catopower

Okay, I broke down and started rigging the gun tackles on the Mary's cannons. The way I'm building her, she'll only need six guns. And, given that at this scale, they're not too tiny, that's about as easy a rigging job as there could be. It's not going to get any easier in the future, and perhaps this will help me decide if and how I can rig the guns on my smaller HMS Wolf model. First, in order to mount the guns securely, I've been pinning them to the deck. In this case, a sewing pin cut off and inserted into a hole I drilled into the bottom of the gun carriage. Don't ask me why I chose sewing pins and not just some brass rod. The pins are a hard steel and hard to cut. I tested out each gun in position, to locate where I need to drill a hole in the deck. Note that they don't line up quite right, but that's because the locations of the gunport in the hull are off slightly. But, that's the way it was built, and it's not actually very obvious. Then, test fitting each one. This particular gun gave me the most trouble. I don't think the carriage is quite square. I'll probably shorten the pins a little. Some are longer than they need to be. They seem pretty well hidden underneath those carriages, and then definitely keep the guns solidly in place. Now, I'm in the process of rigging the gun tackles. I'm using Chuck's 3/32" 3D printed blocks. To be safe, I drilled out the holes with a #78 bit, which worked well, and allows me to pass a his .008" Ultra rope through it pretty easily. I decided to do a simplified job of it, using no hooks, just tying the strop through the eyebolts. I don't have a photo of them, but I have double-blocks stropped through eyebolts that will be attached to the bulwarks. Oh, and I realize that this particular gun is missing the trunnion caps. That's because it was one of two "spares" I decided not to use. Then, during the rigging process, one of the eyebolts got stuck and broke off. So, I just put one of these spares back into service. It'll get it's trunnion caps shortly. My work schedule changed today, and I think I may actually have enough spare time today and tonight to complete these! 🤞

I FINALLY made some progress on setting up the shrouds on the Mary. I find this to be a lot of work and am usually much happier when I get to the part where I can just mindlessly tie clove hitches for the ratlines. Took me quite a while to be happy with the work I was doing, first seizing the shrouds around the mast head, then adding the deadeyes, and then seizing them into place. This was a good project for easing back into this process, since there are only four shroud pairs total. Note that the shroud lanyards are not yet secured, since the setup is only temporary, to make sure everything lines up okay. The slight variation in the line of upper deadeyes should mostly go away when I secure the lanyards. They're still loose enough to cause that bit of variation. This is also kind of a practice run for rigging the shrouds on my HMS Wolf card model, which is currently on hold, but I'll be getting back to shortly. All the rigging here is Syren's Ultra Scale Rope, and the deadeyes are also Syren's 3D printed swiss pear colored resin deadeyes. It's been a while since I made my own chain plates of this type, and stropped deadeyes with them. I had to handle and work the parts a lot to adjust the fit, which is why so much of the blackening has worn off the deadeye strops. I'll get back to working on my technique in future builds. While I was working on the model, I also decided to secure the anchors and run the hawsers around the windlass and down the chain pipes. The cat heads were made by my predecessor and had only one sheave, so I had to get a little creative with the rigging of the tackle. I think it works okay. The more I work on the model, and the closer it gets to completion, the more that rudder gap bugs me. I'm getting closer to the point where I'll probably just cut off the hinges, and pin the rudder into place. I hope to have the model done by the next meeting of the South Bay Model Shipwrights in Santa Clara. We had our most recent meeting this past Saturday. This month's was a small gathering, but we meet in a rather small meeting room anyway, so it wasn't crowded. I didn't really make that much progress on the model since the last meeting, so I decided to leave it at home and bring something that would hopefully inspire me to get back to. Below, you can see my 1/72 HMS Wolf model, sitting in front of a 1/72 Master Korabel kit of the Russian tender Avos. There's also a 1/72 Disar kit of l'Hermione, the French 32-gun Condorde-class frigate. And in the second photo is a USS Constitution cross section, and the Spanish treasure ship, Nuestra Seniora del Pilar de Zaragoza. Anyway, next, I will need to come to a decision on the rigging of the Mary's cannons. There are only 6 or 8 guns depending on what information source you use, so it shouldn't be TOO bad. But, I've been having such a hard time working with the small blocks needed to rig the gun tackles. Wish me luck...

