rybakov

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 259 – Lower Course Buntlines and Leech Lines
 
Buntlines and leech lines were used to bring in the lower and outer edges of square sails when furling.  In the case of the lower sails, the courses, they were also used to make up and raise the sail package to the yard for bending.  Buntlines were toggled or knotted to cringles on the lower edge of the sail, leech lines to cringles on the sides.  On lower sails these lines then passed through lead blocks on the yard, single blocks hooked under the rim of the top, and down through shroud fairleads to belay on the main pin rails port and starboard.  The first picture shows these lines on the fore yard.
 
 
 
The four inner lines are the buntlines and outside are the single and smaller leech lines.  The lines pass through lead blocks lashed to the jackstays.  On the "no sails" model, the lines are stopped at the block with toggles that would be used to fasten to the sail cringles.  These toggles may be seen in the next two pictures.
 
 
 
The toggles, were made from small lengths of wire, passed through the line and glued to simulate an eye.
 

 
The next picture shows the blocks at the top.
 

 
The blocks on the 3" buntlines are 9", on the 2½" leechlines 8". 
 
And finally, the lines passing through the shroud fairleads to the pin rail.
 

 
As with all the running rigging for this first yard, final belaying and tensioning will not be done until all lines for the yard are rigged.  This will facilitate getting the right level of tension and avoid rework.  For this reason lines may not appear properly tensioned and a mass of excess lines clutter the deck at this stage.
 
 
 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 258 – Fore Lower Topsail Sheets 1
 
Sheets restrain the clues (lower corners) of sails.  They are attached to common shackles with the topsail clue lines.  These shackles are hauled down to the cheek blocks in the lower yard by triple tackles at the deck.  When sails are furled or unbent, the clues and the attached sheets are hauled up to the bunt, the center part of the topsail yard.  Chain was used on sheets (and halyards) for durability in resisting constant working through the sheaves due to wind fluctuations on the sails (and yards). 
 
It may seem like an odd time to be installing these, but I intend to use the sheet chains to haul all the yards down to put tension on their sling chains or, in the case of upper yards, their halyards and standing lifts.  The model yards are too light to fall of their own weight.  To do this, the sheet chains will be stopped together inside the sheet blocks so that putting tension on the sheet tackles will hold the yard down and also allow the chains under the yard to sag realistically.  The method uses a wire connection between the two sheets as illustrated below.
 

 
The wire strap between the two separate sheet chains will loop over the central pin in the block.  The short legs will drop inside their respective sheaves.  The stopper link will be invisible as seen in the next picture.
 

 
The drooping horizontal chains in the picture are reeved through the fairleads under the yard, through the cheek blocks then temporarily suspended above until their yard is rigged later.  These upper legs are unaffected by tension on the lower ends.  The lower ends of the chains are secured to triple-purchase tackles that hook into eyebolts in the deck.  These were strung up as shown below before installing.
 

 
In the next picture the port tackle has been rigged.
 

 
The upper block is "shackled" to the chain – in this case fastened by a shackle-like, knotted loop of wire.  The opposite chain is tied off temporarily with wire awaiting its tackle.  The next picture shows both tackles secured to their chains.
 

 
The lengths of chain on each sheet is long enough to haul the lower topsail clues down to the lower yardarms from their initial position when the topsail is bent to the yard, so these triple purchases use up a lot of rope – most of which ends up coiled when the sail is rigged. 
 
The next picture shows the lower ends of the tackles hooked to the eyebolts and belayed on the long pins through the sheet bitts. 
 

 
These connections will probably be re-configured later, but for now the tackles have pulled the yard down and tightened the sling chain as may be seen in the last picture.
 

 
 
Ed           

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 257 – Fore Yard Bowlines
 
Bowlines were used to keep the weather leech on large sails taut when close hauled – to prevent the sail from folding back on itself.  On double topsail rigs they seem to have been used only on lower sails.  The lines were toggled or tied to cringles about halfway down the leeches on each side of the sail using "bridles" that were brought together to a "lizard" that in turn was connected to the bowline itself.  This consisted of a sort of whip tackle.  Bowline bridles were toggled or tied to the sail after it was bent to the yard before it was loosed, so on the unsailed model the bridles are stopped to the jackstays with temporary knots.  The first picture shows the installed bowlines.
 

