JesseLee

Wow.....looking good.  Can I rent you for 2 weeks???

Rigging progress update....
 
No attempt to describe the rigging sequence here, as Chuck P will be doing a much better job in that area in his continued development of his Cheerful build log.
 
Following his plan sheets and calling on him for a few clarifications along the way, I have managed to arrive at this point of being approximately 80% rigged.

>
..
>

>

>

>

>

>

 
Next, I will rig the shrouds and begin the hateful task of tying rat lines.
Then, the yards.... already built.
Then, anchors, and flags, and name plate....
Then, display base.
Then I have to finish up the little decoy ship.
 
Much to do yet, but I think I will make it before my December 4th deadline.

Here's a link that may help in deciding the direction for your sails. http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/3944-landlubber-mikes-technique-for-furled-sails/

Aw you guys, yuns are too kind about my crappy pulley blocks, but thanks, it's appreciated    And also thanks to all who clicked the like button.
 
Yeah Remco, I was also rather surprised and pleased with the result.  I need to buy some fresh blacken it suff and see how that works in the future.
 
You know Dave, I keep forgetting to do some more browsing at Michaels for "stuff" I can use like Popeye Dennis.  I'll go take a look and see what they have in beading wires, perhaps some thinner brass or as you said black annealed wire.  I used what I have on hand.  Problem is that Michaels is about 6 miles down the road and the Hobby Lobby is 30 miles south of us in Daytona beach.  There is also a hobby store (of sorts) 25 miles north of us in St. Augustine, thus  don't go there very often.
 
In the meantime I "spliced" 12 more ropes to the single sheaf pulleys, takes me about 1/2 hour per.  20 more to go then putting them all together and start rigging the guns.
 
Thanks everybody for your comments and input.
 
Cheers,

You got to have a little MacGyver in you modeling soul George.

Belaying pins....
Quick post, just to share this little innovation I think many of you may like to try.
 
As I got into the rigging of this project, I took inventory of my bone yard of blocks, cleats, and belaying pins. I discovered that, although I have four different sizes of belaying pins, none of them actually fit the scale of this ship. What I needed was a 1.2mm pin length with a 1cm shank.
 
Remember the little plastic tooth picks with the bristles?

 
Stained the heads with a dark walnut.... perfect.

Thanks to all for the 'likes'
 
Pat - welcome aboard!
 
Nigel - great point Nigel, I think this will come down to balancing two evils, eliminating the risk of damage during sanding or the risk of introducing a gap.  The dimensions of the walnut strip are not very precise, and I was orginally hoping to use the much tighter dimension of the boxwood as a guide.  Either way, I'm going to try to finish the planking near the wales as much as possible before installing to reduce potential damage to wale.  Will ponder this further...
 
Mobbsie - welcome back, jedi master!  I'm going to do what any self respecting ditherer will do, avoid making the decision until I absolutely need to, think I've got plenty to do in the meantime 
 
Big step for me today, managed to spile my first plank.  Used masking tape to get an approximate first cut at the needed shape, and then made up a cardboard template to fine tune.  Because the cardboard bends I made a 'master' template shown for final marking of the profile.  Hopefully the kids won't notice, I had to raid the cereal cabinet for cardboard supplies...Initially I made the plank 4mm wide full length to match the strip to be used elsewhere, but changed this to reduce to 3mm at the front end to look a bit more in keeping with contemporary models.  It should probably be less than that, but any thinner would likely be too hard to work with.
 
The outside edge was cut and fine tuned first as its convex and easily done with extra to hold on to.  The inside edge was gradually nibbed away (very carefully) using a dremel sander.  Think I'll leave the fine tuning until its glued on.  Plank was bent using a steam iron to approximate shape to make glueing easier.
 

 
In position....not glued yet.
 

I like how the 'blackened' strops turned out, much better than having them really black, this looks more convincing.
 
Remco

They look fine Piet!  And I think they'll pass "muster" with flying colors. 

Hi Piet
 
I know you said that the blocks aren't the "prettiest ", but, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And...to my eye, they're pretty darn good!!!
 
Keep up the great work, because I learn more and more each time I see your achievements.
 
Cheers
 
Patrick

Eric,
 
The diameter of both ropes are one size under what is recommended. It may have worked, but Chuck is really expedient about getting your order to you, so I might as well get the right stuff. I have plenty of things to work on in the meantime.
 
Mike

Hello there,
some new impressions of the construction of the pinnace.
The demolding was successful without that something was glued.
 

I've decided to send away for the right size rope. I'll obsess over it other wise, you can never have to much rope around anyhow.

Got the mainmast shrouds all set up I did a better job of measuring and don't think any will come up short this time.
Rigging is a slow process, but I'm getting better. getting these lines ready took half the time the the foremast took and I think they look better.
 

Thanks Nenad, Chris and Pete for your kind words and everybody for your likes, really appreciate it and for dropping in.
 
Well, the working ants have been busy today.  After painting about 8 of the very tiny pulley strops I told myself, "self, this is nuts, you'll be sitting here for hours and in the end Gwen'll have to call the folks in white suits with straight jackets."  I decided to give the blackening stuff another try but this time I went straight, no more of the recommended diluted stuff.  The painting worked okay but much too time consuming and delicate.
 
So, after about 10 minutes in the blue stuff they started to turn blackish.  Another 10 minutes - - no change.  I figured they'll get as black as they'll ever be.  Rinsed ten off in cold running water and let them dry.
 
