Aussie048

Greetings all
Well a bit more progress tonight. Fitting the sheet and clue lines to the fore top gallant yard, which completes the fore mast work on this stage of the build, So it's on to the main mast for the sheet and clue line next. I have posted only one photo as they are becoming very monotomus. . Thanks for viewing everyone DAVID

Greetings
I have finally finished the mizzen mast , which brings the instructions for the lifts , buntlines and leechlines to a close. ( I hope).... I am now directed back to the bows and firstly the bowsprit rigging. I had added the rigging for the bowsprit earlier as I started the rigging out of sequence, but I only fitted it using the drawings and rarely used the instruction manual. Unfortunately I did not have a clue what a buntline clue line or leech line were, and when I had a read of the rigging instructions for the bowsprit which I should have read earlier they were mentioned. So I had to retrace the rigging on the bowsprit to check all was in order. Ok I have now started the clue lines and sheets as per instructions and working from the foremast back to the mizzen. All I have done tonight is the two sheets and clue lines on the top mast yard which is the first in the sequence. So I am off and running on this stage which leads on to the next stage which will be the braces. Thanks once again for comments and for viewing. A couple of photos of the last work on the mizzen lifts, and the rest are the sheets and clue lines on the foremast. Here we go. DAVID

Greetings all
Well at last I have got the main mast fitted. The truss pendants need rigging up with a block and tackle and a bit of sorting to do. So next is the top gallant to fit and on to the mizzen. I have knocked a bit of rigging loose, but it's more or less unavoidable. What I need to do is go back to the short run of shroud and ratline that I need to repair. So that's me for a week or so. Thanks to you all for viewing and your comments and here we go with some photos. DAVID

First testing with bent deck planks around mast fish. This will be harder than i first thought... I´m also running out of deck planks, will have to contact Billing Boats and see if they can supply me with more.

The deck planks shaped to fit around the mast fish. I found it very hard to make them fit.

Small progress, but these small things make a big difference in the looks - to me anyways. Toerails and rubbing strips on. Hatches and seats done. The cabin hatch came out a little lopsided, another learning booboo.  The hatch rails I made from glued up leftover walnut scraps so they matched the hatch. Those toerails and rub rails are only 1/32" - A little fiddly. Next I'll do the trailboards (? is that the right word?) and there's another rubbing strip to go on with them too.

I got some paint on my lobster smack. I'm trying Behr paint samples from Home Depot. They are 3 bucks for a pretty good size little jar. (7.25 ounces)  I'm cheap sometimes. 

Crane capone the Cutty sark under construction , you comment .
 Giancarlo

I update the site wiht the latest devolopments of the work of the bow  anchor chain hoists  and cranes capone .

Hello everyone as requseted by Richard will post more photos from the beginning of contruction .
 Giancarlo

More photos
 
 
Good job soon
Giancarlo

Ciao a tutti, vieni Annunciato all'inizio SI presento al mio sito con Le ultime devolopments lasciando al Vostro Consiglio. 
 
Giancarlo

A quick update and a couple of photos.  Skid beam support pillars are now in place and I've made up the quarterdeck screen and dry fitted it for marking on the bulwarks.  Put a couple of coats of walnut stain on the screen, followed by clear satin polyurethane.  I decided to make the window frames black rather than the yellow ochre suggested. Pictures of the real ship indicate these window frames were black or dark brown. I haven't glazed these windows yet as the screen will be set aside for a while and I'll glaze them before final installation.   Just need to take off the stubs of bulkhead 14 and sand down to deck level and I'm ready to start planking the deck.
 
Patrick
 
 

The quarter deck is in place and we move onto a new phase of the build!  It went in pretty smoothly, although a few tense moments and is glued and pinned to dry overnights.  There is a gap on one side of the skid beam surround but the surround will be sanded down and after the deck is planked there will be wood strips placed on either side of the skid beam assemply, so the gap won't show. 
 
It's been a good day.  Quarterdeck is in and Chelsea beat Manchester United.  I think I'll splice the mainbrace and (for my American friends here) will watch the San Francisco 49ers beat the Seattle Seahawks and head to the Super Bowl!
 
Cheers
 
Patrick

Thanks Glenn & Rob.  Here we go with installing the quarter deck.  On problem I ran into was the positioning of the camber beams.  According to the plans, they're all supposed to sit aft of their respective bulkheads, but the positioning the upper gun deck inner bulwarks to line the gun ports up with the outer bulwark gun port opening means that the slots for the camber beams don't all sit aft of the bulkheads, some sit in front of them.  So some of my camber beams are aft of the bulkhead, some forward.  I really don't think it makes any difference and nobody is going to see the camber beams anyway.  So onward and upward.
 