 
The bridles are passed through bullseyes on the lizards and tied off to jackstay stanchions.  The standing ends of the tackles are shackled to eyes in the bowsprit, passed through the forward lizard bullseyes, passed through blocks lashed to the bowsprit cap, and belated on the forecastle fife rail.  The next picture shows the two blocks being lashed to the cap eyebolts.
 

 
The next picture shows the method I use to form most eye splices to shackles.
 

 
The needle is passed into the rope, then the short end is threaded through the eyebolt shackle and needle, then pulled through and glued.  The next picture shows the shackled eyebolt installed in the side of the bowsprit just aft of the bands.
 

 
The picture also shows the bowlines rigged through the blocks.  The next picture shows lizard bullseyes and the bridles.
 

 
The bridle eyes are tied off to jackstay stanchions using small hemp knots.
 

 
Then, a close-up of one of the bullseyes.
 

 
The splice around the bullseyes were made as described above.  As with other running rigging on the fore yard, the falls were belayed without glue to allow for later adjustment of tension or sag.
 
 
Ed

another decoration::

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 256 – Fore Yard Reef Tackle
 
The effective area of most sails could be reduced by "reefing," that is, taking in sail to diminish its size while set.  Larger square sails, except for lower topsails, were equipped for this purpose with horizontal canvas reinforcing bands across the sail.  These "reef bands" were fitted with "reef points", short lengths of rope to tie up the reefed part of the sail.  To assist in bringing the reef band up to the yard, reef tackle was attached to the yard arm and to "cringles" on the leech of the sail just below the reef bands.  This was normally a simple "gun tackle" (two single blocks) with a runner through a sheave on the double quarter block running down to a pin on the fore mast fife rail.  When sails were removed (unbent), the cringle block would be tied off (stopped) to the jackstay.  When the sail was again bent to the yard, this tackle would be attached to its "ear-ring" and used to stretch it out to the ends.  It would then be re-connected to the reef cringle.  The first picture shows the reef tackle fall running below the yard and through the quarter block.
 

 
The next picture shows the yard arm tackle block shackled to the lower eyebolt on the band.
 

 
In this picture the seizing to the block has not yet been tied, nor has the fall been taken inboard to the quarter block.  The cringle block is just visible below the boom.  The next picture shows both tackles rigged.
 

 
In the next picture the port fall is being belayed to the third pin on the fife rail.  As with other lines at this stage, no glue is used (yet), allowing further adjustment once the yard is secured at final height (next part).
 

 
The next picture shows the completed tackle under the port yard arm.
 

 
The last picture shows the cringle block stopped to a jackstay stanchion.
 

 
I plan to replace the permanent-style black lashing shown here with a more temporary hemp stopper knot.  This picture also shows the type of lashing used on the foot rope stirrups, the shackled attachment of the lift pendant, and some other blocks.  The block at the lower left is the halyard block for the lower studding sail yard and will not be rigged.  This block is strapped around the yard arm, simulating a lashed eye attachment.  The eye on the aft side of the band will connect the brace pendant, and the iron cheek block will pass the soon-to-be-installed lower topsail sheet chain.
 
 
Ed           

Hello friends,
new photos from the construction progress of my CHEBECE.
Partition walls of the storage rooms and remaining deck beams are installed.
Photo   9.01 - 9.04
Storage rooms are not shown in the plans of J. Boudriot.
Karl
 

Continuation.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
The beginning of the relation is available at this address:
 
 
http://5500.forumact...ndre-1-24#66516
 
 
 
Regards, Pawel
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 254 – Fore Yard 4
 
Work has continued on the lower fore yard over the past couple weeks while various necessary parts were being "mass" produced.  Some of these were described in the last few posts.  Among the most numerous of these parts are the stanchions for the jackstays that run along the top of every yard   The jackstays were 1" diameter iron rods, threaded through iron stanchions spaced about 30" apart.  Given the number and the small size of these stanchions I made these as simple eyebolts that would just pass the jackstays that were made from straight, blackened brass wire.  One of the eyebolts is being spun in the first picture.
 

 
These are spun from 28 gauge copper wire.  Holes along the top of the yard were described earlier.  The holes were sized so these stanchions could be pushed in without the use of glue.  Some of these are shown fitted to the central part of the yard in the next picture.
 

