Aussie048

Success. I was able to rig my first cannon today! It took many starts and restarts before I came up with a method for stringing the blocks. First I wire the blocks with 32 gauge black wire. This is touched very lightly with CA as it rounds the block. Then I put the blocks in thinned clothes hangers. Then wax the thread. I found that supergluing the thread makes it too large to go through the holes. I then take a small drill and go through the holes to make sure the CA did not migrate into them. I thread the blocks then wire them to the cannon. I use the jig to position the blocks and to do a last check for the threading. Since there is a right and left version of each block I need to check them. Once all is well, I take a final tension on all the blocks and run a thin coat of CA to lock the rigging in place. Tomorrow I will add the rings to the rigging, touch up the paint (and paint the capsquares black, then install it on the ship. Since I have three sets of rigging on each side I will also need to drill a third hole on each side of the cannon ports. This will be half way up the port and will be for the innermost blocks. I will also need to address making the breeching block look like it is laying naturally.
 
The photos below show the cannon in the jig. The two brass ends seen at the end of the cannon and just inside the frame are part of the jig I made to hold the cannon in place while I worked on the blocks. The bulkhead ends of the blocks will be at different heights when attached to the rings on the ship. Also the breeching line has not been waxed in this photo so is still very fuzzy. That will be fixed tomorrow before installation. The final location of the blocks in relation to the bulkhead will be done after I touch up the cannon tomorrow. 
 
I will also need to flake the lines so they lay neatly coiled on the deck beside the cannon. It is not pretty yet, but it is a start that I can work with. I also want to look at a combination of wire rope. Currently I am using wire for both ends seizing. I think I like the way rope would look directly attached to the cannon. So I will try that out tomorrow, that way I can do a nice seizing on the line. If that works I will use rope for the cannon end of the block and wire for the bulkhead. 
 
Bill

I loitered the shops today, wear off my poor legs to knee, and find something which I think it will be OK (with little touching ... )
 
Cherry tree veneer, or something similarly, which "draws" on pink 
 
In this shop ( handmade furniture salon) I find only samples, and to bye must go factory 30 km out of the town ... sending option for 0,5 m2 is not feasible ... 
 

Hi Ken -
Here are two thoughts for our Fair American builds.  Both are illustrated in the attached photo.  First, a skylight and second, a ship's longboat.  A ship of her size certainly would have needed one.  Something around 5 - 6 inches (20 - 24 scale feet) would be about right.  What do you think?
 
Also, what did you use for the trenails?  Your end result looks great.  From this forum, I gather that folks use either dark wood putty or small bits of wood, or bristles from a brush or broom.  <<Gary>>

Gary - I don't know what color would be period correct.  I thought white looked better, but went with the color of the Rodger's model.  No other reason.
 
I’m still working on planking the lower hull.  But my method requires a lot of time for planks to soak and dry in place, and then for the glue to dry.  So I have to find something else to do while I’m waiting.  Recently, one of the entries to CaryKap’s blog, (wq3296, I think), pointed out that the door to the captain’s quarters was only 3 feet high according to the scale of the model.  I can’t imagine a captain stooping that low.
 
Since I’m still in the process of building the ship, I didn’t want to engage in an extensive renovation.  I thought the best/easiest solution was to use a sliding top over the cabin door.  While doing research I found a drawing of an 1818 American revenue cutter with a sliding entrance to the rear cabin.  That was enough for me to decide that my solution was “period correct”.   I still need to add the tree nails, but the sliding top looks good to me.

Bob, I do intend to go to the New England model boat show in April. I will bring the whaleboat model if I can only get the cat to catch the rat
 

 
 

 
S.os
 

I've making slow progress but the finish is near. I obtained the weathered mounting board ( cherry) a imitation sperm whales tooth.
 
The images shown below are missing the various line tubs, buckets and piggins that go with this model. The tubs have their lines faked down but I still have to "weather" the hoops. Also to soot up the sail some to kind of get some of the grimy whale blubber being processed aboard the whale ship.
 

 

 

 

 
S.os
 
 
   

Thanks for the encouraging words and tips.
 
Next to attend to some of the cordage involved with this model, like the harpoon lines, painter and various bucket handles. Maybe even an eye splice for the painter. I'm stretching the harpoon line just like they did in the old days.
 

 

 
Notice the fastening stains in the hull.
 

 
 
 
 
I deepened the stain in the ceiling. I thinks it looks better.
 
I might do the same for the thwarts but can't figure if the stain would be less where the rowers sat of lighter. Any thoughts ?
 
S.os

Been making some of the fittings. The kit supplies photo etched harpoons & lances. Also copper wire to solder them to.
 
Does anyone here know any household liquids to blacken em with ?
 

 
The oars are simpler to make. I used poplar from H. Depot.
 

 
Now the compass was furnished with the kit but not the C. rose. I hope my home made rose doesn't get the boat steerer lost.
 
Still a way to go.
 
S.os

I got all the thwarts installed. I also took the liberty to depart from the plans furnished in the kit.
With the C.W. Morgan undergoing major repairs there are many independent boat builders  furnishing new whale boats for the bark. Like many boats the whale boat isn't a "cookie cutter" craft.
 
With this in mind and using one of the whale boat sites ( Beetle)a building on the internet I decided to use a different version of the steering oar brace. It looked more substantial then the one shown on the Erik Ronnberg pattern. One problem I had was the size to make it. After making two of different sizes I settled on the one shown in the images.
 
Also in the kit is no provision for a mast and spar rest after the sail gear is lowered. This U shaped chock is located on the stern just to the stb. side of the loggerhead.
 

 

 

 

 
Most of the boat itself is finished. Now all I have to do is construct , improvise and install all the various whale hunting craft. A kit in it self.
 
