ulrich

Continuation ( That's all folks !)

Hi Mark
 
The answer to your question is that the foremost shrouds were served their entire length, the rest of the shrouds were served to just below the futtock staves. Fore and main stays were served to just below the mouse. Back stays were served to just below the splices or lashings
 
Cheers
Steve

Try a sewing shop, i.e. Joanne's, Hobby Bench.   Folks who do bead work and some jewelry may use beads that small.....last ditch effort might be Bass Pro Shop or Cabela's fly making gear.
good luck
Tom

While at Michael's you should have asked for "seed beads" they are the little glass beads that are made into bracelets and such using a loom.
 
Bob

On a recent build, drilled through the centre of a small diameter dowel using my drill press and then turned the dowel down to the desired diameter using sandpaper on my lathe. I then cut the parrel beads to length and carefully sanded the ends. It was fiddly but worked well. The beads were around 1.5 mm in length but could be made even smaller. See below
 

 
Alternatively, you can buy beads in a range of sizes and colours from sewing shops. See below.
 

I needed 1.5 mm, and did not succeed in finding a shop selling beads that small.
I used a clay used for beadmaking (soft clay that hardens after baking it in an oven). i drillen holes of the desired measure in a wooden strip, smeared the clay in the holes, used a piece of thin copper wire to make a hole in the bead, baked it. (While still in the wooden strip) after baking, i used the blunt end of the drill to pish them out of the strip, did some founding of the corners using a bit of sandpaper.
 

 
It worked reasonably well, although Idon'tthink you can get much smaller than 1.5 mmusing this methodl. I have also seen peaple using magic sculpt or something likethat to make small parrels.
 
Jan

Ulrich, because are only using sandpaper to reduce the diameter of the dowel, you may be able to fix the dowel into a collet after drilling it out and sand it back using your hobby drill clamped in a vice. I am assuming that you have a hobby drill that uses some form of collet.

Thanks, Ulrich. I've often thought of making my own. Perhaps I'll get round to it this time!
 
Tony

Btw the stuff is called fimo
 
Jan

Tony, 
I made my own some years back using a can with a top (english candy). It is somewhat primitive but it does the job well on blocks, not so well on the wooden parrel beads, when I tried to reduce their size.
Regards,
Ulrich

Tony, 
I made my own some years back using a can with a top (english candy). It is somewhat primitive but it does the job well on blocks, not so well on the wooden parrel beads, when I tried to reduce their size.
Regards,
Ulrich

Thanks for all the advise and tips. I don't have a lathe to turn those beads from wood (which would be my first choice).  I will try to use the method, Jan describes, using clay. To round them off, I will run them in my block tumbler and see if that works. I'll keep you posted.
Thanks again,
Ulrich

Each ship is different and the rigging sequence will vary slightly depending on the rigging detail of the ship involved, but a couple of basic principals are:
 
Try and think well ahead - I don't mean just the next step, but many steps ahead If you don't understand the rigging and what it basically does, get a good book or check the web for a description of what the various components actual do - an understanding of the purpose of the various ropes will help with the rigging In general, start from the bottom up and work from forward to aft, but keep on thinking ahead in case there's a line that needs to go on well out of sequence.  
John

Hello friends,
 
another update from me.
 
This is the first time I am not totally happy and satisfied with the result. As I told you before I found out, that all the ornaments does not fit. So I had to build them on my own. I knew that this would be a big problem, cause I am not a sculptor.
 
I ordered some new and bigger strips of wood. Unfortunately they were notably brighter than all of my older strips. But the main problem was, that I had to find out that elderberry wood is not good for carving. Every time I tried to build smaller bows it breaks. You can see on the lower ornaments that I have to glue this parts. It doesn't look very clean. 
 
I tried it several time, but the result was always the same. I came to the point to accept it and tried to build the upper ornaments in a different way. I made 2 big "S". They were too big to brake. Unfortunately they were too big to look good and to decorate them with leaves as you can see it on the real Victory. I tried to file a slit along the "S" to make them look smaller. Hmmm, it looks better but not good. I hoped that the look will change with the upper bows and the top ornament. And yes, I think I keep it as it is. It does not look like an exact copy of the real Victory. Otherwise it´s not so bad at all... What do you think? Please give me your honest opinions!
 
At least one thing: the top ornament is the one from the kit. I filed a little bit and painted it. I love it :-)))
 
Have a nice weekend!
 
- Heinz -

Then I tried to make some figurines of sailors in 1/72 scale. I hope I will be able to prepare some figurines for resin production, here are some pictures of virtual model and printed one, height of the figure is 25mm.

I have found that if I place a tiny amount of CA in the groove it holds the thread in place. I either loop the thread around the block then apply the ca or I touch the CA to the groove then put the thread in it.

Little update...
 
 
These little hatch doors will cover the openings for bunkering coal, ( 13 on each side) where the slide-chutes are placed .....
Hull is now covered with plating, and the waterline is marked, (for applying the masking tape, when painting), with an permanent ink marker
 
Nils
 
 

 
this, borrowed from the web, shows a dutch liner being bunkered with coal at NY Hoboken piers
 
 

 
the bunker hatches will bear the hinges on the top sides
 
 

 
The black marking is the waterline
 
 

 
doors not permanently mounted yet, have to coordinate the correct positions together with the portholes on that level. Just noticed, it must be one level (belt) higher, and not so near to the waterline
 
 

 
 
 
 

Hello friends!
 