And, I still really love the lines of that ship, whatever it actually is!

When I first began ship modeling, more than 30 years ago (!), I had the Davis books in paperback and tried building the Lexington. Having never built a wooden ship model before, I wasn't up to the task, lacking skills and knowledge, so it was a failed attempt. In fact, I don't think I got very far at all before I realized this was way too much for me at that time. I think it could be done if you have the plan set, but there may be easier or more well documented methods of building up a framed model from scratch. Also, it's been argued for decades how that ship is very unlikely to actually represent the Lexington. So, you should just be aware of that.

Glen, I'm really happy to see someone taking an interest in Japanese watercraft, and your Kentoshi-sen is looking great! I've been focussing my own study of Japanese boats to mostly coastal and river craft, so I don't know much about the oceangoing vessels of the earlier periods. There seems to be much less info on those. I recognized the term Kentoshi-sen, but don't know much about them. However, I do recall seeing a model at the Sea Folk museum in Toba, Japan, and I have a couple photos I took of it, if you're interested. A bit different from this one, though, and I don't know what information it was based on.

Congratulations Tim on a beautiful build! Very inspirational. I haven't built a solid hull model in at least 10 years. You're making me think it's time to take one on again, and I've always had an interest in this particular ship and kit... 🤔

The next issue on the Mary is to fix the positioning of these fittings that work like cleats or kevels. Does anybody know the proper term for these Dutch belaying points? These fittings were mounted so low on the bulwarks that there was no room to wrap lines around them. I had to debond the glue that was used on them, which was some kind of rubbery adhesive. It made them easy to remove, but left a lot of rubbery glue spots and some hard to remove residue on the model. I did what I could and re-attached the fittings with thick CA glue. This allowed me to finally rig the lines for hauling up the lee boards. Rope coils to come later. Looking ahead at rigging the vangs, I noted that an image of the Utrecht reconstruction showed small pin rails at the bulwarks, aft. So, I added those to the Mary. I didn't have a whole lot of room to do this, as the forward wall of the stern cabin is about an 1/8" further forward than the plans show. This was an adjustment made by the original modeler. Made the spacing a little tighter, but I think the new pin rails should be okay.

Patrick, please tell Felix that Sebastian says 'hi'.

Gregory, I just used them right out of the bag. There is some color variation between batches of blocks. But, not enough to worry about. I'm very happy with the deadeyes. Also, the 3D printed stuff seems pretty sturdy. I've had wooden blocks split when trying to wire strop them. But, not the 3D printed blocks.

Trevor, thank you for the kind words. It is good to know that I'm not crazy for missing Sierra so much. Sebastian is a good, new companion, though he eats everything in sight, and then is ready for more! 😊

Thank you, Patrick. Her death has been really hard to take, we were very close. Two weeks ago, I was going crazy and decided that while I could never replace her, I needed to do find someone to take over her job at least. So, I adopted this little boy kitty from the animal shelter to serve as my new ship modeling supervisor and kitty overlord. I named him Sebastian, and he's been helping out a lot. It's taken him this long to get used to me, but we're managing pretty well now.

I've been having a really hard time working on my ship modeling projects. I started this topic a few days after my dearest kitty cat, Sierra, passed away. She'd been seriously sick for a couple weeks and couldn't hang on. I ended up having to work a lot extra to pay for her vet bills, plus had a hard time concentrating at home. So, things progressed very slowly, even though at times I thought things were getting better. Now, maybe they are getting better. I don't know. But, I did compile some of the work I've managed to accomplish over the last two-and-a-half weeks... I set the sails aside and started working on the main hold-up on this model, which is the making of chainplates. Once these are made, the shrouds can then be dealt with. It’s been a long time since I’ve made decent chainplates. On the Charles yacht model, they are simple wires that wrap around the deadeye and the bottom ends are inserted straight into the hull. I wanted something a little more sophisticated. So, I created chainplates from brass wire that are soldered to form flat plates with a loop at the bottom end for a nail. Took me a while to consistently form brass wire into the right shape. For this, I had to make a little fixture with a piece of brass rod for the big loop (for stropping the deadeye) and a hard, stainless steel pin for forming the small loop for the nail. It’s also been a long time since I’ve done much silver solder work, and I couldn’t find my silver solder and flux, so I had to buy more. I was sure I had some somewhere, but I guess it was hidden away somewhere some time ago. The soldering process turned out pretty well as you can see below. After soldering and cleaning up the new chainplates, I blacked them, starting by soaking them in vinegar (acetic acid) solution, rinsing them off, and them soaking them in a dilute solution of BlueJacket’s Brass Black solution. I find that BlueJacket’s metal toners work the best of any metal toners I’ve used over the past 30 years. Deadeyes are 5mm, 3D printed resin deadeyes sold by Syren Ship Model Company.

