rybakov

Completion: Equipment of the mizzen yard - footroopes, mizzen topsail sheets, lifts etc. / Marchepieds, ècoutes de perroquet de fougue, balancines etc.
Based on an older photo of the Paris model of the La Créole, I was able to trace the execution of the footropes for the mizzen yard as far as possible (see picture detail).
 
Source: Gallica, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Corvette La Créole [modèle réduit de bateau exposé au musée de la Marine, au Louvre] : [photographie de presse] / [Agence Rol] 1904-1908
 

Source: Gallica, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Corvette La Créole [modèle réduit de bateau exposé au musée de la Marine, au Louvre] : [photographie de presse] / [Agence Rol] 1904-1908 - detail of picture
 
The corresponding size of the mizzen yard of a corvette obviously did not require stirrups in the footropes, as can be seen in the above image detail. In this respect, I based the execution of my model on this specification.
In front of the footropes, the grommets, the strops with thimble and finally the lifts were attached to the yardarms of the mizzen yard of the model.
The next picture shows details of the 4 mm long blocks of the lifts, which will later be attached to the top of the mizzen mast on corresponding eyebolts.

 
The next picture shows a yardarm with the previously mentioned rigging elements and the already retracted mizzen topsail sheets. 
 

And finally two more pictures of the finished rigged mizzen yard:


See you soon ...

Equipment of the mizzen yard– truss pendant and brace blocks/ Drosse d´une basse vergue et poulies du bras de artimon
The mizzen yard is also attached to the mast with a truss pendant, analogous to the fore yard and main yard. The diameter of the ropes are of course much smaller.

Of course, the braces for the mizzen yard can only be moved forward. The standing parts were fixed to the aft shrouds of the main mast. Through another block, which was also attached to the shrouds, they ran down to the docking stations on deck. Because of the backstays of the mainmast, the blocks of the braces on the mizzen yard had to be placed closer to the middle of the yard.
On the following picture collage, picture 1 shows the blocks of the braces (l = 4.0 mm), partially strapped, for the mizzen yard. To do this, I placed two sheet blocks of the main yard to enable a size comparison. Image 2 shows a fully strapped block of the braces and another unstraped one compared to a brace block of the fore yard.
My little sailor, which I've been neglecting a bit lately, is supposed to give you a feeling for the scale of the block sizes.
 
The next picture shows the finished blocks for the braces. On the one hand, which are installed directly on the yard, and on the other hand the deflection blocks, which are attached to the rear shrouds of the mainmast.


As I read in C. Burney's The Boy's Manual of Seamanship and Gunnery, 1867, rose lashing was the standard connection of strops around yards and masts. Therefore, a rose lashing makes sense to me here.

Finally, there is a picture with a brace block already installed.

 
Soon we will continue with the foot ropes for this yard.
Or were foot ropes necessary in this case?
 
Sequel follows …

little step:








 

Nowadays at the Vic in P., the rudder pendant goes up to the mizzen chains and is secured there with a toggle.





There is an interesting detail on the contemporary model SLR0512 of the Victory: The rudder pendant goes up through the channel board to the poop deck, is routed aft at deck level, and is tied to a cleat further aft. This way, in an emergency, the line is quickly ready for use and does not have to be extended as it is today. A detail I wanted to install for a long time, now it was finally done 🙂









XXXDAn

Hello,
the lower counter rail is finished. I build the middle part three times   But now I'm satisfied with it.






 
 

Hello,
oh you poor boys. Stay here for a while, and you would love these temperatures.  Today with a little sunshine between the showers and 16°C!
 
At the yard we build today only the under construction for the gratings and the ladder way. The two scuttles in front of the carpenters should be for the top tackle. What ever that is, but have they a lid? At the models they are not build, because there is the deck mostly open or build without these scuttles. 
 
The next thing will be then the stern, first at least up to this deck  

Hello,
because of the bad weather here, rain and 17°C, we are back at the shipyard. The carpenters cut the beams for the quarter deck last week and installed them today. 

Post Sixty
Dressing the Gun-deck
The inner bulwark painting has been completed and the coamings re-coated to cover blemishes resulting during the planking process.
The deck was then given a final scrape before varnished using Vallejo matt varnish.

1643
The bright red brick stove base as shown in the manual didn’t appeal to my eye, I used darker tones and weathering powders to create a more muted look.
 
It was then onto a ladder fest, tricky little beggars to assemble and one of my least favourite tasks I always seem to be fingers and thumbs trying to keep them square.
 