 
The bands and metal fittings in the center of the yard were blackened and the yard finished with diluted Tung oil preceding the work at the ends.  This was done to preserve the blackening of these parts through the continual handling of the yard during work on the outer ends.  In the picture, one of the boom irons is being positioned using an angle template with the yard supported at the correct angle.  These will be pinned with copper wire "bolts."  I believe I mentioned earlier that these irons had to be modified to bring the boom closer to the yard – after this picture was taken, I believe.
 
The next picture shows one of the yardarms during assembly.
 

 
The yardarm band and the boom iron support bands are shown.  The holes in the band for eyebolts have not yet been drilled.  The cheek block is inserted temporarily before blackening.  It will be secured by the large central pin and two small bolts through the side flanges.  The next picture shows the yard hung temporarily with the jackstays and some of the blocks installed.
 

 
The 4" footropes on the aft side of the yard were suspended from 3½" rope stirrups 3'6" long.  These had eyes at each end – the upper eyes for lashing to jackstay stanchions and the lower eyes threaded through with the foot rope.  In the next picture the six stirrups for this yard are being fabricated.
 

 
The method for spliced eyes used on the ratlines is also used here.  The pins in the fixture ensure equal lengths.  The next picture shows the yard held in an assembly fixture for addition of various parts.
 

 
This holder allowed all the required blocks, the lift pendants, the studding sail booms, and the footropes to be installed with minimal handling of the yard.  The taped threads are used to straighten the footrope stirrups which were then treated with diluted dark glue.  This process had to be repeated later after the yard was set and other work completed.  The next picture shows the completed yard assembly, ready for setting.
 

 
In the next picture the yard has been set. 
 

 
A permanent pin was fitted to the truss and the eyebolt on the chain sling was glued into the mast with CA.  The last picture shows the starboard end of the yard.
 

 
The foot rope stirrups are still misbehaving.  The lift pendant is draped over the studding sail boom which is fitted with jewel blocks.  The block shackled to the underside of the yardarm band is part of the reef tackle that will be installed later.  The other suspended block is to support the lower studding sail yard that will not be installed.  The blocks along the top of the yard are for bunt and leech lines. 
 
Ed           

Hi everybody !
 
Continuing work on the parts of the hull interior ...
 
 

 

 
After some adjustments and finishes the next step will be the laying of these elements ...
 
Have a good day !
 
Patrick

Hi everybody !


The following of the events ...

































Have a good day !


Patrick

Thank you, friends!
I fixed the first decorations:
 

Hi friends.
Construction and assembly of the mast base.
Karl
 
PART 7

other small bottle decoration:

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 251 – Sheet Blocks
 
Each square yard, except for the skysail yards at the tops of the masts, will be fitted with an iron sheet block suspended from an eyebolt below its center.  These "cloverleaf" type blocks contain two sheaves, one for each of the two chain sheets for the sail directly above.  The sheets pass through sheaves in the yardarms, or cheek blocks on the larger yards, through fairleads under the yard, then to the sheet blocks.  The blocks direct the sheets downward to tackles that are belayed on deck in most cases.  The first picture shows the seven fabricated, 21" sheet blocks with eyebolts attached.
 

 
Two of these have been blackened.  This size will be used on lower, lower topsail, and upper topsail yards on the fore and main masts and on the crojack yard on the mizzen.  The remaining yards will be fitted with smaller, 15" blocks of this type.
 
To make these efficiently, some "mass production" was used.  In the first step, holes for all the plate casings were drilled as shown in the next picture, through two long strips of .010" brass, ¾" at 1:72 scale.
 

 
The holes were drilled using the mill as a drill press, with holes spaced using the calibration wheels, in a prescribed sequence using calculated spacings.  The resulting strips, for both block sizes are shown in the next picture.
 

 
Part of the drilling guide sheet may be seen in the picture.  It shows each movement in a numbered sequence, with penciled spacings calculated from the full size dimensions.  The punch marks on the strips were added for matching. 
 
In the next picture two dressmaker pins have been inserted through the holes on the vertical centerline of two matching plates. 
 

 
The rough shape of the block was cut through both plates using scissors.  The two pins are close fitting, and in the picture below are clamped in a vise where the triangle shapes are being sized with a file.
 

 
There is a thin, drilled wood shim under the two plates for clearance above the vise.  In the next picture the triangular shape has been filed, the plates separated, and the pins have been replaced with lengths of drawn copper wire.
 

 
One of these wires has been threaded through a turned sheave.  In the next picture, with both sheaves fitted, the lower ends of the pin wires are clamped in the vise.
 

