Aussie048

O’course, masts ‘n’ spars will be requiring sails to be hung from them …
“Otherwise, what beeth the point ??”, CaptainSteve didst juxtapose. “Indeedeth, without sails, ye may as well just be calling ‘em Sticks !!”
 
So far, Our Hero has traced patterns from the Plan sheets onto the kit-supplied cloth ...

 
… thence didst he also maketh patterns for the corner trim pieces.

“All I shalt be sayin’ fer now wouldst be ‘Thank Thee Heavens for Fray-Check !!’”
 

 
“At this point, I should wish to thank JesseLee," CaptainSteve didst sayeth. "For ‘twas from his Scottish Maid log which I didst borrow most heavily whence making me sails.”
 
“O’course, they shall be needing sail bands,” CaptainSteve didst explain.
Here, Our Hero doth show the making o’ these …

 
Essentially, what he didst doeth was to clamp thin strips (5mm) of the sail cloth between two steel rulers. Then, Our Hero wouldst carefully go along the length, ensuring a straight 1mm edge. Once lined up, he didst useth ruler and table-top to fold the cloth edge over and onto its' ownself.

 
... thence turn the sail-band over, reclamp between the rulers, and do the same thing to the other edge ...
 
 
Now provisioned with a goodly stock of bands ready-to-go, CaptainSteve be currently in the process of sewing these in place upon his sails …

 

 
Our Hero will no doubt tell you that these be a work-in-progress …
 
“These sails be a work-in-progress,” CaptainSteve didst begin. “Verily, I doth have plans to give ‘em a weathered and weather-beaten look …”
[TEASER: Currently, there is a spare piece of sail cloth drying on my balcony after spending several days soaking in coffee as a test.]
 
“To this point, I only be half-ways done wi’ these,” he didst conclude.

I have started on the deck beams for the gun deck.
 
Things are going well, the gunports will need to be redone to get the cannons to line up properly.
 
When I cut the gangway opening, I shortened the port side frame 1.5mm shorter than the other, an easy fix, but the mistake has been confusing me this whole time as I kept getting different measurements when trying to level the decks. Sometimes I would measure from the back frames, all good then latter I would measure from the front and want to do repairs to true up the deck levels, lucky I never did.
 

 
 
I also installed the 'Mast holding apparatus', I added grattings to each side of it and added some black nails.
 

 
Here is a good shot of the 'Sail/Lumber storage' 
 

Holiday's over....back to the never ending ratlines!

My shipyard is idle today as we get ready to host 40 guests for a Christmas party. I'm 16 months into this build and I've learned a lot from all of you...that's a nice Christmas present!

Merry Christmas to all!

Make-up continues, slowly and carefull

Main works on make-up finished, little but significant corrections stil stayed to be done



Little details to shape. It seems as never ending story. Correct one point, mess another, fix it but mess third ...

Before



And after



I added a bit more yellow tone to the gold color on stern decoration, and it looks much better

Slowly going to the end of this stage

I finished replacing the inner bulwark planking with the glue drop riveted planks. I sanded the spar deck gun ports on the starboard side so they were square. I used a sanding stick for the sides, but this time I did not sand all the way to the bottom of the gun ports. I cleaned up the bottom of the sides with a riffler file that did not have teeth on the sides, so I didn't sand into the sill like I did the first time. I then finished the interior of the gun ports with a smooth emery stick. I also used the sanding stick to get the tops of the bulwarks flat. I still have to do this on the port side, but that will have to wait a few days. Here is how they came out:
 

 

 

 
While planking the bulwarks, I had some time waiting for the glue to dry, so I made up some of the gun tackles for the gun deck cannons. I had cleaned up the blocks and made some hooks, so I wanted to put them together to see how they would look and to gauge the size against the gun carriages. Here is a shot of the tackles:
 

 
I used this picture from the present Constitution as a guide:
 

 
At first I thought the hooks might be too big, but they are about the same length as the small blocks, which is about right. Also, they are about as small as I can make them. The length should be OK too, as long as I put the eyebolts in the bulwarks in the middle between the gun ports, as the current Conny has them.
 
Have a very merry Christmas everyone.

First loosen the screws with the knobs on top.  Adjust the plate on the bottom to the width of strip you want.  Place cutter on sheet with edge of strip pressed against plate.  Slide cutter along sheet.
 
Bob
 

 

 

Yes, it is used for cutting strips of wood from a sheet.  The idea is good but this tool is not that accurate so I made my own.  I made it longer to ride against the sheet better and I mounted the blade more securely so that it did not wobble in the holder.  I use mine all the time for soft wood like poplar.  I have cut strips as thin as .015 inch.
 