1639

1641
These are quite flimsy to assemble as the scale dictates, ‘soft hands’ a definite requirement.

1651

1652
Finally, I added the shot garlands which I had previously removed from the coamings.

1646

1647
 
The crunch point has now arrived where I must decide whether to copper, as any further fittings will impede the inversion of the hull.
I remain torn on the subject, so to maintain impetus I will clean up and paint the numerous deck fittings to defer the decision a while longer.
 
B.E.
06/08/2023
 

Post Fifty-nine
Inner bulwarks
Time to give these some attention.

1633
Firstly, the Proxxon Pen sander with angled arbors proved very useful to clean up around the inner gunports prior to painting.

1635
The Spirketting and upper ledges which border the gunports are fitted before painting.
Don’t know how much will eventually show but Chris has taken the trouble to engrave the spirketting with a Hook and butt planking pattern, a nice touch.

1634
My final action is to fit the waterway representation using lengths of angled 2mm Pear strip.
I settled on six scuppers along waterway, with a diameter of 1.5mm.

1636

1638
A first coat of diluted paint is applied using Vallejo Flat Red.
I will be faffing around with this over the weekend to get a finish I am happy with.
 
B.E.
04/08/2023
 

Post Fifty-eight
Ensure everything fits.
A few hours spent fettlin’ the mortises.

1616
I used my deck template to ensure the locations particularly of the deck pillars.

1619
The Swann-Morton micro chisels proved very useful for clearing the pillar mortises on the modified head ledges.

1631
I’m thinking that the wooden pillars fore and aft of the Capstan step might be better represented by hinged iron stanchions.

1622

1623

1628

1626
The masts and Bowsprit are cut to full kit size and tested for fit.
 
Fully rigged she is going to take up a lot of room, but will no doubt look magnificent.
I hasten to add I will not be going down that road.
 
B.E.
03/08/2023
 
 

Post Fifty-six
 
…and more deck planking.
Another three days, and the Port side planking is completed.

1569
By removing a number of the existing planks  I had hoped to then infill to the top and butt without too much trouble.
In retrospect it would have been far better not to plank beyond the central belt before fitting the t&b strakes.
The result is that the available space towards the stern was insufficient to accommodate the required number of planks, without an eclectic mix of shapes and sizes. 

1584
As Mr Spock may say it’s planking Jim but not as we know it.

1576
So Guys what d’ye think. - Don’t give up the day job Boss!
 
Unfortunately this is my day job now, but on balance I decided not to rip it all up and start again, that would throw me short of planking, and I'm otherwise  ok with what will be the visible element.

1570
Spot the double drop planks, necessary because of lack of planking foresight.
Annoying, but on the positive side the suspect area will be mostly hidden by the Qtr deck and aftermost 24 pounder guns.

1578

1582
The forward end of the planking and the top and butt strakes are ok.

1579
I generally enjoy deck planking, I find it therapeutic, but one of the downsides with 'Indy' is because of the hull size, and high bulwarks, the planking has to be done standing up.
Leaning over the hull, gives me back, neck, and shoulder ache, but it will all be worth it in the end.🤞
 
Onto the Starboard side, and more hours of fun.
 
 
B.E.
29/07/2023
 
 

And it was time for the next deck.

A long time ago I had already prepared a poop deck. Even then I had reported the phenomenon that the decks slowly warped over months, always concave in relation to the wood, virtually hogging at deck level. Theoretically this is certainly appearing, but it was too much of a problem.



This has happened to me three times now. Each time the original Heller part with superglue and 0.4 mm planks. And the thick plastic decks can only be straightened with extreme force. When trying to help with heat, the bending radius shifted to the middle of the plastic, which then led to bulges in the wood. Conclusion: (original) plastic decks that have been covered this way must be glued in immediately and really well, possibly secured on top in a different way. The other method is to mount the new parquet on a carrier medium and glue it down. I have often used paper or cardboard for this purpose, which can also be critical, as this carrier material has already split in its core, i.e. half adhered well to the subfloor and the other half well to the planks, just with a little distance to the original fixing point ...

It wasn't so tragic after all, as this deck would have covered too much of the inside views anyway. So I built a new deck cut-out.



A long time ago I had also made the railing of the cabin deck to look like Turner's drawings. Now it can finally be installed 🙂




Here are a few test hammocks, the real hammocks are still to come, the ones folded in the middle should fit in.



And then the rear end, everything was already there 🙂

The stern can be removed via magnets for a better view.







Something done again!

XXXDAn

The chain pumps:

Upper capstan:

Thank you Sirs, very appreciated!
 
It's been a long time, in 2016 I had already discovered the axionometer on the 1765 model of the Victory with the help of my forum colleagues.

Since the display can be discovered on Turner's afterdeck view and can also be seen on other contemporary models, I had already installed the display on two of my models back then.





Now that Nelson has arrived on his Victory, it was time for me to take care of it again.

