keelhauled

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

Very nice work. The boats look great! 

Very nice work. The boats look great! 

Very nice work. The boats look great! 

Very nice work. The boats look great! 

Hi All,
Small update:
 
I am pleased that I did not install the Fwd Superstructure cladding, I suspected and found, that there were quite a few plastic boxes, vents, etc, that are mounted on the cladding, both Fore and Aft Superstructures.
(These were contained in "Issue 83")
 
The moldings were absolutely terrible, I almost had to saw them out of the sprue!!
(There were seven "Deck Lights" that I did not bother with, they were pretty "Knackered" after removing these tiny pieces and at about 0.5 X 1.0mm, no one is going to notice.)
 
Anyway, cleaned them up and attached. (I am now a big fan of the wax pencil to pick up and position the tiny bits.)
 
I hope to install the PE cladding tomorrow. (I have to be so careful with the Railings.... I don't think they even like to be breathed on.... 🙂)
 
Cheers....HOF.

Ian thank you for the information and video. I really appeciate the help!!!
 
Harry, thank you for alerting me to possible issues!!! Keep on doing so and reminding me of what i need to keep an eye on. I have continued to check the fore deck house. The staysails dont have their sheets rigged yet because if I do i loose access to install the forward deck house.  Im still trying to figure out how to best rig some lines that will be on the pin rails beside the forward de k house. Sometimes is lind of a chicken/egg issue. Same with the aft deckhouse. 
Keep reminding me!!!!!!!!
 
Thanks
Marc 

Hi Marc,
Just a suggestion here....
Have you also looked at your access for installation of Deckhouses, Boats, Etc before you get to the final pieces of Rigging?
 
As stated, just a suggestion, you have probably already done so and I am certainly not teaching you to suck eggs, so to speak.... 🙂
(It would be awful if you had to de-construct anything....)
 
Cheers and Regards,
 
Harry.

Thanks Harry.
 
I'm considering just adding another set of bollards beside the pin rail. Or just making it fast to the pins.  I had already placed the existing bollards aft according to Campbell's plans. To me it doesn't make since not to use the sheave in the fairlead. To rig the sheet aft without it running against the sheave would cause excessive wear to the sheet.  Also the sheets for the  larger courses run forward from the bulwark Fairless to much smaller bollards on the rail. 
 
I have time to figure it out. I realized that the starting points for the braces need to be addressed while I can still maneuver the sails. With the sails in place, the sails are making access the starting position of the bracing line difficult to access and attach to the shrouds. There is a similar issue with the brace pendents. I won't rigg the braces till the end. But I need the sails in their braced position when I tension the lines coming from the yards and sails. Also with yards in their braced positions, the eyes to attach the pendants  on the leeward side are facing inboard and difficult to access. Thus if I don't add the pendants and braces to their origins now it will be almost impossible later. 
 
Best 
Marc
 

I have no specific knowledge of these sheets, but the original aft position for the bollard makes sense to me because it leaves enough length of rope for several men to keep it taut as a crewman behind them belays the slack end on said bollard.
 
Or, as you say, they could stop it at the fairlead then belay to the forward bollard. See the following video; the woman stands on the rope at the fairlead at about 1:55.
 
 
Also, the Portuguese re-rigged her as a barquentine in which case she would not have had a cro'jack. So maybe they moved the bollard forward for some other purpose.
 
For what it's worth, my ancient Revell CS has the bollards aft.
 
By the way, your model is magnificent!  Especially as a first build.....

Hi everyone, 
 
Peter, thank you for your comments.  I'm always conflicted about the sails.  I like the way they look, but the amount of work is unbelievable.  Sometimes I think it takes as long to create and rig the sails as it does to build the rest of the ship.
 
In my March 14 post, I spoke about the main course and moving the buntline locations on the foot of the sail.  As I said a lot of work and not sure it made any difference.  I'm late on getting the images for you, but here they are. 
 
 Originally, I had the buntline locations on the foot of the sail proper aligned to be brought up for furling and had does these adjustments with the sail actually pulling the lines up as a dry run off the ship. Then I was looking at the oldest painting of the Cutty and Campbell's drawings and saw that the location of the blocks on my ship didn't line up with those sources.  So I decided to move the block locations to match those sources.  However, I forgot to move where the buntlines were attached to the sail.  The new locations of the blocks would now allow the foot of the sail to be pulled up to the blocks correctly. As I said this was a huge deal to me and I thought that it was obvious to the casual observer (whomever that might be.  Certainly no one who will actually see this in my house or the family member that inherits this model and tosses it in the garbage or sells in in a garage sail).   
 
Anyway, here is the photo of the old course buntline positions.

And now after a full day's work and several nights of researching the topic in several books, in the new locations.  This time I made sure that the lines will pull the foot up to the blocks as shown in my references on the topic.
 

On a topic of making sure that lines are actually long or short enough.  I thought that I'd share how I determine the length of the permanent lifts when the sails are set.  It's easy.  I determine the lengths of the lifts, by actually lowering the yard to the position where it would be with the furled sail. 
 