S.os
 
 

This weekend, I hit the model with some paint. I was very hesitant as I wasn't sure just what scheme course to take. The thwarts are just temporary as before . I still have to make the thwart knees and rudder hardware as well as the brackets that hold on the steering oar and numerous other details just to the hull alone not mention all the gear carried aboard these unique craft. I intend to weather the model some and an attempt is made with some rust stains on the fwd.Stb. bow.
 

 

 

 
Any weathering tips would be appreciated.
 
Thanks
 
S.os
 

The fun stuff.
Small details that were left unfinished earlier.  The chain from the spectacle plate acted to  secure the rudder when it was unshipped as well as provide another method for emergency steering.  The end was left free to avoid interference with the gun port lids.
 

 
A hook connecting the chain with the line (made from an eyelet).
 

 
Lashing the hook
 

 
28 G. dark annealed wire through a hole in the channel, to allow seizing the line at the eye formed in the wire, and to act as a messenger to pull the line up to the channel.
 

Crossjack Yard Brace.  Braces arrise from the aft main shroud, pass through the opposite yard block and return to the block on the shroud before leading to the pinrail. Note the yards cross each other, seen better in the second photo.
 

 
This completes the braces. 
 
Cheers, Gil

Continuing with the braces.
 
We think of rigging as complicated, rather tedious and once done, to be left alone. However, I'm currently reading "The Life of Captain James Cook" by J.C. Beaglehole and I'm intimidated by the fact that in severe gales or storms, Cook strikes the topmasts and yards, only to send them aloft again  when the weather moderates.  Can any of us do that with our models?  Perhaps Grant is the most experienced among us, with his vast experience with broken masts. (Sorry Grant, I couldn't resist). Of course the point is that when one looks at real life experience, rigging takes on a dynamic role with every line serving the ship.
 
This will complete the braces for the mainmast yards and crossjack yard.  Then we can deal with the prodigious excess of line each generates.
 
Main Topgallant Yard Brace. Originates from the mizzen topmast stay collar, passing through the yard block and back to a block on the collar, then to a shroud cleat.
 
 
 
Main Topsail Yard Brace. Originates from the Mizzen stay collar and returns to a block on the mizzen just below the bibbs.
 

 
Main Course Yard Brace.
 

 
Lizzard off the after mizzen shroud.
 

 
The origin at an eyebolt, passing through a block at the rail and belaying to a large deck cleat.
 

 
 

Thank you, my friends, for your replies.
 
dgbot: I´m using just cardstock, for surface finishing ( decks, planking imitation etc. ) I´m using strips of foils - just like Doris is doing ( I learned this method from her ) I´m using wood just for masts and yards.
 
Karleop, Omega 1234: The scale 1:96 is normal for me, I´ve build all of my ships in this scale and I don´t want to change it. It´s just fact that these two are quite small  Most of my ships is quite big ( La Couronne is about 80 cm long )
 
Here are two photos for comparison: Pinta and Revenge, both hulls and La Couronne.
 
Jan

This topic wasn´t abandoned, next steps were at my Vic´s report.
                                          #335                         
 
Here some teasers:
 

 


 

 

 

 
Cheers, Daniel

Did not have too much time lately, but today managed to do a tiny-tiny bit :-)
 
First lashed the guns as defined by the Navy Board  ...
 

 
... then tried out the hammock cranes ...
 
 
 

 
... and with connecting rope ...
 

 
... :-)
 
XXXDAn

Hallo!
 
Thanks marktime I hope so. Aussie you made a good piece of work on your ship, I am looking your progress with interest.
 
Pictures show details of underdeck, windlass and transom.

Hallo,
 
some progress has done and I have already a little time for update. I am working on quarterdeck and Captain's kabin.

hello show must go on

Hello! Thanks robox and matti.
 
some progress - upper deck and main hatch cover.

Here it is!

Thanks Nigel, Tim and Matti for comments!
 
Work goes on. I finished all 6 cannons a the rudder. Starting with deck furniture and fittings. I´m workin on hatches, binnacle and windlass.

I was not planning on posting any more planking pictures for a while, but tonight I decided to go a bit off piste with the build.
 
As the planking has been progressing tonight I suddenly thought it would be good to see where a mid point plank would lay running parallel to the gun port edge planks.
 
I pinned a number of small plank lengths to find a good starting point which happened to be 4 plank widths, as shown in the first two photos. This enabled the plank to run true and also lined up perfectly with bow join.


 
 
As I glued the plank in position I made sure the stern end finished on a fixed number of plank widths, the magic number was 2 plank widths.

 
Finally a picture taken from the bow end showing the mid point plank fitted on both sides. The other advantage of this method for me is I can plank either side of this mid plank which means I can fit two planks per side a time which may reduce the construction time by a small amount.

 
That ain't bread that's toast! (name the catch phrase)

Thanks Hamilton for your continuing interest.
 
I have now built the stove, but will not mount it until sometime later in construction to avoid damage to this very delicate little piece. Since the stove is painted, I chose to use the basic kit pieces to assemble it. I did a number of the details with non-kit items. For example, I used very thin styrene to do the various doors, a couple of very small bulls eyes I had for the pulleys and some tiny (40 links per inch) chain to connect the pulleys. Doing this piece almost convinced me that my aging eyes and hands need to work in larger scales. Still very enjoyable, but getting very difficult.
 
Next, I will start to mount and rig the first few guns.
 
Bob

Thanks for stopping by, dear Sjors.
Today I took some better pics at daylight and now I am continuing with deadeyes on starboard.





 
Enjoy the pics, soon I will add new ones.
 
Best regards
Doris