If you look at the contemporary models with axionometer, only a version with a rope transmission comes into question. In the front area of the rudder wheels, there is no additional drum visible on English ships, so I put it in the back. The rope transmission is analogous to French systems, from which the system was originally copied.

I have calculated the diameter of the drum and it kindly agrees with the French systems. For simplicity, I took a virgin steering wheel for pre-assembly. The display with its markings was also quickly built.



For the rope guidance I misused the wheel holder of my carronades.



So that the sheave also has air for the rope, I made a spacer from 0.3 mm wire.



Some paint on it and the rollers were finished



Then as usual put my cotton pad underneath so dirt and parts don't disappear into the depths.



But I should have packed the whole room in absorbent cotton, because one of those dark 1 cubic millimeter pieces jumped away, of course, because I took the wrong tweezers with flexible jaws.

With a flashlight held flat, I was actually able to quickly retrieve the part. All the well-meaning gods involved were praised and lauded!

The ends still properly trimmed and everything is ready http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif









XXXDAn
 

Post Fifty-six
That Top and Butt deck planking.
Having a jig on hand gave me the impetus to play around with Top and Butt.

1553
Having cut out a stock of planks I found it useful to play around applying them to the deck in the manner of a jigsaw puzzle to help visualise of what is required, particularly at the bow and stern.

1559
I concluded it was doable and I started at the bow.

1556
At the stern I realised that some de-constructed was required to avoid running out of planking space.

1562
Removing some of the already laid planks not too troublesome with the application of water and use of a sharp micro chisel.

1560
Tapering of the planks as they run towards the stern, will be required, ideally with a finished butt width of not less than 3mm. Removal of further existing planks will also be involved.

1564
Tick strips will be used to facilitate the tapering.

1563

1557
A fair bit of extra work, but I’m fairly content with progress.
 
B.E.
27/07/2023
 

Brief review:

21 November 1805: Nelson falls in an encounter with the French, famously off Trafalgar




21 November 2018: Nelson falls again at an encounter with the French, this time at Rochefort, falling into the hands of an unknown man who pressed him to an unknown destination. Here is the last picture just before the loss.




But first things first. This was the last stand of the too small steering wheel planking http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif




In the meantime, a larger piece of planking had already been built. Also more deck beams were already in place. But the beam to which the steering tackle is attached was pressed down a bit by the planks and the tackle became slack as a result. So once again entering deep into the guts ...




... and fixed the tackle so that I could be tightend after gluing the planking into place.




I even shortened a brush to be able to put the paint in the right place http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif
The stub is there as the tackle doesn't run parallel due to the rudder drum.




And now it's time to be strong. It was the turn of Nelson and Hardy's new build. Nelson is a cross-dresser, as you can see. Surgically altered a bit, as they say.



The other guys have also arrived, the lieutenant with his speaking trumpet and the two helmsmen, dressed a little more formally than the rest of the crew. As we have very calm seas right now there are only 2 present.



And then they were already allowed onto their playfield.













And this time he came to stay, brave little Horatio!

XXXDAn  

Equipment of the mizzen yard - Slings and Quarterblock / Suspentes et poulie d'ecoute
The mizzen yard of the La Créole had no jackstay and only a quarter block for deflecting the sheets in the middle of the yard. This block was therefore designed as a double block, as can be seen in the following detailed photo of the Paris model.
 

Source: La Créole monograph by J. Boudriot, page 168
 
Based on these double blocks with a length of 5.6 mm in model size, I would like to explain my method of block production in more detail.
I scale the drawing of a double block from the Atlas du génie maritime to the required size and glue the printout to a strip of pear wood with the appropriate dimensions. Since I use separate discs for this block size, the disc gates are milled in the next step. In this case with a width of 0.6 mm.
After shaping with an emery file, the grooves for the strops are made with a round file. The fine sanding is done with a fine steel wool and the final finish is done with a ball matting.

 
As can be seen in the next picture, I have meanwhile attached the fully served slings and in between the double block for the mizzen topsail sheets using rose lashings.


      
The next step will be the production of the truss pendants.
Sequel follows …

Completion: Equipment of the fore yard
With the production and arrangement of the blocks for the clewlines, sheets and tacks, the fore yard is fully equipped and is set aside until assembly on the model.

At the end of this work on the fore yard, here are a few more pictures:



The last of the lower yards that still needs to be equipped is the mizzen yard.
Sequel follows …

Hello,
now have also the first two gun ports there lids.
We make now a little break at the shipyard for holiday and other obligations. I forget to mention, the painter had an accident. He broke his right wrist, but it is healing and he will be fit again soon. 

