keelhauled

what did she have for a figure head? santa or rudolph?  Must have been able to fly fast  through the fog. 

Alexandru,
Thank you for the detailed explanation! I really appreciate you taking the time to fix your old computer to get the photos and then providing such a detailed explanation!  I've been wondering how to tackle this for quite some time.  You really nailed the stern.
 
 I'm just amazed with your work.  It was a pleasure to follow and I continue to go back to again and again for inspiration!
thanks for sharing with us!
 
 
Marc

Alexandru
 
I went to your sight.  Beautiful photos.  I saw that you did more work on the stern gallery.  Can you explain how you did the balusters?  I saw the photos, but I wasn't sure how you formed them.
 
thanks
Marc

Congratulations!!  What a beautiful piece of art!!

Congratulations!!  What a beautiful piece of art!!

I love this build.  Big smile every time I look at the progress!  Thanks for making my day

Truly a work of art!
You walk among modeling gods. 

words escape me to express how beautiful the model is.  I can't believe the skill and quality as well as the beauty.  Thank you for sharing it with us!

I agree!  I don't post much on your build because I can't find the words to express my amazement and I would just be repeatedly saying the same thing over and over.  By the way, a 56 inch long hull is nothing less than awesome!  I keep looking at the entire build over and over to see what I missed the previous times through the photos!
 
Thank you so much for giving us the privilege of seeing you work!
 
Marc

Every time I look at your model I'm speechless.  Just Amazing!  I don't know what else to say.

Amazing work!  I'm just blown away.  Just following the build I have a much better idea of how the ship is actually laid out. much better than just looking at the book
 
Thank you for posting your work!
 
Marc

Hi Marc,
Good to see your "Hale and Hearty."
At least you can mix a little free time with business.
 
Cheers and Regards,
 
Harry.
 
 
 

Hi Harry!
Happy New Year!  I hope your summer is going well.   Had a great time in Melbourne and Sydney a couple of months back. It was business, but I got a day free on two weekends.  spent it on the water!
best, 
Marc

Crojack sheet mystery solved.
 
This is one of those cases where you've searched over the plans numerous times and missed the information in front of your face. Maybe this doesn't happen to you, it's only me. 
 
I posted the question under rigging on this site.  B.E answered with directing me to Longride's Cutty Sark book.  I had seen the information he referred me to which addressed the standing location of the sheet, but not the working portion of the sheet's belayed position.,
 
However, thanks to B.E., I went back through all of Campbell's pans again. comparing the Longridge info against Cambell's plans.  I found that the info I was seeking regarding the belaying point is in the Rigging Plan.  I guess that I spent too much time looking at the sail plan.  However, I did look at the rigging plan several times and missed the comment pointing to the sheet:  "4 inch hemp rope through sheave in bulwark and belayed on pinrail."    You were right Harry!
 
I had actually, given up searching and  had decided to add another set of bollards to mount aft of the pinrail for the crojack sheets.  I made two sets of the bollards from steel on my lathe and soldered them in place on a brass channel.  I made pins in the bollards to provide unnecessary support and alignment .   I also launched a single bollard into outerspace (or at least my ceiling) when I was parting it.   No use looking for that tiny part in my cluttered garage. 
 
Here's my handiwork. 
 

My first attempt at making bollards.  Not great, but better than the castings.  Now they aren't needed.  Oh well. 
 
 
 

Hi all, 
I have been slowly making progress.  But I have made progress.  I find it amazing that what I think will take 15 minutes takes an hour to rig.  I find that I run a line, then find it wrapped around something or needs to be run differently not to fowl another line, etc.   Then I have to pull it out and re-rig it another time or two.  It's taking much longer than I anticipated.   However, it's fun when I'm not getting aggravated at reworking lines.  One step forward, two steps (or more) back.  
 
This is where I'm at tonight. 

