rybakov

Hello,
the ward room is ready! The shipwright is very pleased.
The entrance


And the question, where where the cannons stored? 

The traditionally way, as above. No, or stored to the walls

In this case there could't be more cabins for the 3. and 4. Lieutenants made from sailcloth. So I think that they at least stored one pair of cannons outside of the wardroom. I've got the division here from the 60 gunner York, 1753. 



And this is what you will see later from all of this

 

Post One hundred and seventeen
Timberheads
Not much to say about these, a little chamfering around the tops and ensuring that those flanking the gunports are vertical, and the others line-up.

3008
The much larger tops of the two knightheads or Bollards either side of the Bowsprit opening are the tricky ones.

3011
These need to be positioned accurately and appear vertical from all angles.

3009
The final addition are the snatch blocks for the Cat tackle. I added a sheave for these, cut from a slice of 3mm ø dowel.

3018

3027

3028
A little light sanding, a re-coat and they should be good to go.
 
B.E.
13/12/2023
 

@Dowmer
Hi,
I haven't yet done the lashing of the jackstays in the middle of the fore topsail yard. But I'll show you the detail at the main yard.
As you can see, the end of the rope is wrapped around the lashing ring for a few turns and then secured.

There are also various methods for this, such as this one:

I hope that I have helped with this.

@Vladimir_Wairoa
Hi,
thank you very much for your kind words.
 
Continuation: Equipment of the Fore topsail yard – quarter blocks / Poulies d'ecoute et Poulies de cargue point
As with the fore topsail yard, the clew lines and sheets each run over a double block, also known as a quarter block.
Here too, I attached these double blocks using rose lashing.
As I pointed out some time ago, I made a suitable tool that makes creating a rose lashing easier.
I saw this and copied it from our model builder colleague. I don't want to adorn myself with other people's feathers here...
 
Fastening the quarter blocks was followed by pulling in the rope at the jackstay, which was attached to a thimble using a simple eye splice, as can be seen in the following picture.


 
And last but not least, the result of this work section.

 
Sequel follows …

Post One Hundred and Sixteen
 
Completing the Headworks
Gluing the Main rails in place is always a critical business.

2971
I fitted the Starboard side first which went on without issue, the pieces held using pva and sectioning clips.

2980
I took the precaution of marking the level above the capping rail on the Port side rail to assist fitting.

2978

2975
Always a relief once this part is completed.

2992
I am pleased to see that the level looks good athwartships.
 
Not part of the kit is the Saddle.

2996
This is a section of timber triangular in shape, that spans the Main rails where they converge at the back of the head and effectively ties them together.

2982
For the convenience of the crew I have added two additional seats of ease positioned at the aft end of the gratings adjacent to the False Rail.
In the Indy kit the False rail is an integral part of the Main Rail, and contains the Capsquare for the Boomkin.
 
The Headwork construction battle is now over, but I still need to do some tidying up and redo’s on the paintwork, but that I can do at my leisure.
 
B.E.
11/12/2023
 
 
 

as I said before, I chose not to paint the decorations but to carve them into bas-reliefs, even though it does not conform to the real ship:




 

Post One Hundred and Fifteen
Main Rails
These are the most prominent rail of the Headworks and require careful positioning.
The laser cut parts are very nicely done and contain extra length. Accurate trimming is required for a good fit, I removed 11mm from the fore end.

2957
The Main rail should look elegant and I fined down the forward end where it meets the Hair bracket. I also tapered it on the inside as it runs towards the bow.
A gentle heat bend was applied to the forward end, forward of the Capsquare, to provide a less stressed fit to the hair Bracket.

2959
A slightly risky business but the bend is very shallow, not much is required.
 
To finish these Pearwood parts, Vallejo Ochre Brown is used for the first coats, followed by my wood dye mix which produces a close match to the Boxwood varnish finish.

2965
The panel detail is black ink.

2966

2968
Dry fitting the rails.
 
As I played around with these rails I noticed that the Capsquare for the boomkins looked close by the seats of ease. This may cause issues with the Boomkin fitting.

2969
Plan sheet 9 shows the Capsquares sitting aft of the seats of ease which would allow a clear line of fitting.
All the build photos I’ve seen seem to show the position adjacent to the seats of ease, but no one has reached the stage of fitting Boomkins yet.
It will be interesting to see how the other members of the ‘Class of ’23 get on with this fitting.
 
I hope to get the rails fixed in position today but I suspect it may take a while.
 
B.E.
10/12/2023
 
 

Looking great. How did you make the grating like pattern for the windows of the pantry?

Post One Hundred and Fourteen
 
Headworks (Part Four)
The next stage is fettling and dry fitting the gratings over the head timbers.
This piece is delicate and needs careful handling, I took the precaution of making a template to get the profile before applying it to the actual part.

2875

2941
….but I still managed to split it at the weak points during the necessary sanding to fit.

2945
With the aft grating fixed the forward section is added.

2947
The fourth timberhead (nearest the bow) is left as is in the kit scheme but there would be a cross timber atop or aft of this known as the cross-piece of the head, very simple to add.
 