I’ve fabricated the ship’s chimney from a piece of sprue, replacing the forward capstan.  Also, all gun port lids now installed, less the stern 32 pounders.  I’ve painted black the strings on the underside of the doors to simulate the iron fittings.  My next step is to sort out the poop skylight, which this kit omits entirely, keeping in mind I also plan to add two or four smaller cannonades on the poop.   As I look at these photos I see lots of places where paint touch up is needed.

Thanks for your comments and 'likes' guys 👍
 
Post Fifty-three
 
Completion of gundeck hatches.

1491
The modified hatches are painted, and the gratings given the  w-o-p treatment.

1495
I always approach the gluing of fittings along the centre line with some anxiety. Particularly on a large length of deck  as on Indy it can be tricky to ensure that they are all in true alignment.
I spend a lot of time dry fitting the hatch sets before I commit to glue.
 
Whether you plank before or after, this same issue will be encountered.
 
Fitting the hatches before planking allows for a more accurate and interesting deck layout around the coamings, albeit a more fiddly and time-consuming approach.

1493
I start by fixing the mainmast partner base. On the kit this is attached to the hatchway abaft the Mainmast, (193) but I separated them. This base also has the holes to take the elmtree pumps.
 
I use small diameter round dowel to secure the base in the correct position, this will also double up as pump fixings.
As on the original these pump trunks run thro’ all decks to the bilges, pity they ain’t hollow.
 
The sets are now glued into place on the deck centre -line.

1499
The hatchway aft of the Mainmast butts against the partners. This is followed by the aft ladderway set.

1498
The main and Fore sets follow.

1502

1511
At each stage I sight along the deck and from all angles to check the run.

1506
The run is also sighted from distance along the floor.
With this it’s not the getting down that’s the problem, it’s getting back up again, taking this behemoth with you. 🙄

1508
Time to move on Wills.
 
B.E.
21/07/2023
 
 

@JerryTodd
Thank you for your praise. Nice to hear.
 
 
Continued: Equipment of the fore yard - topsail sheets, lifts and studding sail booms
In the meantime, the topsail sheets, the lifts and the studding sail booms were attached to the fore yard for my little French girl.
I almost forgot an important detail to complete the equipment of the fore yard, namely the arrangement of the blocks for the clewlines, the sheets and the tacks.
I'll do that again and report back soon.
So see you soon...
 
                     

Post Fifty-five
 
Hatches and gratings – Part Two
Modifying the hatches was fairly straightforward on Sphinx, not quite so on 'Indy.'
On all three of the hatch/ladderway sets there are support pillars central to the head ledges; adding a round-up complicates the fitting.
Apart from any other consideration, I think a slight round-up and camber to the gratings provides a much more pleasing aspect.
Whether the coamings are high or low, a camber appeared to apply.

1478
To create the camber, I attach strips of Boxwood atop the ledges. This is then shaped down to a feather edge where it meets the coamings.

1480
Cleaning up still required but you get the idea.

1468
The gratings camber was formed around a large diameter cardboard tube (4¼”)

1469
Bit of a leap of faith this, you never know until the job is done whether the grating will fall apart having been given the water and heat treatment.

1484
The Main hatch was supplied with three sections of gratings. I’m pleased Chris provided this arrangement, I had to do it myself on Sphinx, and tricky little beggars they were to make.

1486

1487

1472
In my version the coamings rise 4.4mm (11”) above the deck with the Head ledges higher by 1mm.
Once fully cleaned up the coamings will be painted black and the gratings left bright.
 
 
B.E.
20/07/2023
 
 

Thanks, Dan!  You know me - fortification is never too far from my fingertips 😀
 
I decided to play around with thin metallic wash coats of gold and silver for the continental figure of Europe.  As the wealthiest region of the world, I wanted her to have a shimmery, almost etherial quality.

The basecoats for the lower garb of both Europe and Asia are the same ModelMaster Random Tan.  For Asia, I went over this color with a brown enamel wash.  For Europe, I used a thinned application of Citadel red wash, followed by several applications of a very thin wash of bright gold.  The gold collects in the recesses in a very satisfying way.
 
Initially, I wasn’t happy that the folds of Europe’s blouse did not really show through the Ultra Marine.  That was why I decided to try a silver wash.  The pictures don’t really do these girls justice.
 
For the backsides, I was kind of forced to end the naturalistic painting of the figures along the original part line, where I filled-in with new styrene.  I wanted to follow the cyma-curves of the tafferal, but that just wasn’t feasible:

The black will fade into the black of the tafferal.
 
Well, that’s it for now.  I’ll be on and off vacation for the next several weeks.  I’m touch-up painting, and getting all of these elements ready for assembly.
 
I’ll post glamour shots of the whole ship, in a few weeks, when it’s all together.