Elia

The winch machinery is complete, which finishes up all the stuff that is permanently mounted to the deck.
 
The jumbo jib boom crutch was built from the kit's laser cut parts and some wood strips.
 

 
I ended up having to add some CA glue to the joints at the top - they were flexing too much with just PVA glue alone and I was concerned they would break during painting.  Some wood filler was used to clean up the joints between the posts and the knees.
 
As I did with the windlass, I decided to break with historical accuracy a bit on the colors and finishes.  I'm making the mounting brackets and handles brass so they stand out a bit, and I'm going to paint the end caps on either end of the winch's main bar white to match the ones on the windlass.  I think all of these would have likely been black metal on the ship, but making them look a little different will make the details stand out more on the model.
 
The kit ships most of the parts for the winch already assembled on a metal rod.  I completely disassembled these so I could paint things separately.  
 

 
I started by gluing the mounting brackets in place.  I used a scrap piece of brass rod to ensure they were properly aligned during installation.
 

 
Then I installed the winch's bar.  I reattached one of the end caps, then slid the bar through one of the brackets.  Next I slid the larger and smaller gears on, then slid the bar through the other mounting bracket, trimmed it to the right length, and installed the other end cap.  Finally I glued on the clutch assembly below the main gear.  The winch's metal rod was left unpainted during installation since sliding on those pieces would have stripped the paint anyway.
 

 
With everything in place, I finished up painting and installed the pawls and control bar.  I kept the bar simple.  The plans show multiple pieces, but I made it out of one piece of brass rod that was bent around the rod.  The end caps were painted white except for their gears, which were painted black so they would stand out.  The mounting plates for the pawls were painted white simply because I felt they stood out too much when painted black like the pawls themselves.  The whole thing was then glued to the deck.
 

 
The control bar was added to the top of the engine box.  Again I used a brass rod so it would stand out.  I didn't plan ahead well enough, and there was nothing but empty space inside that hole on the engine box, so I didn't have anything to seat the bar into.  Instead I simply glued the bar to the side of the engine box hole.
 

 
The final step was to connect the winch to the counter shaft assembly.  The plans suggest doing this with some thread, but I wanted to use an actual chain.  My wife owns a jewelry business, so she was kind enough to give me a few inches of very tiny scrap chain.  I felt a little bad because the chain is actual silver and I immediately dunked it in black paint.  I'll consider it a sacrifice to the model ship building gods.
 
Installing the chain was a mess.  I'm not thrilled with the results.  If I had it to do over again, I would have built the chain back when I made the windlass, and glued the chain around the counter shaft's gear before it was mounted to the deck.  Trying to get the chain wrapped around that properly, and getting glue applied, was a real challenge once everything was fixed on the deck.
 
Overall, I'm content with this batch of work, but I don't think it turned out as well as some of the the other pieces on the deck.
 

 

 
This completes my 'machinery' phase, and finishes up the stuff that is permanently mounted to the deck.  I still need to do the anchors and dories, but since those are 'portable' on the actual ship I'm treating them as a separate project.
 
First I plan to make and install the chain plates since I think putting those in after the dories are installed will be trickier.

Despite the holidays being a surprisingly busy time, I've been able to get a good bit of work done.
 
As mentioned in my previous post, I made my own gears for the counter shaft assembly by milling down a 1/4" aluminum rod.  This was completely unnecessary, as I could have just drilled some holes through the kit-provided gears to overcome the broken piece, but I really wanted to play with the new mill.  In the end all my work won't really be visible, but it was fun to do.
 
With the gears made, I was able to assemble the counter shaft.  Since the holes in my gears were larger than those in the stands (I couldn't find a smaller bit that would drill into the aluminum), I mounted the gears onto a brass tube, then slide that tube over some thin brass rod that fits the holes in the stands.
 

 
With that out of the way, I finished up the chain box.  The plans don't show this on the deck, but there is a detailed drawing of the box included in the plans with a note that it goes 'just aft of the engine box.'  I went ahead and built it, but I'll wait to glue it down until I start running the chain later in the build.  The exact positioning of this will depend on how I lay the chain.
 

 
Now I come to the windlass.  When I first started looking at build logs for the Bluenose, even before I bought the kit, the windlass was intimidating.  It was actually pretty easy...it just has a lot of little pieces.
 
I started by cleaning up the cast metal barrel provided with the kit.  I painted the whole barrel black (I'll scrape off paint as necessary to glue things on).  I know that much of the windlass was actually wood, but I've never liked the look of wood-colored paint, so I'm just going with black.  
 
One end of the barrel got some brass strips glued on.  This whole end will be painted black.
 

 
The other end requires more work.  After staring at the plans for a while, and reviewing other build logs, I still wasn't sure exactly how this end was constructed.  Finally I found a photo on the Nova Scotia Archives website that had a good view of the windlass.  I based my approach off that, but a little simplified since I'm limited by what I can do at this scale.
 
I glued on some 3/32" square strips, and added some shaped pieces to make the whelps.
 

 
Then I filled in the spaces at either end with tiny pieces of wood.  This was a lot of trial-and-error.  I didn't try to get the pieces to fit perfectly flush - I'll sand everything down later.
 

 
Once all the wood was firmly in place, I added some wood filler in the joints and sanded everything down.  Then I stained the wood to match the other wood on my above-deck structures.
 

 
The stands were made from the provided laser-cut pieces and glued together.  This let me finish up the counter shaft assembly and get the gears positioned.
 

 
The brake beam was glued onto the bowsprit bits, and the two quadrants were glued onto the barrel.  With all this in place, I positioned the windlass and glued it onto the deck.
 

 
The pawl as installed, and I added the brass rods from the brake beam to the quadrants.  The counter shaft assembly was then glued in place.
 
Finally, I noticed the detailed drawings in the plans referenced a metal shield over the gears.  I shaped this from some brass strip and glued it in place over the gears.  Since I'm leaving lots of natural brass in other places on the ship, I decided to leave this piece unpainted.  I'm sure it was black on the ship, but I like the contrast that a bit of brass gives here.  I don't want all the machinery to look like a big blob of black painted stuff.
 