 
In this picture the upper wire ends have been clipped off just above the top plate and then peened to form rivet heads.  The assembly was then turned over and placed on an anvil.  The long bolt ends were then clipped and peened.  In the next picture the central pin has been peened on both sides in the same way and the top pin has been inserted through a spun eyebolt.
 

 
As before, the lower ends of the pin wires are clamped in the vise for peening the first side.  The block was then flipped over to clip and peen the other ends, completing the assembly.  The lower block in the picture below shows this stage.
 
 
 
Each side of the triangle was then filed concave, shaped to match the pattern and polished. The fourteen smaller sheet blocks will be made later.
 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 250 – Fore Yard Truss
 
Lower yards on ships of this type were attached to the masts using iron trusses.  The fore yard truss will position the yard about 6 feet forward of the mast.  It is configured in the form of a universal joint that allowed the yard to be "braced", that is, rotated around the mast, or "topped," raised at one end or the other.  The weight of the yard was taken mostly by a separate chain sling shackled to the center of the yard and bolted to the mast just below the hounds.  Making and fitting of both these parts are described below. 
 
A pattern for the yoke that connects the truss to the yard is pasted to a 1/8" copper plate in the first picture. 
 
 
This curved yoke lies in the horizontal plane, has vertical holes at the ends for bolting to yard band brackets and horizontal hole through its center for a bolt to a universal fitting that will allow vertical rotation and topping.  The shape of the yoke was first cut out using a jeweler's saw, then filed to a rounded shape.  The next picture shows the shaping in progress and the yard band bolt holes drilled.
 

 
The wide band at the center of the yard will be drilled for the sling eyebolt.  The next picture shows the universal fitting bolted through the yoke.  It has an eye at the aft end to fit the bracket in the mast band that was installed earlier. 
 

 
In the picture, two long wire bolts have been inserted through the yard band brackets and yoke eyes.  These were first peened to form rivet heads as shown in the next picture.
 

 
The pliers in the picture have half-round slots filed into the jaws that allow wire to be held for peening of the end. I believe this process was described earlier, perhaps in a Naiad post.  In the next picture one of the long bolts has been clipped off on the underside, leaving just enough for its head to be peened, locking the yoke arm to the bracket. 
 
 
A flat-end center punch was used for this.  The other bolt was then inserted, clipped and peened to complete the attachment.  Unfortunately I did not take photos when making the universal fitting, so a description of that will await work on a later mast.  Note in the picture that the yard bands are pinned to the underside of the yard with small copper bolts.
 
The weight of the yard, as mentioned above was mostly taken by a chain sling.  This is shown in the next picture, shackled at one end to an eyebolt temporarily inserted through the central yard band.
 

 
To set the length of the chain, the yard was temporarily hung and the chain held with tweezers as shown in the next picture.
 

 
The tweezers were used to hold the chain at a link that could be fitted with an eyebolt into the mast that would hold the truss level.  The chain was cut at this point and an eyebolt spun onto it.  The hole for the eyebolt was then spotted on the mast, again by holding the eyebolt with tweezers and marking the height that would hold the truss level.  The next picture shows the yard hung temporarily with eyebolts inserted.
 

 
The next picture shows the yard fully braced around to the point where it contacts the forestay and almost touches the forward lower shroud.
 

 
There is still much work to do on this yard before installing it permanently, some of the parts were shown earlier.  Others will be described in the next parts.
 
Ed           

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 249 – Lower Fore Yard 3
 
There is a variety of ironwork to be installed on every square yard.  Beginning with the iron sling band at the center and the reinforcing bands on made yards.  These and other bands, as well as some structures attached to bands, like studdingsail boom brackets, must be sized to each individual yard.   Others, like iron sheet blocks that hang from the center of the yard, cheek blocks for sheets at the yardarms and to some extent iron trusses, are more standardized and lend themselves to a "mass production" approach, if making seven or eight identical parts can be considered "mass."  So, while the work shown in this part and the next was able to proceed, progress was soon hindered until a batch of standard parts could be produced for all the yards.  Developing processes for those has taken some time and this has slowed work on the first yards.  This and the next part describe work on the fore yard before interruption to make sheet and cheek blocks, to be described later.
 
The first picture shows iron (i.e. copper) banding at the center of the yard.
 