Yes, The Pilot Boat 'Phantom' Menace

Without these, I'd be useless at ship modeling...

Hi Bruce, I'm enjoying watching your progress on your Mary Taylor model. I also built the Mary Taylor many years ago. She's a beautiful schooner. Your model is coming along very nicely!

It's interesting to note another deviation from the Mamoli plans – there are no sheet blocks attached to that large topsail spreader yard. The sheet blocks are attached directly to the sail, and they "ride up" the braces. Means no need to have belaying points for the topsail sheets, and no sheet block slung under the spreader yard either. I've also noted there is no place to belay the vangs. The Utrecht reconstruction looks to have small pin rails on the bulwarks, near the tackles. Saw that on a photo somewhere, but don't see it now.

Patrick, thanks for pointing out the bonnet and reefing on the Utrecht. Also, about the seizing or lack thereof. No seizing certainly makes my work easier!

Gregory, I wouldn't kick yourself about the reef points on your model. Certainly not due to presence of brails, which served a different purpose than reef points. In fact, there's a passage in Brian Lavery's book Royal Yachts Under Sail, that mentions the later yacht Fubbs, stating "Fubbs was old-fashioned in 1719 in using a "bonnet", an extra strips of canvas fitted under a sail to increase the area, in this case of the jib. But, she also carried the means to reef the mainsail." So, if we are to believe Lavery's work, there would be evidence of both bonnets and reefs on small ships of the era, as pointed out by Patrick in the photos of the Utrecht reconstruction. (Thanks Patrick!)

Hi Gregory, those are the brails, and they should be correct. In fact, its been my plan to show the mainsail "brailed up" like in this image. The painting, however, does show the line of what appears to the lacing of a bonnet. I'm reposting your image with a blue arrow pointing to the feature. The following painting by De Man shows something similar, again, I point to with a blue arrow. So, if that's not a bonnet lacing, I don't know what it is. Just a reinforcement seam of some kind?

Thank you Druxey. I would gladly make the sails without reef points or bonnets! Any thoughts about the serving of the shrouds or stays?

I'm jumping ahead now and working on the sails. At this scale, I'm going to stick with my practice of making cloth sails. I've made many sails from cloth, but still experimenting a little here and there to get the technique to work just the way I'd like. However, the issue here is the make up of the main sail. If you look at the sail pattern, the mainsail shows a row of reefing points. My last Charles Yacht model had a bonnet. Not sure what is correct, but thought I'd put this question out here. The Royal Museums Greenwich website shows a model of the Mary with reefing points in the main and stay sails, no reef bands, and a row of holes in the sails. One for each reef point? Of course, I could just stick with the Mamoli instructions and add these reef points to the main sail, which I might just do, since It's simpler than lacing a bonnet anyway. Just wondering what might be correct? Also, since I'm more accustomed to later period ships, and mostly larger ones, if the forward most shroud and mainstay should be served? Also the eyes of the shrouds around the masthead? Of course, kit instructions never tell you to do this, even if it was actual practice. Here, I'm not so sure about. Seems to me that since there isn't much to chafe against, the foremost shroud would not be served. But, at the mast head? And the main stay? Again, since this is mostly a continuation of the original builder's model, I'm sure he would not have done any serving, so just going by the kit instructions is a safe route. But, I'd like to better understand this.