 
So I'm done with the windlass.  It only took about a day (aside from the counter shaft, which took a couple weeks due to the custom gears).  Next up will be the winch machinery.
 

 

This last week has been spent playing around with new toys to try and overcome a problem.
 
I recently started work on the windlass and machinery.  The first piece I worked on was the countershaft assembly.  My very first step was to clean up the metal casting provided by the kit.  This piece is basically a rod with two gears on it.
 
Naturally, I broke this piece while working with it.  I snapped the rod.
 

 
I cut the gears loose from the rod, and I am holding on to those as a safety net - I can always drill holes through them and slide them onto my own brass rod.
 
But...I just got a new Proxxon MF70 mill and I've been looking for things to try and make with it.  I decided to take a stab at making replacement gears using the mill.
 
The larger gear is 1/4" in diameter, so I started with a 1/4" diameter aluminum rod.  I used a 3mm bit on the mill to do most of the work, and a 1mm bit to cut the 'teeth'.  I used my drill press to drill a hole through the center.  The rotary vise for the Proxxon made cutting the teeth pretty easy once I figured out the # of degrees between cuts.
 
It took 4 tries, mostly because I was still learning how to use the mill, but I did manage to make a usable piece.  It isn't perfect, and the teeth are different than the kit-provided piece, but I think it actually looks cleaner and more precise than the cast piece.  Once this is painted, I think it will look fine!
 
I was very happy with the level of precision on the Proxxon.  It cut through the aluminum easily.  I'm sure it might have a tougher time if I were doing something larger (and the Proxxon is very much for model work, not larger-scale machining like you'd do with a bigger mill).  All the milling was done manually (turning dials) since I'm still waiting on the motor mounts for my CNC conversion.  (Although I have gotten all the electronics working and the control software halfway written).
 
Anyway, I haven't actually made any progress on the ship, but I've managed to make a gear, and I've very happy with that accomplishment for the week!
 

 

 

 
 

Thanks Russ!
 
Over the last week or so, I've gotten the bowsprit bitts/samson post and the engine box completed.
 
The bowsprit bitts and samson post were pretty straight forward as the kit provides the key piece as a laser-cut item.  
 

 
The whole thing went together pretty quickly.
 

 

 
The engine box gave me a bit more trouble.  My first attempt was fine until I got it painted, then I notices a few too many imperfections in the wood.  I tried to fix them with some filler and repaint, but wasn't happy with the results.  The second attempt failed during assembly - I wasn't able to get it square enough.
 
My third attempt was successful.  This time I made a much more rigid internal frame for the box, then used 1/16" sheet material for the 'walls'.  The lift out door on the side was simulated by cutting one of the side panels halfway through (so it remained one piece, but looks like two).
 

 
The smaller part of the box was built similarly, but I left some open space on the inside frame since this piece has three holes in the walls.
 

 
The holes were made by drilling holes then using needle files to square them off.  They aren't perfect, but it is what I was able to do with the tools on hand.
 

 
The entire thing was primered and airbrushed white.
 
I decided to try and simulate the hinges on the top.  I used some thin brass strip I had on hand and some thin brass rod.  These were soldered together.
 

 
Once soldered, the three pieces were cut apart and each piece was cleaned up.  I filed away a lot of the solder (I always make a mess when soldering), and trimmed the brass strips to be shorter and tapered.  I touched them up a bit with some brass paint to make the color a little more consistent.  They were then glued on to the roof of the engine box.
 
I also simulated a small handle/latch using some thin brass wire that came with the kit.
 

 
I noticed after I glued it on the deck that despite all my attempt to double-check things, I managed to screw something up.  I glued the smaller portion of the engine box so it lined up with the outboard edge of the larger box.  It should have been even with the inboard edge.  I don't think anyone would notice this once the ship is done (except for me or another Bluenose builder).  So, rather than rip it off and risk damaging the deck, I'm going to leave it.
 
Fortunately when I was positioning it, I was using the inboard hole on the smaller box and the samson post as reference points, since the windlass/machinery touches both of those.  So really, the small box is in the right place and the larger box (which nothing else connects to) is just out of position by a small amount.
 

 

 
I don't think there is anything else I can work on to procrastinate - I've got to start in on the windlass and machinery.  It shouldn't be difficult, and it will be similar in process to a lot the work I did on some Model Airways WWI aircraft a few years ago (which use a lot of cast pieces to build up the engine).  My fear is that there is a lot of potential for detail with this stuff, and my ability to toss stuff and start over will be limited by the use of cast metal pieces.

Lots of random work over the last few days.  I've now got everything in on the deck except all the bowsprit stuff / windlass / machinery.  
 
The galley stack was pretty easy.  Just cleaned up the casting, removed the large 'pin' on the bottom and replaced with a thinner brass rod for mounting to the deck, painted it, and glued it in.
 

 
The 'jumbo jib sheet traveler horse' takes longer to say than it took to install.  Just some bent brass rod installed in front of the hole for the fore mast.
 

 
Then came the catheads.  I thought these would go quick, but they ended up taking a couple hours.  Part of the problem was that I couldn't find any good photos/information online that showed in detail how the anchor hangs from these, or how the ropes/chains are handled.  Lots of information about catheads in general, but nothing on the specific versions used on the Bluenose.  I did finally find a fantastic diagram on page 399 of Howard Chapell's 'The American Fishing Schooners 1825-1935'.  Once I understood how this would get hooked up, I decided to build them now but not glue them in.  I'll wait to secure them until I hang the anchors in case I need to make further alterations.
 
The cast metal pieces were cleaned up.  A hole was drilled in the fore side of each one, only halfway through the head, to hold the eyebolt that attaches to the bar.  Another hole was drilled all the way through the head from the top,  This second hole will be used to attach the chain.
 