When I rigged  the mast I braced around the yards as I worked from bottom to top. I didn't have any of the actual brace lines rigged.  Per Harry's (HOF) recommendation, I will wait until the end to rig the actual braces.  I just lightly glued the yards into position. This allowed me to run all of the rigging through the fairleads and to the pins as I rigged.  I glued the lines to the pins as I went and this allowed for a very clean process.  However there was a price.  I had a heck of a time running the lines with the yards braced around. Maybe I should have rigged top to bottom?  Anyway For the main mast I decided not to brace the yards around. I'm running all of the lines through the fairlead board (where applicable) then through the fairleads on the shrouds and then I just pulling the lines through the rail to the outboard of the ship. My thought is that at the end, I move the yards  (brace) into their final position and adjust the tension on the lines and belay the lines to the pins, let it sit for a few days and adjust any tension needed, then glue the lines to the pins.  So far,  I've gotten the course through the t-gallant rigged and it seems to be working ok.  
 
here's a shot.  I have taken more photos and will post them after I move them from my camera to the computer. 
 
Take care, stay well, and stay safe. 
best, 
marc
 
A few shots of the model 
 
 

 
Main mast -rigging is loose

 
Aft fore mast rail 

 
 

 
main mast progress. loose rigging

 
Aft side of the main mast spider band - work in progress

Additional comments on the position of the cro-jack Sheets on the pin.  I was recently in Australia and got to spend time on another tall ship.  I spoke to one of the crew about the topic.  He said that it made sense to him and that the cro-jack doesn't usually have that much stress on it since it isn't usually used in heavy weather.  He said that it should only take three or four hands to to comfortably to pull the the sheets when setting the sail since the bulwark fairlead is being used.  To adjust the sheet in fair weather it would only take one hand.  He made his point  by handing me the sheet and asking me to adjust it.  I couldn't believe how little effort it took.  I could have done it with one hand.  He said he wouldn't be concerned with belaying that line to a pin if it was large enough to accept it and the sail plan reference to belaying to a pin sounded correct to him.
best, 
Marc

Pleased to oblige, Wefalck. Pictures as requested. They certainly are attractive instruments. There is a table of figures for setting every conceivable proportion one might want.
 
I use similar strategies to yourself when subdividing distances, especially on curved surfaces such as hulls.

Hi, 
I just came across this post.  Bruma, I know that it is too late for a response to help you, but it might others who are looking for the same answer.  the research I've done matches how you rigged the spencer in the stowed position.  I rigged mine in the same manner, brailed. 
 
nice model, 
Marc

Looking good!  Keep up the great work!

Visual testing

very impressive work going on there!
You're very creative.  
Hope all is well with you and your family!
best
Marc

The Jig has been our fastest selling item that we have produced for the ship model community, with almost 200 sold in the first two months of production.  In fact, we sold out of the first 100 in less than 24 hours!  The Jig is well made, durable and very reasonably priced.  A note to non-US purchasers - the shipping cost for up to 3 jigs is the same as for 1 jig (blame the US postal service - not us) - so double up with a buddy or two and split the shipping.  US shipping goes up a little bit with two or three jigs but is also worth splitting with a friend.

Hi everyone, 
 
I was asked about the details for rigging the main staysails on the Cutty.  I thought that others might have the same questions, I know that I did. So, I thought that I would share my reply here.
 
It isn't clear from many sources where lines are belayed or some of the details.   Here is my take on it. 
 
Based on my info here is what I believe this info to be correct.  For these references my primary source is Campbell’s plans.  It took a lot of research to find this info and some dry rigging runs to verify.  I messed up on my Cutty and forgot the staysail whips on my model until it was too late to correct the oversight. I was too focused on the halyards.  However, Campbell and others do not have whips for the staysails.   Who knows?!    I’m not saying that this is absolutely correct, but it makes sense and is based on Campbell as much as possible. The block sizes, line sizes, fairleads and whips are from Campbell. The actual pin locations and the aft foremast pin rail is based on other references. That fore aft pin rail is debated.
 
Main Topgallant (t’gallant) staysail.
The Topgallant staysail halyard is doubled.  The halyard is attached to the lower eye of a two-eye single 8” block Starts attached to the strop above the cringle for the lifts. In execution I moved up above the backstays so that the block cleared the stay.  I believe that it is a 2 1/4 inch hemp line.   The  halyard goes down to and through  another single block which is attached(shackled) to the main t’gallant staysail’s peak cringle and back up and through the 8” block where it started.   The line then goes down to the starboard topgallant fairlead then down to the pinrail below and forward.
 