Bob
 

 

 
 

Progress on the Connie has been made. I am down to 7 pairs of running lines then I will need to make the coils and install them around the ship. I have completely exhausted the line I received from Mamoli in the sizes required. I have an order on the way from Syren Ship Model Co, (thanks Chuck). As soon as it arrives I will be able to complete the rigging. 
 
I am liking the way the ship is looking. Mamoli's instructions for the rigging has been pretty good. Once I learned how they were denoting everything, it has been pretty smooth. Here are a couple of shots of the ship as it sits on the bench today. I think tomorrow I will start working on the ship's boats since I can't do any more rigging other than installing a few blocks, until I receive the new rope.

an anchoring device for securing boat to the strand....
 
 
the little dreggen anchor from the Amati photo etch sheet is really too small, so I soldered my own one from brass, 16 mm long and appr. 15mm diam. over the four pikes
 
 
 

 
the midget anchor was considered too small (bottom left
 
 

 
boat has fallen dry at Cornwalls Atlantic coast
 
 

 
anchor hooked over the sheer capping
 
 
 
 
 
 
Nils
 
 

Make-up of right side of Her started tonight after pretty zig-zaging day going here and there doing this and that, what all at the evening you just can not remember ... day passed, evening comes, peace felt down to all, and I continue to work.

She was silent, carefully watching what I did



Hour and a half ... enough for today ... I discovered that thin paintbrushes with acrylic paints have very short lifetime

Look at this:



This little curve on same top of paintbrush makes huge problems during work !!!! Straight look of painted line sometimes depends of 1/4 mm ... this curve gives to brush it's own will, to leave paint on places where brush wants, not on places where I want !!!

I gave up using cheap Chinese brushes long time ago, and by them in specialized artist shops, paying a lot, because I noticed this earlier. Usually and often I really take proper care of all my brushes of any kind, wash them often during work and dry them, change water often, clean cloth is always on my knee to be close, pick up paint only with top of brush, do not let paint to dry on brush in anyway, but, after couple of months using them, this just happened. I think during painting I spent more time in preparing drop of paint and cleaning brush than in direct painting

Reason - unknown. I suppose there is some chemistry in acrylic which reacts with natural hairs from paintbrush, and hairs curved by time. If you look carefully on second picture, you can notice a pair of hairs which just start going somewhere

What to do? Any "sharping" or cutting hairs on that dimensions, simply do not work, and things become even worst. I tried this, and only result is - bluffly brush, complete unusable.

Just I have to bye a new one

On this FB page appears some old photos of Her I didn't have seen before (Ferriera time)

Pay attention to stern - there is no decoration at all, only name of ship

https://m.facebook.com/cutty.sark.replica

Back to work again, continuing with make-up

I realized that, in some way, I have to pass both longitude sides twice, to correctly paint up and down edge of every strip/molding

And here arise something what told me that make-up can not be finished until I do some deck works first. Considering to photos, teak color of dead-eye and nail holders, wooden surrounding of white panels and main rail is - exactly the same. And also both rounded longitudinal rails. Not to forget inside of fore and aft deck

So, make-up will be focused to black surface, white square rail and final look of stern decoration, then I have to jump on deck first to fight with holders, and to come back to rounded rails when start finishing holders, white panels and main rail

In mean time, to fight with stern decoration (little more yellow tone ?)

And here is Her tonight look

Build log part 70
 
 
the little gig is now complete, first prototype for the oars is made
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
oar length appr. 2,3 the max beam width
 
 

 
oar shaft diam. 2mm, made from bamboo, could be a bit less but risk of breaking under rounding the shaft
 
 

 
fits in for the "HMS Pegasus" space on the gallows (in actual it would be a 28 ft gig).
I`ll better have to take off the rudder (hook it out)
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
Nils

I've started to install my pre-made deadeyes on the upper fighting tops. I'm not permanently gluing any of them on until I can be sure of symetery and alignment. I've made those kind of mistakes before. The upper shrouds will be rigged like I'm supposed to...one shroud looping from one deadeye to another with some siezing.

I completed a milestone today. All of the spars are now attached to the ship and rigged. The last layer of rigging, those going to control the angle of the spars still has to be added. I also need to run the lower mizzen ratlines. I plan on doing the ratlines and starting the remaining rigging tomorrow. Once this is done, then I need to install the side davits for the two rear side lifeboats and build the three lifeboats. Then I need to add the many coils to the rigging to complete the ship!
 
Here is a quick photo I took of the ship as it sits tonight.
 
 

I just finished the lower ratlines. Lots of rookie mistakes, though. Boy will my next model be good!

Well it has been a while, but time for an update.
 
I finished the treenails on the lower deck, installed the shelf, which lost it's front legs which were replaced with angled beams that join to the back legs.
 