The eyebolts that come with the kit are way too big for the catheads, so I made some simple ones out of some wire I had on hand and glued them in.
 

 
The plans show some sockets on the waterways that the base of the cathead sits in.  I decided to try and simulate these.  I cut a short length of a very small dowel rod and drilled a hole through it.  I rounded off the top, and used a razor saw to cut just a thin piece off the top.
 

 
This ended up making a fairly decent socket.  It doesn't have the detail shown in the plans, but I'm not yet at a point where I could pull off that detail on a piece so small.
 

 
The sockets were painted black and glued in after they dried, and while the paint was out the catheads themselves were also painted black.  Eyebolts were added to the rail for the bar, and the bar was fashioned from the thicker brass wire provided with the kit.  
 
Turned out pretty well.  These were fitted on the ship, then removed and put back in storage until later when I mount the anchors.
 

 

 
The anchor pads were cut from some 1/64" thick sheet wood I had handy.  These were pretty straightforward, just small and hard to sand.
 

 
One last step before starting in on the bowsprit bits / windlass / machinery is to get all the belaying pins and eyebolts installed.  I had originally planned to do this later, just before rigging, but I decided it would be easier to do now before the deck is completely full.
 
Installation of the pins and eyebolts was typical - mark locations, drill holes, glue in pieces.  I was very happy with the quality of the belaying pins in this kit.  39 belaying pins and 20 eyebolts.
 

 

 
Today I'm taking some time to touch up some paint on the bulwarks, and I'm pulling everything out of the workbench and doing a complete cleaning.  Hopefully I'll be diving into the deck stuff near the bow tomorrow!
 
 

Thanks Steve!
 
Tonight I was able to get the fife rail built.  This is my second attempt.  Over the weekend I built the fife rail using the laser-cut pieces provided by the kit, but I wasn't happy with the results.  The provided pieces are very thin, and I wasn't able to get them aligned well while gluing.  Things ended up being uneven, and the whole assembly felt flimsy.
 
So tonight I started from scratch.
 
I transferred the shapes for the rail and legs onto a 3/32" thick basswood sheet.
 

 
I cut these out using my Proxxon scroll saw.  (When I bought the scroll saw, I didn't realize how much I'd use it.  This small scroll saw has become the most-used power tool I own).  I made the legs and the posts out of single pieces to make the structure more rigid.
 

 
The bar across the top was cut by hand, and the holes for the posts were drilled out with a drill bit, then squared off with a needle file.  The slot for the boom crutch was cut with a #11 blade then cleaned up with a tiny needle file.
 

 
To make the 'fancy' legs, I stuck a length of square basswood strip into my little lathe.  I'm not very experienced at using a lathe, so as long as they turn out halfway decent, I'm happy.
 

 
Once the legs were done, I put some pins in the top using some short pieces of brass rod.  I drilled holes through the fife rail, and glued the legs in place.
 

 
The rest was assembled pretty easily.  Since I used slightly thicker material than the kit provided, the entire structure was much more rigid than the original fife rail.  This really helped when it came to sanding and painting.  I glued in some short pins in the bottoms of the legs - these will be used when I secure the fife rail to the deck.
 
For now, I'm leaving the fife rail loose.  I'm going to wait to permanently mount it until I start working on the masts.  I don't want to screw up and have the fife rail slightly mis-positioned and prevented the mast from being at the correct angle.
 

 

 
Overall I'm very satisfied with my new fife rail.  The material is a little thicker than the kit provides, so it is probably slightly out of scale, but I think the added stability is worth it.
 
I'm now done with the quarter deck, and moving on to the fore deck.

I feel like I've hit a 'fun' part of the build - lots of small projects that go pretty quickly.
 
I have been waiting to seal the deck with clear poly until I had the major deck structures ready.  Now that I've got them ready, I need to stop procrastinating and seal the deck.  Before gluing the structures down, I installed a number of eyebolts and rings on the stanchions inside the bulwarks.  These won't be used for a while, but I think it will be way easier to install these before the deck gets cluttered.
 

 
I've decided to leave the brass fittings as unfinished brass.  I know that these would likely have been black on the ship, but if I paint them, I know the paint will likely rub off during rigging.  I've tried using blackening solution with little success.  So, I'm just going to leave all these as natural brass.
 
With those in place, I marked the locations of all the deck structures and glued them down.  Then I applied some Minwax Wipe-On Poly to give the deck a clear finish.  I've been using a satin clear coat for everything so far, but I decided to go with gloss for the deck.  It is only a slight difference, but I like having a little bit of shine on the deck.
 
Once the poly was dry, I finished installing all the various eyebolts and rings for the hatches.
 

 
Next it was on to the assortment of other miscellaneous things that need to be installed on the deck.  I'm tackling the rest of the deck in three 'phases'.  First I'm going to get all the 'stuff' installed on the quarter deck.  After that, I'll tackle the fore deck, except for the windlass and machinery.  Finally, I'll build all that equipment up near the bow.
 
So, on the quarter deck...
 
First up were the battons.  I had no idea how to make these.  I ended up gluing a bunch of 1/32" strips together, then sanding them down to get close to the right size.
 

 

 

 
The 'slats' are a little larger than the plans call for, but I don't think they look awful.
 
Next I installed the boom sheet buffers.  These were cast metal pieces.  The pieces were cleaned up, painted, and installed.  The fore boom sheet buffer has a platform that gets made from some laser-cut pieces provided by the kit.  Since I'm leaving rings and eyebolts as brass on the ship, I painted the rings on the boom sheet buffers brass to match.
 

 

 
I made the main sheet lead block horse from some brass rod, bent to the right shape, and installed it just in front of the main boom sheet buffer at the stern.
 

 
The main boom crutch was assembled from the laser-cut piece and some strip wood. 
 

 
Next up were the quarter bitts.  I decided to use some brass rod for the 'arms' that extend out from the posts.  I'm not confident I could have made wood pieces look good at that size.  I glued some long pins to the bottom to use as handles during painting.  Once the painting was done, these pins were trimmed shorter and used to help secure the bitts to the deck.
 

