many American designed vessels of the time, in fact look no further than the famous 'America' herself,  and I always has a soft-spot for the Grand Banks Schooner lines too)
 
Eamonn

That I can do (I am actually home this AM watching the kids).  I do want to stress that this is a kit hull, supposedly of a representative clipper from 1847.  I have done little in the way of verifying and definitely no modification.  It was a fun hull to plank - very smooth lines that minimized any need for extreme bends or crazy clamping (much easier than say the Swift).  The hull isn't finalized:  some planks at the stern need some adjusting and the bowsprit will be radically changed, but hey, it is what it is. 
 
I did include one picture of the ship with masts.  Yes, that is a 12" ruler in the photo.  This ship is pretty big.  My wife has inquired where I intend to display it and frankly, I have no idea.  This is a relax the rules and enjoy the build.  Besides, given my output rate the display issue won't be realized until the kids are gone (and I have a 3 year old!).
 
Mark

Thanks Eamonn,
 
When i decided to work 'outside the box' one of my requirements was for it be visually appealing.  I change things on the fly if they don't quite seem complete.  The deck reinforcing was one such item.  It seemed right but definitely wasn't planned for originally.  The result surpassed my expectation.
 
The warning is, once you start bashing you want to bash more and more!
 
Cheers,
Mark

Hi There
 
Really like the contrasting timbers Mark, nice work, as a newbie I wouldn't be familiar with the 'original' model you Bashed from, but what you have there looks fab. Particularly like the deck reinforcing around the winch, cool touch... only wish I had your ability and I understand when things get 'Fuzzy' only too well (I have an 80% finished Heller model of the French Le Superbe that was 'captured' (ahem, ahem) by the Royal Navy and bashed to become HMS Superb 74, with all RN differences for circa 1803..yup that got really fuzzy before I picked a date, there were subtle rigging detail changes around that time. My Masting & Rigging of English Men of War book got a serious looking at)
Wishing you the very best
 
Eamonn

Since this was a working boat it spent a good chunk of time moored to a dock while it loaded or unloaded, so……it needed a robust way to tie up, usually to docks below the height of its bulwarks.  I had noticed the use of cavels on some wooden period ships I have visited and thought this the perfect solution.  A quick check of the Pride of Baltimore II reinforced this by seeing she had them.
 
These were pretty straight forward but I believe really added some pop to the hull.  I decided to use a block of walnut for the hull pass through and basswood (my go to wood) for the interior tie up post.  Since the bulwark was veneer overlaid on the inner sub-layer the walnut really provided a consistent clean look that I liked.  For location, I drilled through the inner bulwark at the center point between frames for accuracy.  A little wood removal with a sharp knife / files and lots of test fittings and this part was good to go.  The inner cavel post was pretty straight forward (don’t forget the matching center hole to the hull) and glued on.  All in all, this was less than an hour of work.  A total of four were put on the Lady Anne (two each side).

This is my build of the Lady Anne (named after the wife – bonus points).  If you squint real hard and tilt your head you may recognize the hull as the AL Harvey.  Other than that it has been a whole lot of kit bashing.  This model was given to me by someone who had just glued the bulkheads on and decided this just wasn’t the thing for him.  Over time (as a break from the Druid) I have done a little bit here and a little there.  I planked the hull as a standard model hull to demonstrate to someone else it wasn’t that hard, so there are planks that taper to points and no real attempt to mimic real practice.  I had ‘assumed’ it would be built out of the box and continued in that direction.  Then things started to get fuzzy. 
I knew that Harvey was a fictitious ship and things really started to bug me about how realistic it was.  The deck furnishings especially just seemed haphazard and in some cases wrong.  This is where I stepped out of the box and this fast build took a hard right into kit bashing.  Over the years I had made a point of keeping pictures of ideas on real ships and models of things I really liked and I started to look at what I could add / substitute in this build.  I started perusing books about clippers, especially ‘The American-Built Clipper Ship, 1850-1856’ by Crothers to look at deck arrangements used by Clippers (and believe it or not, I did find those outhouses shown on the Harvey.  I don’t like them, but I found them).
 