Here are images of the t'gallent sail with the yard hung in its lifts.  When I secure the lifts, I'll raise it up to the proper position.
please ignore the slack lines. The photos do show the fairlead planks pretty well. One word of advice using fairlead planks to to check, then check again, then again, that the all of the holes are drilled large enough to accommodate the lines. You don't want to have to drill these holes larger or chase them while they are on the ship with the rigging. Ask me how I know this wisdom. Answer is that I only checked twice.  I should have checked one more time with the mast in off the ship then again with it in place, but not rigged.
   
 
Thanks for looking, 
Marc

Sorry Marc,
I am no help here....
 
I hope that some one on the Forum can assist you further.
 
Cheers....HOF.

Hi, 
I need some help determining where and how to belay the cro-jack sheets on the Cutty Sark. I'm looking for help and insight. 
 
In researching the belaying point I've looked at the actual Ship in London, Longridge's the Cutty Sark with Harold Underhill's plans and the Campbell's Plans, which were used as one of the primary references when they restored the ship.    I've drawn this diagram to help the discussion.

In figure A.  I've illustrated the ship as she was in 1990 and 2019 when I last visited her.  The Crojack sheet goes through the bulwark fairlead where is goes around the sheave and out onto the deck and is belayed to  large bollards forward of the fairlead.  This is actually the way all of the other coarse sheet are rigged currently.  The fore and Main course sheets are also rigged this way with small bollards on the rails.   Here is a shot from 2019
 
 

 
The oldest references which are Campbell and Underhill's plans have these large bollards aft of the crojack bulwark fairleads as illustrated in B.  It is my understanding that the bollard was moved forward when the ship was owned by the Portuguese company.  I can't imagine that the sheet would go through the fairlead and then aft to the bollards.  Unless, perhaps if the crew pulled the sheet forward and then stopped the farilead and made the sheet fast to the bollards aft of the fairleads?  I was thinking of the way that the has a procedure for stopping the line when raising the halyard lines and brining them up to the pins?
 
As you can see in the photo above there is a pin rail located forward of the fairleads, but these are completely full when the ship has sails. unlike some of the other pin rails, these don't have wooden bollards, just a knob-not even a pin. If you think that the sheet would be belayed here, how would it be made fast/secure?
 
Thanks in advance for the help!
best
Marc

  

Hi All,
Small update:
 
Installed Forward Superstructure Redoubt PE.
The operation went o.k, I must have something correct.... 🙂
 
I am of the opinion that these bits were super critical to the remainder of the Superstructure PE
A foundation if you like.... 
 
I can now move forward with the detail bits in the following order:
PE detail on the PE installed PE detail on Fore/Aft, Port/starboard sheathing Install the above sheathing That's more of the plan....
 
Edit:
The Port side Aft Redoubt PE had a gap between the Plastic Redoubt and PE sheathing.... It was really bugging me and after some deliberation, I decided the re-form the Forward most "Fold," had to reform the rear folds also, re-attached and much better.... 🙂
 
Cheers....HOF.
 
Photos:
 
 
 
 

I will wait patiently!😇

Hi Harry,
 
The build is very cool. I was intrigued by the multimedia approach. I went through the build last night, but need to go back through in detail. I atill dont know how i missed it.
 
Glad you're well. 
 
Cheers 
Marc

Hi All,
Small update:
(Sorry no photos yet....)
 
I pulled issues 72 thru 75 These deal with cladding for the Lower Forward Superstructure, Port and Starboard.
I decided that I would begin by sheathing the "Redoubt" PE for the prior to sheathing all the flat, straight bits.
My reasoning is that the curved pieces have minimal Railings attached and I require to "Handle" the Superstructure whilst forming and attaching these curved pieces.
 
My doctrine is that I am not going to damage Railings when they are not installed....🙂
 
That's the plan anyway....
 
Cheers....HOF.

Hi Harry,
 
The build is very cool. I was intrigued by the multimedia approach. I went through the build last night, but need to go back through in detail. I atill dont know how i missed it.
 
Glad you're well. 
 
Cheers 
Marc

Wow! what a build.  very impressive - and it looks very small and fiddley. 
 
Sorry to hear about your illness!  I hope that your well soon!
I wish you the best my friend.
 
You're an inspiration!
 
cheers
Marc 

Hi Harry,
 
The build is very cool. I was intrigued by the multimedia approach. I went through the build last night, but need to go back through in detail. I atill dont know how i missed it.
 
Glad you're well. 
 
Cheers 
Marc

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

Hi Harry,
 
The build is very cool. I was intrigued by the multimedia approach. I went through the build last night, but need to go back through in detail. I atill dont know how i missed it.
 
Glad you're well. 
 
Cheers 
Marc

I will wait patiently!😇

Thanks Marc!!
 
That's very kind of you....
Much appreciated.
 
Cheers and Regards,
 
Harry.

Thanks Chap,
It's my first model ship with "Guns.... 🙂"
As mentioned somewhere near the start of the log, I spent so much "Coin," NZD $16.95 per issue X 140 issues), years ago, seeing other Bismarck builds here, It piqued my interest in this, time to carry on with it.
 
Yup, it is "Fiddly" very.... However, I needed to learn more, esp. Photo Etch.
(It's not that small at around 1.4 meters but the PE and other aspects tends to be at 1/200.)
 
 
A bit of a departure from models with "No Plastic" bits, (Multi-Media) I think it'll come out o.k. in the end.
 
The 'Sickness" has thankfully run its' course..... 🙂
 
Cheers and Regards,
 
Harry.