 

 
I also installed the bilge pumps and stern chocks, which were all provided as cast metal pieces.
 

 

 
This completes the pieces on the quarter deck, with the notable exception of the fife rail.
 
I actually did build the fife rail, which was quite a project, but I'm not happy with it and will likely rebuild it with scratch-made pieces.  I knew the fife rail was going to be a challenge because I was missing one of the fancy 'legs' that the kit provides as cast metal pieces.  Rather than get a replacement, I decided to make my own using the little Proxxon lathe I've had sitting in the closet.  Surprisingly, they turned out great.  The problems with the fife rail came as I was trying to glue everything together.  The pieces were all so small and thin that it was difficult to get everything squared up.  What I ended up with is usable, but not as pretty as I'd like.  So I think I'm going to take a stab at making a new one from scratch.  If that fails, I can fall back to using the ugly one I made from kit parts.
 
Even though I hit a bit of a stall with the fife rail, I'm really happy with the recent progress.  The deck is looking more and more complete every day,
 

Companionway
 
Not super-exciting, but the companionway for the fore deck is finished.  Kinda surprising something so small required so much work.
 

 

Unidentified Object and Cabins
 
It would be great if I never had to work and could spend all my time on the build as I've done over the holiday weekend!
 
I was able to knock out the 'unidentified object' and the two hatches pretty quickly.
 
From the plans and old photos, the 'unidentified object' called for on the plans appears to be some kind of bin or storage container with a lid.  I had a dowel rod on hand that was the right size, so I used that to make the object.  I cut a piece of the rod to 5mm and rounded off the top.
 
To create the seam for the lid, I used a small saw blade and cut into the piece as I rotated it.  I used a piece of wood to keep the saw blade at a consistent height.
 

 
I decided to build both hatches at once since they are identical except for their size.  I had some wood strips that were the exact height of the sides, so I cut those to the right lengths for the sides of each hatch.  I glued in some shorter pieces to create a ledge for the lids.
 

 
The plans show the lids as solid pieces, two per hatch.  Since I've been planking and staining the roofs of the deck structures, I decided I wanted to plank the lids as well.  My first attempt was simple - I just cut some planks and filled in the lid.  I wasn't happy with the results.  It looked like a single planked piece, rather than two halves of a removable lid.  
 
I re-build the lids with a thin frame around the outside of each section.  This took a few tries to get a process that worked well.  I ended up building the entire lid for each hatch as a single piece, then cutting it in half and adding the inside frame sections.
 

 
Everything was then sanded and painted.
 

 
They ended up looking pretty good when placed on the deck.  I haven't added any of the hardware yet - I'm going to add all the eyebolts/rings on the deck structures in one pass after I get them built (but before they are glued in place on the deck).
 

 

 

 

 

Cabin
 
Thanks for the compliment John!  I'm not sure that I'd agree that my build is the best, but I'll take it.
 
Bob & Dave, thanks!  I spent way too much time on the wheel box and wheel, but I wanted to be sure I was happy with the style of the deck structures before I built too many.  One thing I didn't show is that I actually tried building a different wheel from the Chuck's kit available from Syren Ship Model Company.  It turned out pretty good, but it was a little too big so I went back to the one that came with the kit.
 
The Thanksgiving holiday means I've got a five day weekend, so I decided to dive in on building the cabin.  My plan is to build all the bigger deck buildings first and get them installed on the deck.  Once those are in, I'll finally get around to applying the clear coat on the deck.  I decided to wait to seal the deck until the bigger structures were in place since I opted not to building the coamings in and plank around them.
 
The cabin took about 3 days.  I think I made it more complicated than it needed to be, but it was fun.
 
The main structure of the cabin was built from 1/16" thick sheet stock.  I used some 5/32" square strips to make some support beams.
 

 
And here's where I made things more complicated for myself...
 
I decided to build out the skylight and entrance into the structure, rather than adding them onto the completed cabin.  I started by framing out a platform to support the skylight.  I also cut out the entrance and installed the 'walls'.
 

 
I added some wide strips to provide support for the roof planking and added in the walls of the skylight.  Holes were drilled for the windows.  
 
I decided not to try and build all the fancy detail in the corners.  I'm not confident I could pull that off.  Instead I just rounded off the corners.
 

 
The roof was then planked from the center out.  Since I had built in the structure for the skylight and entrance, there was some work required to plank around those pieces.
 

 
I decided to add the molding around the roof line, but I kept it simple.  Rather than doing anything fancy, I just painted and installed some 1/32" square strips to make the molding.
 

 

 
The doors were made in two layers.  I cut some 1/64" thick sheet material to the right size, and cut out openings for the panels.  This was painted white and glued onto some 1/16" thick material that was stained to match the roof.
 

 
The skylight's panels were framed out.
 

 
After being trimmed and painted, I added some short pieces of brass rod to make the bars.  
 

 
For the compass box, I carved the box from a solid piece of basswood.  I used more of the 1/64" thick sheet stock for the cover.  It was soaked in water then bent around the box.
 

 
The roof for the entrance was actually planked like the rest of the roof, but painted over in white.
 

 
For the pipe, I decided to try and actually build it.  I cut some 3/32" brass tube to the right size and soldered it together.  I made the 'stand' from a piece of brass strip.
 

 
Everything got a few rounds of cleanup and final painting.
 
I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  There are a few spots where I could have gotten things smoother or painted better, but I don't think it will be noticeable once I've got more stuff on the deck.
 

Thank you, again, everyone.  The generosity of the holiday season has definitely found its way into your comments and I am very grateful.
 
Frank, the holes for the deadeye straps are very small, too small for my smallest file.  To turn these into slots I used a jeweler's saw blade, being careful to cut on the down stroke only, so as not to peel off the CA-held copper.
 