 
Most of this is ½" thick x 4" wide – actually slightly thicker (.010").  The center sling band is thicker (.015") – and wider.  It will eventually be drilled top and bottom to secure eyebolts for the chain sling and the sheet block.  Outside of that are two more thicker bands that will secure the iron yard truss, then the first reinforcing band, a band to secure a block,  then a band than will attach a sheet fairlead, then two more bands, one reinforcing and one for a block.  Additional bands were added out to the first studdingsail bracket that is described below. 
 
But first, the basic banding method.  This was described in an earlier post.  The first step is cutting banding material to a length that will form a ring slightly smaller than the yard diameter at its location.  Some ways to do this were described earlier.  The ends of the band are then butted together and silver soldered.  A soldering setup to keep the ends together is shown in the next picture.
 

 
Two steel blocks were used for this.  After soldering, the misshapen bands are then pushed on to a wooden mandrel to shape them and provide a holder for filing (if needed), smoothing, and polishing as shown in the next picture.
 

 
Using a separate mandrel for this helps keep the spar clean.  This one is maple, one of a pair in different sizes to be used for this purpose.  The mandrel may also be used for sizing bands.  This was described in Part 184.  After this step the band is fitted to the yard, with the last ¼" or so a forced fit.
 
The next picture shows fabrication of a studdingsail boom bracket.
 

 
The band is made a fitted to the spar first.  The square piece of hard brass is the silver-soldered to it as shown in the picture.  The two brass bands under the brass leg are used to center the leg on the band width.  The leg is then cut to length and the outer bands for the booms soldered on.
 

 
These are test fitted to the studdingsail booms as shown in the next picture.
 
 
 
The outer boom irons are made in a similar way, with the addition of a simulated roller on the bottom side of the boom band.  The next picture shows the setup for soldering the roller to the bands.
 

 
The rounded out area on the copper wire will be placed under the band in the final setup before soldering, after clipping off the wire.  This is a simplified simulation of the actual roller, which would be on an axle within the band diameter.   In the last picture, the outer arm has been bent and inserted into the end of the yard and shown with the yard temporarily mounted.
 
 
There is more work to do on these parts, including blackening.  Also, the reinforcement of the yardarm is not shown.  This includes a u-shaped band wrapped around on the axis of the yard and two circular reinforcing bands over it.  I will show pictures of this later.  Also, this photo shows the yard truss that will be described in the next part.
 
Ed

Finally finished the step. 
Small tip in between: If all sides are stabilised with CA, one can cut 0,25 slices with the resin saw from a wooden 4 mm batten :-)

What that for? For the sheaves in the mast :-)
And that brings us back on the track. Foretop and fore topmast done.




And here compared with the "original"


Especially the wrong angle is corrected :-)


And the new detailing. The cheat in the heel is corrected, sheaves and a decent lock are fitted and the cap is made smaller, as it was the same size as the main cap.


XXXDAn
 

After doing the maintop, just wanted to smarten up the foretop to make some castings, as I still need several of them for some tests ;-)
Then realised that my standards improved since the top was first done. So when trying to dissemble the top it proved not a useful base any more, so a fresh construction was a must - at least for me.
Perhaps one remembers earlier posts. The top Heller supplies is quite ok, just an old version, that was only used until 1802 (and displayed on all models I know since the 1920ies). An admiral order from 1802 states to fit a top of two halves on big ships, as they are easier to replace. As the Vic was rigged in 1803 and could be considered as a big ship, so I dared fitting one, better saying two halves ;-)
Based on Lees and other sources, there should be sleepers on the top of the top with half the thickness of the crosstrees, reinforcements on the rim and a different scheme for the battens.
So got the Heller top naked, reinscribed the planking and fitted the missing bits and made new and slimmer holes for the irons.

To cut the crosstrees and the sleepers, I used a vice and with a single cut it was done.

And then a small orgy with Evergreen and the new top was done and a bit more crisp than the old version :-)





Anyway, Heller keeps surprises me, as on the "original" top the complicated planking scheme, with up- and downside looking different, was faithfully done :-)
XXXDAn

Working on the keelson, stemson and sternson.

 
I've hedged my bets - the masts are supposed to be stepped into the keelson, but I still haven't decided whether I want one or two masts. So I worked out where the holes for the masts should be in a single and dual masted set-up, and bored holes for each and all.
 