 
I cleared the decks (literally), made paper cutouts of potential deck furniture, and spent a lot of time pondering the imponderables.  A big decision was to rig her as the Pride of Baltimore II was rigged, a true Baltimore Clipper.  This defined the needed pinrails and deck tie downs required (as well as block counts which were a LOT more than the kit supplied).  I moved the pumps aft to where they could actually do some good.  The forward windlass was replaced with a windlass actually capable of bringing in an anchor.  The capstan was moved to a position where it could actually be used, a below deck access was added and on, and on, and on.  The last addition I added are cavels to allow easier docking.  To retain its original heritage I created a 1:48th scale workman that I named sailor Harvey to verify heights as I proceeded.
 



 
The deck currently has a configuration that I am happy with.  The last original piece is the aft deckhouse and it just seems out of proportion for sailor Harvey to navigate through so that will probably be scrapped and an alternate built in its place.  Oh, I retained the cannons since my son insists that cannons are cool and I couldn’t possibly take them off.  I did, however, modify their locations, retain only six (continental breeched) and will probably have two of those stowed parallel to the bulkhead.
 


 
As time allows I will post past pictures of the process I used to build various pieces and the rationale used for including them (which may just be I liked the look).  I am really trying to focus on the Druid and get’r done, but this ship will be warming up.  As usual, any comments are welcome.
 

 
Mark

AUGUST 21
 
 
1781
HMS Minorca (18), Lt. Lawson, scuttled to block the entrance to the harbour at Port Mahon.
1797
HMS Penguin (16) captured two French brigs.
1801
British cutting-out operations at Corunna. Boats of HMS Boadicea (38), Cptn. Charles Rowley, HMS Fisgard(44), Capt. T. Byam Martin, and HMS Diamond (38), Cptn. Griffith, attacked enemy vessels in Corunna harbour and brought out Neptuno (20) a gunboat (1) and a merchant ship.
British cutting-out operations at Etaples. Boats of HMS Hound and HMS Mallard (12) set fire to a vessel loaded with pitch and tar which had been wrecked near Etaples some time previously. Six flat boats then came out of St. Valery and they forced them ashore. where they lay hauled up on the beach. 
Boats of HMS Jamaica (26), Cptn. Jonas Rose, HMS Gannet (16), Isaac Cotgrave, HMS Hound (14), HMSTigress (12), W. Aldus, and HMS Mallard (12) cut out 3 flat boats also near Etaples.
1810
Boats of HMS Sirius (36), Capt. Samuel Pym, cut out a French prize, the Windham, a British East Indiaman.
1813
HMS Laurestinus (24) wrecked North end of the Island of Abaco, Halifax.

I thought you might like to see a few more pictures of the (slow) progress on my Sherbourne. The pictures were actually taken about a month ago, and my wife and I are now at our cottage, so work won't resume on her until the autumn.
 
I've now finished the shrouds apart from the ratlines, which I'm leaving off for access until later, and have in place some of the running rigging, including the burtons, top rope, boom topping lift, and throat and peak halliards for the mainsail. The latter is bent to the gaff and brailed into the mast:
 

 

At last a Spanish ship!
 
Here I am being from Madrid close to the MNM and I am building one from Her Majesty Service ship... Shame on me!
 
Here´s a link with some photos of the San Felipe completed http://www.modelismonaval.com/galeria/category/75-san-felipe-de-san-martin and here is the homepage of the museum. You can sail on it in english and you can ask for plans. Send me a PM if you´re interested on and I´ll explain you how to get them. Link to the museum: http://www.armada.mde.es/ArmadaPortal/page/Portal/ArmadaEspannola/ciencia_museo/prefLang_en/
 
And here´s a link with a video (youtube) with a very good music from Master & Comander:
 
Good Good Luck with this endevour!
 
Daniel.

Not much progress to report, but I think I know how I am going to handle the repair.
 
As you can see below, the jibboom has broken off cleanly at the mast cap. 
 

 
As a result, all of the fore stays etc. are now rather slack.
 

 
I am going to replace the jibboom and all of the fore stays - a couple were not particularly great anyway.  When i do that, I should be able to get a nice uniform tension on them all, and also increase slightly the tension on the back stays (rear most shrouds?)