Druxey, thank you for your most kind and encouraging words.  Your thanks gives me an opportunity to return the favor to thank you for your regular attention to so many postings on this site, for your generous and expert advice, and of course for the books that have changed the craft.  I'm sure I speak for many.
 
Regarding the fairleads, these ships carried a lot of sails and therefore a lot of lines.  I might add that there are three fairleads on almost every lower shroud as well.
 
Thank you, Micheal.  I am a great admirer of your work.  I must say that there is not much rest these days, only slowed progress as I try to make sense of 500-600 rigging lines and their effect on the current work.  A major time sink.  Spent all day yesterday reading patents, studying my two favorite photos and finally deciding how to support the lower topsail yards that dangle from iron brackets on the mast caps.
 
Again, Seasons Greetings to all.
 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 191 – Decking the Fore Top
 
Just when I was having fun with wood, more ironwork was needed.  The first picture shows the addition of iron reinforcing for the rim in the area where the topmast shrouds will be positioned.
 

 
The iron in this case is .010" copper, snipped to the shape of the top, glued on with CA.  It was then trimmed to shape and polished, at least on the port side in the picture.
 
The next picture shows the frame temporarily wedged on to the hounds.
 

 
The iron rim caps have been drilled through the index points.  The wooden rim cap that will cover the plank ends is being glued on in this picture.  In the next picture, planking of the top is proceeding.
 

 
Planks are 6" x 2 ½" thick.  The 9" fairlead planks have been drilled and are being installed.  The next picture shows the top with all planking installed.
 

 
The holes in the rim have been converted to slots that will pass the deadeye straps.  Also, the two iron fid plates on which the topmast fid will rest have been installed.  Work on the fore mast cap has begun and is shown in the picture.
 
The next picture shows the top again placed on the hounds.
 

 
In the next picture the top has been trimmed out and the ironwork blackened. 
 

 
There are six eyebolts under the forward rim for the fore course bunt and leech lines.  The two on the top of the rim will be hooked to the tackles of the upper topsail sheets.  An interesting location for these.  Belaying points for the added upper topsails may have been difficult to find on the crowded deck rails.  The next picture shows the aft side.
 

 
The eyebolt just aft of the mast will secure the main topgallant stay.  There should be just sufficient space between this and the mast for the shroud collars.  The shackled eyebolt on the aft crosstree will anchor the standing lift on the spencer gaff.  There may need to be a bracket added forward of the topmast to secure an iron stay for the lower topsail yard that will be fixed at the cap.
 
Last post before the holidays.  All the best to everyone in this special season.
 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 189 – Lower Mizzen Fittings
 
The mizzen mast has some additional hardware not found on the forward masts. First, there is a belaying ring, or spider band around the mast instead of the fife rails of the forward masts.  The design of this is not documented, but from the work on the rigging list, at least 16 lines should be belayed here.  The ring for the model is a simple circular flange around the mast bored for 16 belaying pins.  The unblackened part is shown in the first picture.
 

 
This was made as a turning from a solid brass billet to fit over a brass tube mast ring that was silver-soldered in.  The pin holes were then drilled in the mill using the rotary table.  The ring will be a tight fit over the mast about 39" off the deck.  This is a pretty piece that will be completely hidden under a mass of rope.
 
In the next picture it has been blackened and installed on the mast.  Above it is a reinforcing hoop and above that will be a bracket that will support the spanker mast.
 

 
 
A start on the spanker mast bracket is shown in the drawing.  The mast band part of it has been shaped to fit the mast and will be soldered with other parts added progressively.  The finished bracket is shown in the next picture.
 

 
This piece is of thicker stock than the normal mast hoop, as were the bands for the lower yard trusses.  The small eye will support the goose neck of the spanker boom.  Both pieces are shown on the mast in the next picture. 
 

 
The spider ring was pre-blackened, but all the copper work will be blackened later as was done for the other masts.  The third piece to be made was the wood stool for the spanker mast.  While the bracket maintains the horizontal position, the stool will take the weight of the 9" diameter mast.  The next picture shows the stool parts.
 

 
For strength on the model, I set the stool itself into a mortise in the mast that will give it the appearance of a surrounding piece but the strength of the mortise joint.  Two triangular gussets that will reinforce the stool are shown.  The last picture shows the three items installed.
 

 
Shaping and polishing of the stool assembly has yet to be done.  The gussets were glued to flats filed on the mast.  The remaining hoops may now be installed on the mizzen mast.
 
Meanwhile, work has begun on the fore top.
 
 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 188 – Completing Main and Fore Masts
 
Just a few finishing up steps were required to complete the two large lower masts.  First, the tops of the hounds had to be angled to the rake of their masts so the tops, when fitted, would be level.  The foremast rake is about 4.75 degrees and the main is at about 5.4 degrees.  A plywood gauge, shown in the first picture was trimmed on each side to these angles.
 

 
This gauge was then used to check the angle of the hounds as it was trimmed back by filing, as shown below.
 

 
The gauge is held parallel to the masthead in the picture.  These mastheads are not tapered.  Both sides had to be matched.  These will get a final trim when the tops are installed and can be levelled more accurately and in both directions. 
 
The next picture shows the main and fore masts with all the construction work completed.
 

 
All the foremast ironwork has been blackened in the picture.  This was all done all at once after all the bands, including the masthead bands were installed and all other work on the mast completed.  This was done to avoid excessive handling of the blackened bands.  Liver of sulfur solution was brushed into each band until black.  Brushing helps eliminate black powdery buildup.  As each band was blackened it was rinsed under running water.  The masts were left to dry overnight then given a finish of Tung oil diluted 50%, applied with cotton swabs.  In the next picture a dry cotton swab is being used to soak up any excess oil.
 

 
The Tung oil restores the tone of the Castello and protects the blackened metal as well as the wood.  The mastheads were left unfinished so that wood fittings may be added later after the tops are slipped over.  The last picture shows the two masts placed temporarily in position to allow the Tung oil to dry..
 