Thanks Patrick, I appreciate the nice comments. I had a bit of a slowdown over the past week, but I think I should be on a more regular ship modeling schedule again. Here's the most recent progress I made on the Yacht Mary. The lee boards were already made, but there was no pivot for it, so I drilled them out, as well as the hull, to fit a small length of dowel. Also assembled the anchors and cleaned up the anchor stocks. I used black thread to wrap the stocks. I think I need better lighting, because I had a hard time seeing that the wrapping wasn't particularly straight. But, I did manage to wrap the rings on the anchors without too much problem, and then added the anchor cables. When I first received the model, it had the hull ladders still intact. But, in the process of going to another ship modeler and then back to me, the ladders got broken. So, I had to remove them completely and rebuild them. I'm not really happy with the new ladders, because of the way they had to curve slightly under the hull. I'm not sure if that's because of the way the hull was built, or if perhaps they're not supposed to actually be flush with the hull as these will be. I suppose they should be straighter, but on this model, they would end up flaring out from the hull at the ladder bottoms, which would seem stranger to me. I didn't do much to the guns and carriages, except to paint them. They carriages were initially natural wood color, and the barrels were painted black, but were chipped. So, I painted the carriages and barrels, and then took a length of line, and threaded them through the carriages for breechings. Note that this is the style of Dutch gun carriages, but the Mary was Dutch built, so this should be correct. Not sure at this point if I'm going to add gun tackle and train tackle. Finally, I added the remainder of the decorative piece at the stern. It was a bit of a challenge to fit these parts, and the work left some notable gaps. But, I think it looks okay. I'm starting to work on cleaning up the already made spars, and fashioning flag staffs. I've also decided to use Chuck's ULTRA rigging line and 3D printed blocks and deadeyes on this one.

Gregory, I don't think you're cluttering up this log at all. I'm mostly just sharing about the model I received and how it's getting finished over time. I'm not demonstrating any special techniques or trying to illustrate anything special, other than to show that I'm actually doing something! 😀 Thanks for sharing the link to Lloyd McCaffery's model. Such beautiful work!

Here's some of the first work I did on the model. I decided to add a little more color to the model, so I painted the bulwarks the same shade of red I used on my Charles royal yacht. I'm doing the same with the gun carriages. Part of the reason is that the bulwarks wood was a bit splintery, and there were issues apparently when the builder was cutting the round gun ports. Also, I didn't like the way that Mamoli had the caprails built up from layers of strip wood. It must have made construction easier, but the visible layers of wood seemed distracting, so I went ahead and painted those as well as the moldings around the decorative section of the bulwarks and the channels. I considered using a strip of light colored wood over the moldings and maybe the edge of the caprail, but decided not to, at least not at this time. I rebuilt the chimney that's just behind the windlass, added the decorative hawse pieces at the bow and drilled the hawse holes. The gun ports were a bit of a challenge, as some of them didn't line up correctly. Another reason I chose to paint the bulwarks, so I could hide any corrections. The round ports on one side had only been started, so they were too small. But, a bit of filing opened them up and adjusted their heights and alignment. Decided that the model was far enough along to safely mount it. I didn't want to use the included stand. Those things are usually too flimsy and don't provide a means to really secure the model to the base. I just used the classic brass pedestals. That little deck structure hasn't been permanently attached yet. I want to add the guns before I permanently fix it to the deck. Oh, and on that and on the stern cabin, I added acetate for the windows, which were left open by the original builder. I think I just used canopy glue to secure them into place. Yes, before you comment on it, that gap between the rudder and stern post is... well, it's too large. After repairing the rudder and the rudder irons, I left it the way it was originally built. If it bothers me too much, I may just clip off the stuff in between, fake the hinges, and pin the rudder to the hull. Just haven't felt the need yet. Lastly, I saw some photos of other Yacht Mary builds and really like the splash of color painted on some of their transoms. So, I went ahead and added some color to this one. I'm not sure if I can handle painting any better detail, but I may try. Just not really ready for it yet. I considered doing more, but I really just wanted it to have a little bit of color. Any more, and I might feel the need to paint too many other details as well. Again, this is not intended to be an "accurized", and I'm trying not to undo too much of what the original builder did. But, as far as kit-built models go. It is started to look rather nice, and I'm happy about that.

Oh, those little birds!