mgdawson

Hi Pat Afraid I don't have a bunch of time to search out my references so I'm going from memory here but regardless I think this is one of those cases where you need to put yourself in the shoes of the people at the time and apply the basic rule, 'simple & functional' then decorate. The cat heads would have been just long enough to keep the largest anchor clear of the hull, the longer it is the greater the danger sending men out there, life might have been cheaper then than now but you didn't throw away good seamen. Also, when you then haul the anchor up to the billboards you don't want to be pulling it into the hull as well as lifting it, ships were hard work, you don't want to make it harder. The whisker booms were designed to spread the jibboom stays but they needed to be kept in line, if there was any upward or downward force on the whisker it would fold up as soon as you started taking up on the shrouds. So by placing the shrouds in place without the whisker and laying the whisker under or on top of the shrouds as appropriate will give you the line required, then push the shrouds out along that line. Basically you need to push them out to enough to clear any headwork, but if that doesn't give you enough side support to the jibboom you may need to go a little further, other warships of the period will give you an idea of what the navy considered an adequate angle. As you pointed out merchant ships and naval ships were rigged with different criteria, man power, redundancy, weight considerations were all quite different so while the physics may be the same the arrangement may not be. I do have a couple of books on rigging warships at home which I'll look at tonight and see if there's anything there that might help you but those books all relate to pure sailing ships 1750-1820 so there are likely differences to a later steamer with auxiliary sails. BTW have you considered showing your research to Gary Renshaw at Modellers Shipyard, he may be interested in including it in his Colonial Ship series of model kits. I'm a little afraid if you only give it to the AWM it will disappear into their archives never to be seen again, much better to spread 'the word' first then give the material to a safe place and tell everyone where it is. Not really surprised by the Navy Heritage Centre disinterest, the Australian military seem to think that they popped into existance in their modern form, they don't acknowledge their early heritage. Mark D

Hi SoS Going on your weathered timber theme, how about getting some recycled / distressed timber with rusty nail marks etc to build the case. (maybe you could grab the plank it's sitting on in the photo ) How are you treating the brass mounting posts ? Bright & shiny may look a little out of place depending on how you do the case, perhaps some 'aged' timber blocks with a prop under one gunwhale to stop it rolling over, the boat doesn't have to be perfectly upright after all. For that matter you could angle the boat within the case, something a little different to the boat being perfectly square. Something else just occurred to me which could fit into your weather timber theme or might appeal to someone else, how about a very simple diorama, beach scene, below the high water mark would make the sand nice and smooth, you just need a furrow where the keel has been pulled up the beach. If you wanted to take it a bit further, make some footprints with a toy soldier to give it a human touch and perhaps an anchor out onto the beach or a painter around a tree. Mark D

Hi BLarock Perhaps if you could scan and post the relevant part of the diagram, someone who doesn't have that kit may be able to help. Mark

Hi Mark T As others have mentioned I've also heard about damage caused by well intenioned people attempting restorations. I'd suggest getting in touch with a local (maritime?) museum and seeing if you could take the models in to show a conservator. Certainly some of the conservators I've spoken to would be happy to help with a bit of advise. Or perhaps a uni within reach who have a course in conservation may be approachable. Mark D

Hey Coastie I've done a (very) quick skim through C Nepean Longridge's book, 'The Cutty Sark, The Ship and a model' and came up with a few numbers, which, together with the tools mentioned above should give you a good lead. The standing rigging, pennants etc of this period were usually wire, so they are not necessarily larger than the running rigging. Best way to confirm what you're doing is get some stand off photos of ships and look at your model from a similar scale distance and see if the rigging is in proportion. Pretty well any of the training ships have wire standing rigging and would give a good idea if you don't have a photo of the Cutty Sark herself from the right perspective. Shrouds, cap stays & lower stays 5" circumference wire Bob stay, iron rod Bowsprit shrouds, chain Top mast shrouds 2 3/4" wire Jib boom guys 2" wire Topgallant shrouds 2 1/2" wire Lower Yard lifts 2 1/2" wire Course Sheets 4" hemp (sounds a little small for the main course to me MD) Lower topsail yard braces 4" hemp Topsail halliard purchase 4" hemp Mark D

Hi Patrick If you manage to find that source, I'd be interested if it comments on the purpose of the King Plank, was it structural, just a construction aid etc etc and if you have centre line openings could you have 2, one running either side of the openings ? ( I probably shouldn't admit it here but while I like modeling my primary interest is in how the ships were constructed and used. :-) Ta Mark D

Hey thanks for that, all I found when I looked there was that hex mesh, now I know what to ask for I'll have another go. Mark

Yeah, gotta agree there, definitely not enough insulation and I can't see any air con unit, he would have fried today, 39C.

Hi All, If you're having trouble tracking these down, hermaphrodite calipers are also known as jenny calipers or odd leg calipers, other than eBay you'll find them at engineering and model engineering supplies. Mark

Hmm, how about creating and 'repairing' a bit of storm or battle damage ? Or perhaps add some 'human' interest, a mop and bucket, a spar propped up on a horse with some chippy tools lying around to repair it, a loose coil of rope with the end opened up for splicing. You don't need the people (unless you want them) just the evidence they're around. Mark

The tuck under the first loop is new to me but extremely good idea, that's where the strain on the line will come in and lock it but still easy to flip out. Half hitching has been mentioned as many have no doubt seen it used, while you can usually get away with it today with modern synthetic ropes, natural fibre ropes shrink when wet so if you put a half hitch in a dry line which subsequently gets wet it tightens up and you can't get it off. And according to sod's law, you put it on dry in fine weather and you're trying to get it off when the wind is up and you've got green water coming over the deck. I got caught once, fortunately nothing critical, I was 3rd Mate on a container ship and one of the crew had secured a mooring winch canvas cover with half hitches,I needed to get the cover off coming into port in wet weather and ended up cutting the securing line (I always carried a knife). Also 3 vs 4 'turns', while there's a lot of individual preference on the number of turns, generally with synthetics you add an extra turn as they tend to be, comparatively, a little slippery, likewise splicing, add an extra tuck on synthetics. Mark

Hey Kurt If you're looking at actual ebonizing rather than stain / dye this link might be of interest. Haven't tried it myself so can't really make any further comment. http://www.routerforums.com/finishing-touch/38180-taking-run-ebonizing.html Mark