From what I can see, the keelson in this model just isn't thick enough for a large enough hole for a mast step, so I'll probably fudge it and make a more substantial step to be sure the mast(s) are properly supported. It'll all be invisible below decks anyway, so I'm not going to get too concerned. I'd rather have the masts properly secured than have an accurate (but inadequate) step which nobody can see. Interestingly, the contemporary Byzantine texts talk about ships' masts unstepping themselves in a heavy blow, and maybe now I can see why.
 
I didn't have a long enough straight enough piece of wood for the full keelson so I've scarphed two pieces together, and also made scarph joints for the stemson and sternson. I think I'm getting better at scarph joints . . .
 
Here they are dry fitted to each other:

 
And some progress on the support frame for the lower bank of oars. I've spent a lot of time agonising about how to do this, and it looks like I've come up with an answer that will work.
 
A frame that follows the curve of the hull, far enough inboard of the sides to allow for the inboard section of the oar-looms.

 

To get the vertical angle right I made up a temporary support at water level and rested the oar blade on it. This then determines how high the oar handles have to be, and so where the top of the frame should be. Once I figured that out I made temporary supports out of balsa to support the oars at the right height, and these will be replaced in due course with a permanent frame.
 

 

I also angled the sides of the frame so the oars would rest along its surface, rather than just touch at a point. Viewed end-on the curve isn't as smooth as I might like it to be, but this will all be invisible - this frame is purely functional - it never existed on the real ship.
 
 
 
The idea is for the outboard part of the oars to be properly oar-shaped, but inboard they'll be flat in section and each one pinned to the frame with a small brass pin which will allow them all to swivel, so I can move the frame forward and aft till I get the horizontal angle right.
 
I've cunningly decided to have the oars at the end of their stroke - that's to make it easier for me to make the upper oarsmen, as then their arms will be right up against their chests rather than extended, and that will make it easier to carve and cast them.
 
Steven   

Here is the support of the davit that comes to rest on the vertical bar of the herpes.
The head is being sculpted as well as the lower shoe that will support this support by being fixed on the speakers.
Careful and very long, the macro does not forgive anything.

Something I always wanted to tell:
 
A small portion of the upper deck laid, and one sees much better how claustrophobic the situation was ...
 

 
Ashes to ashes, earth to earth and top to tops ...
 

 

 
... business as usual.
 
XXXDAn

Thank you all for such kind words, I put all my heart and will in this build, I take the time to make things as good as I can, and it's a nice reward to see that you like my work, I'm honored and it's pushing me forward to do the next steps as good as the previous ones. It's a very tough and painstaking work, very demanding in time and very rigorous. Encouragements are welcome !!  
Victor, in fact I'm very slow at work, and I'm alone ! My little boy is now 2 1/2 years, it's too young to be productive !   I even had to stop working on the SR for two years because of him, my job, and my martial arts gym. I only came back to the workshop a few weeks ago, in september. So I hope the build will now go on again ! Anyway thank you for your words that have great meaning to me. I really hope you will like the next steps !!
Marc, there are some flaws, but only I know where they are ! If you visit me eventually I will show you, but hopefully these are minor flaws... 
Indeed the sheerline is quite curved. I love these 3/4 views, where you can see the beauty of these curves. It seems much more linear in a side view, but the period drawings often shows 3/4 views. But I listened to your advice, (anyway that was something I had planed to do) and revised, not the top sheerline but the middle sheerline and dropped it a little more. (less than two mm, and it makes a difference) 
 
Here are the last pictures at this day, I did not post them earlier because of my job tooking me much time the last couple of days. Hope you will like them. The neon lights of the workshop make the ship a little bit darker than she is. 
 
 

I’ve been away for a while – life’s been getting in the way. But I haven’t been idle; there’s been slow but steady progress, though a little erratic.
 
I put in place the through-beams for the steering oars and began on the support structure . . .
 

And then - DISASTER! The extensions to the gunwales that formed the tail of the ship had been shaped by heat bending, and when I put them on I didn’t realise they were exerting a sideways force on the sternpost. On a routine inspection I discovered they’d pushed the sternpost into a quite dramatic curve to starboard - and  the tail planking was following the off-centre curve.
 
It took a week to decide whether I should correct it, with the chance of completely stuffing up the whole ship – the frames and planks are very delicate - or leave it as it was and have it sneer at me for the rest of my life.
 
In the end I took my courage in both hands and started pulling it to bits – with horrible memories of what happened when I decided to re-do the Great Harry model – it’s still waiting for me to rescue it once I’ve finished this one.
 