Another update from me on a wonderful sunday afternoon :-)
 
I am happy to say that I finished the balustrades on both sides of the stern. Time to take a closer look to all the ornaments. What should I say... they don´t fit. I know that this is my own fault. I builded the stern in a different way than it´s written in the instructions. So I could not blame anyone instead of myself. 
 
I started to finish the stern with the logo "VICTORY". I did not think about using the sheet-letters from the kit, so I had to build my own ones. My elderberry strips are not wide enough to build them in one piece. I had to split them and build every letter from several peaces. Unfortunately you can see this very well when you look close to it. But is this really so bad??? I try to take care of copying the typeface of the letters and let them fall to the sides to give the logo a swung look (I hope someone understand what I want to say...)
 
The last picture shows how I started to build the lower peak on the left side of the stern. I have an idea how to build it. But I am not sure if it works. But I will know it soon....
 
Have a nice weekend!!!!
 
- Heinz -

My current project is the Skipjack Albatross as she was originally built in 1899. Based off of drawings found in "Notes On Chesapeake Bay Skipjacks" by Howard Chapelle. This go around I am working at a smaller scale (3/8" = 1') and using forms to ensure the correct shape and no gaffs.
 
Length bet. perps....44'-2"
Beam .....................15'-10"
Draft........................2'-9"
 
What made me choose the Albatross was that there are two versions. The As she was built (1899) and then after being modified for gas powered winders and push boat (1911~). I was looking forward to building the gas powered winders and the push boat, but she looks so much cleaner as she was built. I also like the more historical aspect of the as built plan.  I have chosen to build the As Built version of the albatross. I ordered the plans for Albatross from the Smithsonian Institute.
 

Two-sail bateau Albatross
This fine bateau has been drawn up to show her as built and as raised upon. When originally built at Cambridge in 1899, she was intended both for oystering and crabbing10. Because of her very low sides, however, she had very little room below. Hence, she was raised upon the unusual amount of 12 inches. When first built, the Albatross was considered a very fast sailer, but since being raised upon, her speed has decreased. She requires some ballast to overcome the effects of the increased windage of her sides and great flare. Generally speaking, counter-stern bateaux are are not usually as fast as those with outboard rudders, but there have been some notable exceptions.
"Notes on Chesapeake Bay Skipjacks" by Howard I. Chapelle
10. Albatross was built by George E. Leach in Lloyds, Maryland, near Cambridge, according to the carpenter's certificate. CBMM 1998.
 

Gluing the forms down.
 

The forms in place withe thee keelson laid. I used my router table to cut the taper for the crossplanks. I did the starboard side first and it worked fairly well. The Port side did not go as well. I may have to use some putty.
 

The Bow Stem tapered.
 

The Rudder Housing/Sleeve
 

Centerboard Slot
 

The rudder housing glued to the keelson.
 

Transom glued to the keelson.
 
Well that is all for now. I hope to have more soon.
 
Later,
Kevin

Hello friends.
 
The all remaining frames mounted, aligned and bonded.
Now handwork is called for sanding.
Help in this case, belt-sander, long-neck angle grinder
and various sanding blocks.
 
Karl
 
 
 
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Hello friends,
new pictures of the construction 74 gun-ship.
A provisional aligment of the frames.
Every double frame consisting of 22 - 26 fragments.
Karl
 
T e i l  2

Fitting the rudder is a matter of cutting down a couple of the hinges and drilling the holes for the sternpost, and then shaping them to conform to the hull.  The hinges are supplied pre-blackened and look quite nice.  Once I’d finished fiddling around with them I dipped them in Birchwood Casey Brass Black to get rid of the shiny bits, I also blackened the brass nails. I’ve not permanently fixed the rudder yet, but it does actually work with the whipstaff. 

 



 

After all I was saying earlier about painting below the waterline, once I’d rubbed down the hull and applied a thin coat of matt varnish I’m not sure at all.  I’ve looked at it on its pedestals and to be honest I now think it will look nicer just varnished plain wood.  The jury’s out for the time being, any comments would be welcome.  In the meantime I think I’ll start on planking the main deck.

 



 



 



 

 

 

 

Build log part 13
 
 
a little update...
 
applying a bit of filler for blending out transitions and putting on the transom knee-rail around the stern...
 
Nils
 
 

 
pencil mark for the transom rail
 

 
 

 
 

 
nice smooth hull now...
 
 

 
blending out of the propshaft housings
 
 

 
the lines of an early  "Blue Riband racer"
 
 

 
the transom knee rail is of brass, in order to resist / avoid later dents from knocking against...
Glued and fixed to the hull with 15 brass anchors 0,6 mm diam.
 
 
 
 

Coincidental with the photograph posted recently in the Amazing Photographs thread, comes this interesting story from an old seaman who sailed on the Horst Wessel (now the Eagle):
 
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33543706

Hello friends.
 
Assembly of the deck transom and filling transoms on the fashion  piece.
 
 
Karl  
 
 
 
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