 
The 2” downhaul is attached to the shackle at the peak cringle of the sail where the halyard is attached and runs through the hanks to the tack cringle of the sail and to an 8 inch single block then is which is attached to the topgallant stay below the roller.   If you do not have an aft pin rail the line goes down to the port side.  Here it terminates in a whip (If you decide to use one, otherwise belay directly to the sheeve or the pin), where the downhaul ends in an 8 inch single block.  the whip line is spliced to a hook fastened to the lower band – aft port side.  The whip runs up through the single block and back down to the spider band and is made fast to a belaying pin- aft port side. (there are three pins and eyes on the aft side).  If you have the aft pin rail which is the same as the fore pin rail, the line goes down to a whip and instead of belaying to the spider band, the line either goes directly to the port pin on the rail or goes through fore to aft the outer port sheave of the pin rail and up to the belaying pin. The topgallant staysail is a held to the foremast using a strop passed around the fore mast and shackled to the tack cringle.  The block is just below the strop
 

 
 
Royal staysail
The royal staysail is doubled and the same rig as the t’gallant. The differences are that the halyard is 2 ¼ inches with 6 inch block.  The downhaul is a 1 ¾ inch down haul. 
The halyard goes through the port royal backstay fairlead and to the pin rail to the pin just forward of the backstay.
The downhaul whip uses the center eye and belaying pin on the aft side of the foremast spider or the center pin in the pinrail if you have one.
 
Main staysail
The main staysail is doubled and same rig as the t-gallant.   The differences are as follows. The halyard and downhaul are both  2 ¼ lines. Campbell says that the downhaul block is 6”.  The down haul block is attached to the main stay just aft of the spider band on the starboard side (see photo). The mainstaysail is a held to the main topmast stay using a strop shackled to the tack cringle and the leg of the stay just before the seizing begins.  This stop needs to be long enough to allow the sail to clear the deck house.

The halyard block is attached to the port side 2nd most aft eye of the trestletree (fore aft) of the top mast crosstree. There are 5 eyes on the trestletree – going from forward aft this is the 4th eye, port side. The halyard goes to the port topmast backstay fairlead, forward hole (there are three holes) and to the pin rail to the pin just forward the stay.
 
The downhaul whip (if you use one, or directly to the belaying pin) uses the starboard eye and belaying pin or the starboard outer sheeve and pin if you have an aft pin rail.  I know the photo has the downhaul belaying directly to a pin (no whip) on the portside.  I have photos with it belayed on the starboard- I think that they moved the line so that it wasn't in the way of repairs (see the barrier next to the mast and the lines leading forward to block visitors from the port side of the deck).  What can you say? Also, I don't see how you would use a whip in this case with the block so close to the deck. 
 
Hope this helps, it’s taken me a few hours to put together, but a pleasure if it helps you.
Marc
 
 

Hi Marco, 
 
You are very kind. 
 
At about 4am this morning I woke and realized that I forgot the sheets!  crazy the way my mind thinks. I remember spending too much time researching that topic.  In general, I found contemporary paintings (don't like as reference) and photos (often to overexposed or grainy) which showed clippers having both sheets with single and sheets with whips. For the Cutty I couldn't find a photo where I could see staysail sheets.  As you say, Campbell shows the Cutty with singles.  The painting by F Turdgay painted in 1872 which is with Campbell's plans used for the restoration, has the Maintopmast staysail with whips and the others appear to be singles.  As a result, I don't think it matters. Time to be our own captains 
 
best, 
Marc

Thank you Mark for taking time to answer my question, I really appreciate that! 
I completely agree with you about halyards and downhaul. That was my interpretation too, and I will display them in this way. The biggest question is about the sheets... 
The sail plan by Campbell display whips for the fore stay sails, but not for the main and mizzen stay. They seem to be made of two simple line, one for each side.
Without any further information, I think I will make them that way, even if a lot of doubt still remains.
Thank you again for helping me and congratulation for your masterpiece!