I should have taken a “before” photo to show how bad it was. But I at least got some directly after I’d cut both sides away from the sternpost, which gives a fair idea.
 

 
 

I’d thought I’d have to put the ship back on the plug to have a stable base for the repairs, so I removed the through-beams and the partly completed steering structure as well. It turned out I didn’t need to use the plug, but removing the through-beams has made it easier to put in the stringers (see below), so it wasn’t a total loss.
 
Fortunately the port side wasn’t too bad, and the sternpost came almost back to its correct shape once it was cut free. But I had to take off quite a bit of the planking on the starboard side.
 

 And the “tail” of the starboard gunwale.
 

It turned out that the residual bending in the port gunwale and the sternpost cancelled each other out, and i was able to bring it all back into square by squeezing them together. I didn't have a suitable clamp so while the glue dried I just held them together with my fingers.
 


And it's now about as straight as it can be. A tiny bend in the head of the sternpost, but it's almost invisible and I've decided I can live with it.

I’d been worried I’d have to make a new pair of “tails”, but I was able to re-use them with a minimal amount of  tweaking, and re-position them so they didn’t push the sternpost sideways. I’m pretty happy with it now - it’s nice and straight and as the off-centre forces have been removed I’m satisfied it won’t happen again. But the starboard “tail” was now about 3mm (1/8”) too short,

 
and I had to use filler to make it good at each end.
 

While under repair it looked pretty ghastly,

but I’ve finally got it to a point where it only needs a bit of planking and it’ll be right as rain.
 

 
 Another learning experience. Sigh.
 
By the way, having finalised the steersmen’s positions, I realised the handles of the steering oars were way too short. Serves me right for making them too early. As I was going to have to re-jig them, I thought I’d have another look at the 11th century picture I got the design from. Not good, I’m afraid. The rudders I’d made didn’t look much like the original at all.
 
So I might as well be making completely new ones. Below are the steering oars, with the contemporary picture for comparison – from the left, one of the original pair; then the first new one, carved out of pear wood (which I discarded because  although the shaft was the same thickness as in the picture, it looked too thin for the forces involved in steering a ship of this size); and the last two are my final version. I still have to put the tillers (visible in the picture) on them.
 

 
I’ve also made a bunch of stringers, based on those found on one of the Yenikapi galleys. Only two of the galleys found had stringers. One had only a single pair, each made from half a youngish tree split down the middle, and placed face down at the turn of the bilge. The other had four stringers each side of the keel, made of planks the same thickness as the strakes of the ship (about 25-30mm, or one inch), and 150mm (6”) wide. Though the first configuration did seem attractive, I decided to follow the second. Here they are:
 

 
And here is the first one in place at the turn of the bilge. There’ll be another three between this and the keel on each side.
 

 
And here it is bent to shape.
 
I didn’t have clamps that reached far enough to hold it in place while the glue dried, so I acted as my own set of clamps. Only seven to go.
 
Steven
 
 
 

Hello Ed.
 
 
Right ! And that´s why we were given the famous "flounders" aboard "Gorch Fock" , a belaying-plan of this ship where each line had it´s place on wooden and/or brass pins. We learned very quickly; after two days the NCO´s started their time-honoured "rope-race" around the deck, and you better had learned your ropes. Back then there were neither illumination at night nor mercy allowed: if you hadn´t grasped the plan or, be it night or day, laid your hand atop of the wrong pin and thus missed these tests, you were not allowed to go aloft; shame on you, landlubber . I was lucky having built the "Pamir" in 1:150 shortly before, rope by rope, ratline by ratline, buntlines, clewlines, stays´l halyards and all. So I could rattle them ropes off  by heart like nothing.
A wonderful time that was, and Hans Freiherr von Stackelberg, First Mate then and her Captain for the following six years, was a genius, someone whom I hold in the highest esteem as a prime sailor, a first-class naval officer and, descendant from the old baltic aristocracy : a professional horseman.
I remember him well to this very day.
Greetings to you all
Germanus
 
 
 
 

I'm back for the following pictures. Today I show the very boring step of planking the hull. One have to be very patient and very precise in the assembly of the different pieces to achieve a good result. At first I drew the planking on the hull to be sure it looks good. Then I drew the frame so I can place the nails where they should be. And the began the very long process of the planking !
At last I dyed the waterline with ebony color, which is not black but a very good looking dark brown.
Hope you like it !!!