 
Mast wedges will be made and fitted at the partners later, probably after the tops and masthead trim is installed.  This will permit that work to be completed on the workbench.  Meanwhile, the mizzen mast is in the works.
 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 187 – Chafing Battens
 
Chafing battens were used to limit damage to sails and rigging that were subject to rubbing against ironwork or other rough parts of masts or spars.  The largest and most prominent of these are the large forward battens on the lower masts.  These protected the lower sails. 
 
I am not sure how these battens were fitted over the mast bands in practice, but I assume they would be slotted, caulked, and sealed to prevent moisture causing rot on the mast.  So, fitting these neatly over the mast bands becomes a chore.
 
First, the battens must be fit over the mast.  I started by milling a concave gutter in the batten stock as shown in the first picture.
 

 
The purpose of this was to establish a straight groove as a starting point for the handwork necessary to fit the piece to the tapered mast.  This fitting was done with the curved rifflers in the next picture – with frequent checks against the mast itself, in this case the unbanded, new main mast in the picture.
 

 
After fitting to the mast, the batten was ripped off of the stock shown above.  Once the bands were placed on the mast, clearance slots were filed at the band locations.
 

 
These slots provide clearance at the edges but not in the center of the batten.  The slots are shallow.  The bands are only .010" thick.  The spaces between the slots were hollowed out with a small gouge to help the batten lie flat on the mast.
 

 
Since these inside hollows will not be visible, no attempt was made to square them to fit the bands.
 
The batten was then glued to the mast.  The shellac coating was filed away under the joint so the glue would adhere.  The batten was then nailed/bolted along its length with monofilament bolts held with CA.
 
The batten was then rounded on its forward face to the correct thickness.
 
The next picture shows the forward batten and the smaller side battens glued and bolted to the foremast. 
 

 
The side battens extend over the area where both the mainstay and the main topmast stay pass beside the mast.  This was checked by running lines from the main top, hence the red correction notation on the drawing.  The next picture shows these with the foremast temporarily in position.
 

 
The last picture shows the forward batten on the new main mast – alongside the replaced earlier mast.
 

 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 186 – Cheeks/Hounds and Bibbs
 
I mentioned in the last post that I was replacing the first main mast that was shown in some earlier photos.  Here is the replacement ready for banding.
 

 
The first mainmast was developmental as far as method is concerned, the second my main process example photo subject, and the mizzen will be the final proof of practice.  In the meantime I have been pushing ahead with the foremast in the hope that it will measure up and be usable.  If not I'll have another practice subject.
 
With the foremast fully banded, other features are being added.  The terms "hounds" and "cheeks" seem to be used interchangeably in my sources to describe the squared sections that supported the cross trees of the top.  The bibbs are the forward extensions of these, knees if you will, that support the forward end of the top.  The first picture shows these installed on the foremast, before describing the steps. 
 

 
The supporting upper surface will be angled and flattened later to support the top in a horizontal position on the raked mast.
 
If my simplified five piece model design for a made mast had its benefits, the price for that was paid in the shaping of the hound pieces.  In practice these were fayed usually against flats on the central spindle and extended above the hounds as part of the mast head, or doubling.  Since my spindle was made the size of the head and the mast below shaped round, the side hounds had to be fitted to the round tapered mast.  The two pieces are shown below during fitting.
 

 
To make these, a hole was bored through a block of wood that was then tapered around the bore and separated into two pieces.  The bores were then enlarged by filing/sanding to match the taper of the round mast.  In the next picture these are being glued to the mast.
 

 
The next picture shows the port bibb installed and the joint for the other being pared.
 

 
Both joints were cut first on the hounds and the bibbs cut to fit, with some adjustments to the hounds during the process as shown.  The next picture shows that bib being glued
 

 
After gluing, the sides were filed flat and the bolts added.  There are three through the edges of each bibb and eight securing the hounds to the mast.  These are black monofilament secured with CA.
 
Bands are sometimes shown around the lower end of the hounds.  I don't see how heat shrunk bands could possibly have been fitted with the hounds in place or what purpose they would serve vs. bolts.  I suppose shaped bands could be slid on before the hounds were installed then driven up over the bottom ends.  On the other hand, such bands under the hounds could be fitted and of benefit.  I'll save this question for the next model.
 
Next, the chafing battens.
 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 185 – Iron Mast Bands 2
 
In addition to the shrunk-on hoops that reinforced the masts, there were bands for other purposes.  On the lower masts these included bands with eyebolts to secure rigging, bands to secure the spencer gaffs and bands that supported the lower yard trusses.  These other bands were generally clamped on the mast rather than heat shrunk.  I experimented with two different methods for making these.  The first picture shows a clamp band bent around the mast ( actually the mandrel) to be soldered in one piece.
 

 
The next picture shows a band made like the reinforcing bands to which parts will be soldered to form the clamp joint and in this case the bracket for the yard truss.
 

 
This band is made from thicker material.   The tabs on the truss bracket in the lower part of the picture were bent around some band stock to size the gap.  The bracket was then hammered square before soldering.   In the next picture the truss band has been soldered together and a wire bolt added at the clamp joint.
 

 
In the picture the band is pushed on to the mandrel for finish filing and polishing.  The next picture shows the special bands on the foremast.  These are the three at the top.
 

 
At the top is the truss band – blackened.  More on that below.  Below that is the band that supports the fore spencer gaff.  The eyebolt on the aft side of this is not visible in the picture.  Next is the futtock band with six eyebolts for the lower futtocks and one on the aft face to secure a block for another line, I believe one of the main staysail's downhaul.  The bands below these are the normal reinforcing bands.  The joints that show on these will be covered by the forward chafing batten.  The next picture is another view.
 

 
In this picture the horizontal eye for the spencer gaff is visible in the band below the truss.  The pattern of the eyebolts on the futtock band and the chafing batten may be seen in the drawing.
 
The last picture shows the fore mast with all its iron bands installed.
 