Installing the quarter deck isn't as complicated and intimidating as the manual makes it seem.  The key is in preparation..sanding the quarter deck sheet so it fits just right, making sure the skid beam assembly fits easily into the waist cut out, making up the bitts, etc.  In the pictures the deck is glued in place from  bulkheads 13 to 17. The bitts are in place but just held by a clamp and will be glued to the upper gun deck later.  I raided the Admiral's clothes pin supply and am waiting for the skid beam assembly to glue up, then will complete the installation of the quarter deck. Feels like I'm having fun now!
 
Patrick

The quarter deck screen, dry-fitted, with the MicroMark Micro Glaze for the windows.  I'm liking that stuff!
 
Patrick

I haven't posted anything for a month but I haven't been completely idle.  A nasty bout with pneumonia slowed me down a little, still not fully over it but back in the shipyard.  Quarter deck planking is completed as are the inner bulwarks and the continuation of the second planking up to the cap rails.  Still some pait tidying up to do but I'm pleased with the results.
 
Patrick

Hi all,
 
The hull is finished.  When they rebuilt Lettie, which is what the drawings were taken from, the fore deck was raised to match the poop deck.  That’s why the deck measurement is longer.  They also extended the monkey rail all the way to the bow.  In trying to restore Lettie to original condition I installed the monkey rail around the stern, only up to the step in the deck.
 
I’m going to do something different this time.  I’m going to paint the hull and then install the deck.  On the one hand I won’t have to mask the deck; on the other it will be harder to sand the deck.  Well that’s how we learn.
 
Bob
 

 

 

Also roped up my scratched water keg for interior and fitted it..  Ollie

I also scratched a tiller and fitted it.. everything you see here now is fitted..  
 
I made the bulwark steps and fitted my scratch stairs..  Progress will be slow for a while now, but i will be back soon enough.. Ollie

Thanks so much everyone...  Adding 3 hrs to log..
 
Been sick as a dog last few days, so no progress until tonight.. 
 
I made some handles for my companionway, i flatten a brass safety pin of required thickness. Drill pilot holes then 1 mm holes to suit rings..  

Earlier I decided to use the Amati chainplates by using only the base of it, but when I was sort of finished with preparing them all, I noticed that I had not ordered enough. So, I looked in my box with ship fittings and noticed same thinner brass parts that could also serve as chainplates. And to my surprise I had a lot of these parts. Therefore, I decided to use these found parts to turn them into chain plates.
In the first picture they can be seen, after bending and painting them black.
 
I have also started attaching them to the hull. Earlier, I had left spaces in the whales where the chain plates would go. They are not somewhat thicker, and I will need to compensate for that in the finishing wood that will be attached to the whales. As I expected, I had to remove some gunports to be able to drill holes for the chain plates. The results can be seen in the pictures, of the port side of the ship. Next will be the starboard side... Of course, I will paint the brass nails black, with which I fixed the chain plates.

Just finished framing lower gunports on the port side. Now they need cleanup. Then I'll start on the starboard side. Then I'll tackle that oversized stern piece.

I'm "dry" fitting the frames of the lower gunports before gluing them in place. Constructo calls for me to fit the lower and upper frames pieces before the side pieces.

Thanks for all the likes and comments, definitely keeps one going.
 
Just a few progress pics on the ratlines.  Judging from the majority of comments, these seem to be one of the most disliked steps and maybe one of the last major hurdles for a first build (after planking, coppering, rigging carronades).  All said, I'm pleasantly surprised and actually finding this a quite enjoyable.  But lets be clear, my results are far from perfect, but passable I think.  Obviously work still to do.  Although natural line seems to be in vogue, found this a little distracting so went with black glacee thread close to the needed dimension.  Overall, pretty happy for a first effort.
 
Lessons learned for next time:
Masts and shrouds should be built and mocked up prior to identifying the line of the chains.  Not too noticeable, but my 'rough and ready' method didn't take account of the actual lie of the shrouds over the tops and resulted in some of the chains not lining up as well as could be with final shroud placement I hate to blame materials, but I suspect that aftermarket ropes would result in big visual improvements and build enjoyment vs the standard supplied stuff which never seems consistent in size, shape or 'roughness'.  My mind is absolutely made up that additional cost is probably worth it. The tops and the channels are not parallel, although it looks best (IMHO) if the ratlines are parallel to the top and the channel where they meet, its pretty simple to slightly adjust the ratlines to achieve this in between.  
4mm spare walnut strips were used to 'clamp' the shrouds and provide the correct spacing (found that sitting these on top of the knots below and tying next set on top resulted in the almost exact spacing needed.  This technique helped a lot!

 
Overhand knots were used on first and final shroud as these seemed least bulky, I just couldn't get the cow hitch to work well for me, maybe next time...Snakes's channels are mounted very high so a ratline is needed right on top of the deadeyes.  This means that deadeye lashings make most sense 'sitting' on top of the deadeyes as I've seen in a few photos of the real thing (not prettily lashed to the shroud).  I also wanted to try and get a little natural sag into these, results are proving to be mixed, but adjusting is easy once in place to try to get close to desired look.
 
 
And the current state...quite the mess with all the untrimmed ends