After they were dry they looked more like old weathered iron than black, which is not that bad actually.  I also managed to "splice" in the hooks in the breeching ropes.
 
Then came the job of "splicing" the pulley tackle lines to te single sheaf pulleys.  Got only two done before having to feed my koi fish.  It's getting dark here now so early, 17:30 already, but the temps are still in the low 80's F during the day. So, who is complaining 
 
Well, here is the result of this day's work.
 

I dyed one spare block with leather dye, looks pretty nice but I decided to leave all the pulleys as they are.  Reason being, the pulley blocks under the aft deck are also unstained and blond looking.  I figured I should keep them all the same. Yeah, they are not the prettiest blocks but once installed it won't be noticeable.  I know, I know - - shame on me but such is life   The ones for the rigging will be another story.
 
Cheers,
 

Bit more work to show.  Wales have had a fair bit of work done on them to significant imperfections.  Couple of coats of paint were put on undiluted, followed by 3 coats of 50% diluted with surface finishing in between.  I need to see the finish in daylight to confirm whether I'm done or not...
 
Once again, I'm taking a different approach to the blackstrake from the instructions indicate a 0.5x3mm wide strip on top of the wale.  Estimating from the AOTS it looks more like 4mm which I think will sit better with the other 4mm planking.  Given I only have 1x4mm boxwood strips, I installed a 0.5x4mm walnut strip directly above the wale onto which I'll lay the boxwood strip.
 

 
This did (of course) introduce another wrinkle to deal with.  6 airing ports are needed, but these will encroach onto the blackstrake.  Not sure how exactly I'll handle these yet (they are small, ~2x4mm) but think I do want to try to install these rather than just simulating by scoring the planking which I know I'll not be happy with.  Interestingly, NMM models omit these ports and I am considering that as well - maybe less is more here.  Opinions anyone?
 

Glued the letters for name on. I think I got them spaced a little too close together but they are on & I'm not going to undo them. 
 
Attached a few eyebolts & rings
 
Painted the figurehead. The instructions left it like unpainted wood. I asked Chuck about it & he said it most likely was painted as other figureheads were so this is what I came up with.
 

Glued the letters for name on. I think I got them spaced a little too close together but they are on & I'm not going to undo them. 
 
Attached a few eyebolts & rings
 
Painted the figurehead. The instructions left it like unpainted wood. I asked Chuck about it & he said it most likely was painted as other figureheads were so this is what I came up with.
 

Thanks guys!

Glued the letters for name on. I think I got them spaced a little too close together but they are on & I'm not going to undo them. 
 
Attached a few eyebolts & rings
 
Painted the figurehead. The instructions left it like unpainted wood. I asked Chuck about it & he said it most likely was painted as other figureheads were so this is what I came up with.
 

Thanks guys!

Masts in larger vessels of the middle ages were "made" masts. That is to say, made of several spars shaped and scarfed together and then surrounded by hemp wooldings usually nailed to the mast. This is seen well in this mid 15th century illustration from the Trombetta manuscript.
Only smaller vessels had pole mainmasts made from a single spar. Foremasts and mizzen masts were usually single spars.
 
Although maststeps commonly are preserved with the keel in shipwrecks, surviving masts are not usually found. An exception is the Woolwich ship found in 1912 (R.C. Anderson Mariner’s Mirror May 1959) and thought to be the Sovereign 600 tons of 1488 (W Salisbury MM 47 1961) . This wreck had a surviving 10 foot stump of mainmast still in its step. It was 1.32 metres in circumference. By my calculations, this would make it 42cm in diameter at its base.
 
I have elected to attempt a "made" mast based on the Woolwich ship This will have a central large spar octagonal in shape (the spindle or spyndell) with 8 filling pieces surrunding it. Below deck level the mast would probably remained octagonal but would be rounded above deck level.
 

 
Dick

Hello everyone and thank you all for visiting my shipyard and liking what I'm doing.
 
Been busy with stropping the 64 pulley blocks for the 8 deck cannons.  Well, besides that I also had to do some work in the yard and a little goofing off 
 
I'm also working on another project that'll be disclosed when I'm good and ready 
 
Just to let all yuns know that all 64 pulley blocks are now done and ready for the strips to be blackened.  Ten the blocks need to be stained after which I can start ligging them with the ropes.
 
Seems like not much done but these little buggers take a lot of time, especially when you have to undue 32 straps because me dummy put them on the wrong blocks     Oh well, just a bunch of hours waisted with some more brass wire.
 

The blackening stuff I have didn't do squat blackening the brass.  It did the solder though.  I aint going to order and wait for new stuff so I'll be using a paint brush and flat black paint.  Wish me luck.  Fortunately I have rather steady hands and am used to painting small things.
 
Cheers,

Glued the letters for name on. I think I got them spaced a little too close together but they are on & I'm not going to undo them. 
 
Attached a few eyebolts & rings
 
Painted the figurehead. The instructions left it like unpainted wood. I asked Chuck about it & he said it most likely was painted as other figureheads were so this is what I came up with.
 

Glued the letters for name on. I think I got them spaced a little too close together but they are on & I'm not going to undo them. 
 
Attached a few eyebolts & rings
 
Painted the figurehead. The instructions left it like unpainted wood. I asked Chuck about it & he said it most likely was painted as other figureheads were so this is what I came up with.