 
Some bands are blackened on this mast and others not.  The plan going forward is to defer all blackening until all other work on the mast is complete – hounds, bibbs, battens, cap tenon, yard sling eyebolt, etc.  Blackening just before installing the mast will reduce handling of the blackened parts and the resultant rubbing off of the black.  It will also help keep the wood surface of the mast clean of black.  These were problems on the first main mast.  A replacement is in progress.
 
 
 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 184 – Iron Mast Bands
 
Iron hoops, or bands were used to hold made mast sticks together and to reinforce single tree masts.  These were 4" wide and ½" thick and were spaced about 36" apart.  Circumference of the mast at the band location was measured and a ring of that diameter was forged.  To install on the mast the band was heated, slipped on by the smaller end and driven into place.  It was then quenched with water to create a tight shrink fit before it had a chance to char the mast.
 
The bands on the model are copper, made from .010" sheet stock sliced into 4" strips.  Once the bands are sized and silver-soldered, the main issues become fixing them in position on the mast and blackening them without getting visible black smudges on the mast.  The solution (no pun intended) I adopted was shellac – to be explained below.
 
First, a look at the (almost) final product.  In the first picture the main mast is fully hooped and the fore mast is in progress.
 
 

 
There are a few special bands on the main mast – to be described later. Also, on that mast, with the bands complete, the hounds are being fitted.  This cannot be done until the bands above main deck partners are slipped over the top.  The housing bands – below the deck – are slipped on from the bottom.
 
When the masts were made, I also shaped two mandrels to aid in making the bands, one the shape of the fore mast and one smaller.  These are shown in the next picture with main and fore masts in progress.
 

 
Except for overall length and housing length, the main and fore masts are virtually identical in their diameters.  The mandrels have pin holes drilled along their length for use as shown below.
 

 
In the picture a strip has been drilled on one end, pinned to the mandrel at the desired diameter, wrapped tightly with the copper strip, and then clamped in the vise.  The hammer and razor blade in the picture were used to cut squarely through the strip, yielding open rings as shown below.
 

 
I won't go through complete detail for sizing the rings, except to say that they were trimmed before soldering to yield a diameter slightly smaller than the diameter of their position on the mast.  In the next picture a soldered ring has been fitted over the mandrel for filing and polishing.
 

 
In the next picture a ring is being pushed into its position in small, even steps using a piece of hard wood.
 

 
By the time it gets to where it belongs it will have been stretched and will be fairly tight on the mast. 
 
Before banding, the mast was given a coating of thinned, clear shellac for two reasons: 1) the shellac will act as a sealer and prevent excess blackening from staining the open wood grain, and 2) because the shellac is soluble in methanol, wetting under the ring with that solvent – as shown in the next picture – will dissolve the shellac and when dry it will contribute to the bond under the ring.   With few exceptions the rings were practically immovable after this step.
 

 
The copper rings were then blackened using liver of sulfur solution.  Best results were obtained by applying the LOS by rubbing with a cotton swab followed by an immediate and thorough rinse under a faucet to wash away excess black.  The method is still something of a work in process that will hopefully be fully developed for Volume III.
 
The "special" bands mentioned above – the futtock band and the lower yard truss band will be described in the next part.
 
Ed
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 178 – Stream Anchor
 
Ships like Young America carried several anchors.  The two bower anchors for the model were covered in an earlier post.  One stream anchor, one-third the size of the bowers was also modeled.  These anchors were used for warping or sometimes for short mooring in very calm waters and winds.  Obviously these would be much easier to handle than the large heavy bowers.  There were other smaller types but I settled on just the three.
 
The stream anchor was cut in one piece from a .032" thick plate of hard brass.  The outline was drawn on a blackened portion of the plate and cut with a jewelers saw as shown below.
 

 
The larger anchors were made in two pieces and soldered to save material and for the straightness of the bar shank, but with the smaller anchor this method made sense.  The next picture shows the anchor and two oversized flukes cut from a thinner sheet.
 

 
These were oversized realizing the clamping for soldering would not be precise.  They would be filed to the final size after soldering.  The soldering set upis shown below.
 

 
The next picture shows the fabricated anchor.
 

 
The stock and the shackle on this anchor are soldered on.  The last picture shows the anchor being secured on the starboard side in the vacated space used by the suspended bower anchor.  With all anchors stored, this small anchor would probably have been lashed to the shank of one of the bowers.
 

 
Next chore:  Making and fitting the supports for the swinging booms, that is, the fore lower studding sail booms.
 
 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 177 – Mounting Bower Anchors
 
The plan has been to suspend the wood stocked bower anchor from the starboard cathead as depicted in the picture of the ship docked at San Francisco.  The iron stock anchor is to be placed in its storage position on the port side of the forecastle.   The first picture shows mounting chocks and two securing eyebolts for anchor storage.
 

 
The next picture shows the iron-stocked bower anchor in position, secured by a rope lashing to eyebolts on the margin plank.
 

 
The positioning and means of securing the anchors is somewhat speculative, but typical.  In the next picture, eyebolts have been installed below the arms and a lashing is being touched with thinned white glue to secure the seizing.
 

 
In the next picture, the starboard anchor has been suspended from the trip chain on the cathead. 
 

 
The cable chain is also threaded on to the shackle.  This shackle has a threaded bolt which will be trimmed to size later.  A hooked brass rod can be seen inserted from above the windlass through the hawse hole to fish the chain under the forecastle.
 
The next picture shows the chain pulled through over the top of the windlass.
 

 
The string shown in the picture has been threaded over the windlass so the chain can be taken over for another turn.  In the next picture the chain has been wound over the windlass and dropped through the chain tube to the hold.
 

 
The last picture shows the suspended anchor ready for release.  The shackle bolt remains untrimmed at this stage.
 

 
The next step will be to make and install the smaller stream anchor.
 
 
 
Ed

Thank you all.  Good advice, Maury - climate permitting of course.
 