I waited a long time for the draw plate to arrive from America, so I made what other assemblies I could while I waited.
They included the fighting top. the riding bits, and some work on the cannons.
 
The fighting top was made was laser cut from thin plywood, I had wood that was same dimension as the kick rail, but more supple than the supplied walnut, I used the lasercut leftover as a jig to firmly attach the whole piece in one  length without a gap. It worked a treat. I then put a kick rail around the inside, so sailors don't slip down through the mast hole.
 

 

 
The riding bitt and pin rails were tree nailed together as were the uprights that were drilled  to take ropes (maybee little wheels if I can find some) 
 

 

 
I started the cannons, I grooved the outside of the carriage to simulate separate pieces of wood, I painted these and made small wedges for them from scrap, there was 3 badley cast handles from belaying pins that had not formed properly, these had holes/bubbles that were perfect for mounting to the wedges, leaving only 1 hole to drill in an impossibly  small part. 
The barrels of the cannon were some sort of antique brass finish, but needed the flash lines filed, so a new  finish is needed. I tried putting the barrels in acid, this gave them a nice matt black finish but fell of as soon as it came out of the acid. I may have to resort to painting or possibly buying aftermarket barrels/cannons.
The wheels have small treenails in centers to simulate the axle, I left them proud a little then peened them over with small hammer. They have not shown up on this photo but they look better than the plain wheel provided.
 

 
 
I have started the pipes for under the pumps, the copper tube will continue to the bottom of the ship and be painted black. the wooden flanged part will be covered in copper leaf. 
 

 
 
I also finished of the chests and boxes
 

 
 
Fitting deck beams was next, I pre cut all the parts.
 

 
Using the plans to approximate the fitting.
 

 
 
Most of the fitting was done on the model but the whole floor assembly is not fixed to the model yet.
 

 
The whole assembly lifts out but sits in its correct position without any coaxing.
I still have smaller beams to go in the rebates on the beams that run along the length of the ship, and the beams that hold up the floor.
And the knees need to be installed.
 

 
 
I am still waiting on some rivets that I want to detail some things in the lower deck and I want to get the rest of the pipe system for the lower deck worked out, I have not seen what happens to the pipes lower than the berthing deck. If I cannot find out the real configuration I will make up something interesting.
 
I must apologize also to Victorian shipmates, I did intend on coming to the BBQ but was waylaid by work.
No meeting for 2 months now, I will make a point of showing up for that, and will bring my membership application.
 
Also I have purchased the Shipways 18th century longboat (it's smaller than I thought), I will start this in a few weeks as a small side project.
And I purchased the Concord Stagecoach, that will be going in the storage locker for a while, but it looks like lots of fun for a future project.
 
Anyway back to the workshop till next time, if anyone can help with photos of the lower hold under the main mast would be appreciated.

As ye will no doubt be aware, Our Hero hath been down (but not out) these past few weeks. He be back at work this previous seven-day, although on reduced duties as per the Sawbone’s orders, and surgery doth feature in CaptainSteve’s future early in the New Year.
 
“I be slowed … but notteth stopped,” he didst explaineth, “and Life must moveth onwards.”
 
O'er the past few weeks, as Our Hero’s pile of unwatched DVDs grew smaller and smaller, and as he didst regain some limited movement, work commenced on sanding down masts and spars …

 
Here they be after staining ...

 
... and fading on their lower ends (where they shall be affixed into the mast-steps)

 
… and with the tops painted.

“O’course, they didst require a Docker stripe at the top,” CaptainSteve did addeth.
 
Here they be dry-fitted to me Launch (apologies for the blurry photography) …

OK, portlights in and painted. Would like to main rail and top gallant rail done before holidays, my wife wants her counter top back!!

So I deviated from the practicum on this coaming hatch because I could not get the "lock and grove" method to look good. This isn't perfect but it's good enough. The pictures are self explanatory for what I did. I used a sharp X acto blade to get clean cuts and used the line on the cutting mat to get the correct 45° angle; then trimmed here and there for a good fit. A little wood putty helped fine tune a few tiny gaps. I generally would like to stay away from putty- I kinda think it looks a bit more authentic just leaving the wood as is, but a little here and there won't hurt.

I completed rigging the mizzen today. Tomorrow  I will start working the spar control rigging (fore to aft). This starts with the spritsail yard and moves aft ending with the spanker booms. This will include the rigging for the main hatch ship’s boat. Once these are complete I will rig the lower mizzen shroud ratlines. Given the interior rigging remaining holding off on the ratlines seems to make sense.
 
Remaining work will be the control lines running fore and aft in the spars then the three ships boats.
 
 

It's pretty busy under the mast tops now :
 

 
  Danny

There...I changed my rank to "All Thumbs"