Rob, everything after Volume I before starting masts and rigging will be included in Volume II - with of, course, all the drawings for that work.  Only a few tasks now remain to get to that point.  Stream anchor, mounting the anchors and chain, swinging boom brackets are about it.   If you have Vol I you will be aware that the level of descriptions in the book are far more complete than the overviews given here in the build log.
 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 176 – Whisker Booms
 
After a couple weeks on my favorite beach – one passed by Young America on her last fateful voyage – I have now returned refreshed and ready for the fall modeling campaign.  The whisker booms were completed just before we left.
 
Whisker booms were iron extensions to the catheads that served as spreaders for the chain jibboom and flying jibboom guys.  The first picture shows the installation of these fragile-looking members.
 

 
The whiskers extend about 5 feet from the ends of the catheads and are bolted to the after sides.  Each has formed cleats on the top face through which will pass the chain guys.
 
The whisker booms were made from hard brass plate and were shaped by hand methods – sawing and filing.  In the next picture a jeweler's saw with a fairly wide blade is being used to cut the inner line of the end cleat on the pair of booms.
 

 
Apart from these initial cuts, each boom was shaped individually.  The next picture shows one finished boom and one in progress.
 

 
To be sure these would smoothly pass the chain guys they were tested as shown below with some of the correct-size chain.
 

 
In the next picture the port boom is held in place with a clamp while the run of the chain guy is being checked. 
 

 
The guys will obviously be installed later when the bowsprit is installed and rigged.  The next picture shows the port boom temporarily bolted to the cathead.
 

 
The bolts were silver-soldered into the booms before blackening, then rounded off and cut to length.  The bolts were then CA glued into drilled holes in the cathead.
 
The last picture shows the finished boom on the port side.
 

 
 
 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 175 – Shackles
 
Since I will be away for the next couple weeks, I thought I would cram in one more post before leaving – especially since it relates closely to the last post. 
 
There will be many shackles like those described below in Young America's rigging – 3 dozen or more on the deck and hull, plus many more aloft on yard bands, connecting chains and wire to rope, etc.
 
Shackles consist of  U-shaped iron yokes with screwed bolts threaded into the ends.  They replaced ring bolts, seized lashings and other connectors.  Easy removal of the screwed bolt allowed connections and disconnections to be made easily.  Several shackled eyebolts are shown below.
 

 
These will eventually be installed in the deck, rails, or hull by the method described in the last part – but not until later after the lines have been spliced on at the workbench.  The next picture shows the two parts of a shackle about to be silver-soldered.
 

 
The two pieces are 24 gauge copper wire – same gauge as the eyebolt.  Copper-phosphorus paste has been applied at the joints.  The configuration of the pieces is intended to simulate the horseshoe shape with a straight bolt at the bottom.  The picture also shows an eyebolt embedded in the soldering block ready for attachment of its shackle – not the one shown.  The next picture shows the soldered shackle before trimming the bolt ends.
 

 
There will be relatively few of these standalone shackles, so this was for demo only.  The next picture (apologies for bad focus) shows the soldering setup for an eyebolt-attached shackle.
 

 
The embedded eyebolt must be kept clear of the solder paste so the parts will swing freely.  After soldering, the shackle must be rotated so its bolt passes through the eyebolt allowing the rope or other line to connect to the horseshoe loop. This rotation has been done on the pieces in the last picture.
 

 
The loops on these shackles at 1:72 are about 6" (.08" actual) diameter.
 
Next topic: Whisker booms.
 
 
Ed
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 174 – Eyebolts
 
There are about 5 dozen eyebolts to be mounted on the deck and rails.  These are eyebolts to which rigging lines, mostly for tackles, will be secured by hooks.  There are another 3 dozen or so to which lines or chain will be shackled.  Since the shackles will be non-working, these latter eyebolts may not be permanently fixed until the lines are attached, mostly by splices and thimbles, block straps, seized ends or chain links.  Making these connections in place is not an option for me so the connections will be made before the shackle eyebolts are fitted.  The unshackled eyebolts, however, may be installed at this time.  The rigging drawings necessary to place these are complete.
 
I made the 60 eyebolts in about an hour by the method shown below.  They were made by spinning 26 gauge copper wire.  The eyes are about 5" O.D.  The first picture shows the tools and raw material.
 

 
The hand drill is fitted with a hook made from a pleating pin.  A slightly larger diameter hook is also shown and was used for the shackled eyebolts that will be described in a later post.  For convenience I used the Unimat® vise set up as shown.   A short piece of wire is bent and the ends secured in the vise.  The next picture shows an eyebolt being spun.
 

 
The amount of spinning becomes a matter of judgement.  The next picture shows two sizes of eyebolt.
 

 
The smaller size to the left was made from 26 gauge wire.  All of the deck and rail mounted eyebolts are 24 gauge, 5" O.D.  The next picture shows these blackened using liver of sulfur.
 

 
The bolts all have the same diameter shafts, with some variation in O.D.  However, all these were deemed acceptable for use.  The O.D. at 1:72 scale is about .07".
 
Holes were drilled for a slip fit with some friction.  After drilling the eyebolt was dipped in medium viscosity CA and pushed into the hole with pliers.  The next picture shows four of these around the fore mast.
 

 
There is, of course, a slight twist to eyebolts made by this method, but at this scale I felt it was acceptable.  Apart from the ease of making these, they also have advantage of eye strength without soldering, and gripping strength in the holes.
 
The next picture shows some of these in the main rails, in the outer binding strakes, and around the mizzen mast.
 

 
There are also several bolted through the channels and several around the poop rail and outer deck strakes.  There are a few on the exterior of the hull but most of those will have shackles attached.
 
Another pre-rigging chore completed.
 
Ed

Nils and Ed
 
You can buy rolls of backdrop paper in white, black, grey, and many other plain background shades.   I usually tape the top of the sheet as high as needed on a wall, then roll it down and onto the floor and let it run out 5 or 6 feet with a wide radius where it goes from vertical to horizontal.   Photos below show what I mean on this.
 
Allan