There is also an open space between the third and fourth timber heads which looks unfinished to my eye.
A check around indicates that there should be carlings running between the two, which are added using some 0.8mmx1mm pear strip.
These are also simply added.
 
The kit contains the makings for the seats of easement for which the hole looked a tad large to my eye, but on checking such details out, Chris has it spot on.

2952
I considered that a ship the size of Indy would have had an extra set of seats fitted, which I intend to add. (I did the same on Sphinx)

2955

2956
I persuaded my Skipper from the Zulu Muirneag to try them our for size, it did cost me a dram.😉
 
Slàinte,

B.E.
08/12/2023
 

@jfhealey
@CiscoH
@jose_b
Hello,
I'm always happy to receive praise for what you do. Thank you very much for that. But of course I would also like to thank everyone for the many LIKES.
 
Equipment of the fore topsail yard – fore topsail yard truss, fore topsail yard tye block, quarter blocks and blocks for buntlines, Jackstay/ Racage d'une vergue, poulie d'itague et poulies de cargue fond, filière d'envergure
According to my announcement, I am currently working on the equipment of the fore topsail yard. As already mentioned, this is done in the same way as the equipment for the main topsail yard, but in an adjusted size.
The following illustration is intended to show how the truss of the fore topsail truss is covered with leather and how the simple block strops are dressed. The tye block with the attached blocks for the buntlines (L=3.5 mm) is also shown, as is also the enlarged image in the next photo.


The tye block (L = 7 mm) was temporarily attached to the fore topsail yard using rose lashing and the yard truss was temporarily lashed in place.


And as you can see in the last picture, I have already made and attached the jackstays. Only the rope in the thimbles still needs to be pulled in, which of course only makes sense after the double blocks for the clewlines and sheets have been secured.
 

But more about that soon…

Once upon a time ...

The dafi had its annual public tinkering session with its modelling club at the Stuttgart trade fair. Then we went straight from the trade fair to a customer in Austria for a while. I didn't have a chance to think about anything model-building-related.

I'm back home now, and I can only catch up on what I've been doing over the last two months. But first things first 🙂

Before the trade fair, I had finished the running rigging. I wanted to try it out at the fair to see if it would be manageable, as the stuff - if true to scale - is very, very small.



As with the standing rigging, I have summarised the block sets for the individual locations.

Here are the yards of the main mast ...



... of the foremast ...



... and the mizzen mast.



There are also the collections for headsails, stunsails and other locations.

It was fun again at the trade fair.

Our booth ...



... my workplace ...





... and my colleagues in typical working posture 😉



It was especially funny there when you want to try out the 2 mm blocks - the smallest of the sets - and don't have everything you need with you. Dear Alex then played vice and held my auxiliary jig for rigging - thanks for that!

It worked straight away and with my now tried and tested technique, even these small blocks are wonderfully quick and easy to rig.



What was still missing were the parrells. I also managed to do this in a last-minute operation. Here are the two sizes with ribs for the top and topgallant yards.



Threaded for neatening ...



... and the first tying attempt to find out how many are needed.



Here is the final version on the main top yard ...





... and with a able seaman for the dimensions.



Someone also climbed up especially for the topgallant yard.



And to round things off, the stuff for the gaff also got their own size of parrells. First try ...



... the shape was adjusted a little and the final version is on its way.

The claw is also grained with the centre punch ...



... and drilled out with 0.5 mm ...



... the blocks trimmed and wooded ...



... and into place ...



... and everything fits! Fits 🙂



Best regards, Daniel  

Post One Hundred and thirteen
 
Headworks (Part Three)
One of the trickiest parts to get right is the Cathead supporter and I did struggle to get the necessary curve to fay into the Ekeing rail even with Chris’s unique, as far as I know, jig which goes a long way towards resolving the problem of the complex curves involved.  
 
Ideally the top of the supporter should be square and centred beneath the Cathead, and curve down to follow exactly the curve of the Ekeing rail.
My initial attempts resulted in a mismatch between the two. The problem could be addressed to some extent by bevelling the top of the supporter but there was still an obvious  misalignment.
 
I scrapped my first attempts and I re-made the supports using a lamination of three pieces of 1mm stuff.
Even so it took a couple of re- shapings in the jig to get a result that just about passed muster.
 

2890
The Cathead supporter/ekeing rail arrangement on the kit is a simplification.
The Supporter in reality, was a separate piece to the ekeing rail and should be fastened close to the hull, with the ekeing fayed into its lower end.

2897
Once fitted, even tho’ superficially it may look ok, blind man on a galloping horse comes to mind, I was not happy with the result.
 
The main issue is that the supporter knee is glued to the Ekeing rather than the hull, resulting in a gap between hull and rail where the Ekeing passes over the upper wale and waist rails, which throw it away from the hull.
 
The manual only indicates removing a small section of rail directly beneath the cathead, and the result is that the supporter is then obviously attached to the rail rather than the hull and not attached to the hull at all at the lower extreme.
 
This made little sense and irritated my eye each time I looked at it.

2900
I needed a re-think, so all my work of the past few days was undone.

2902
Fortunately, the supporter and rail came away without breakage.
 
A contributing factor is that the Ekeing runs atop and almost parallel with the Waist rail rather than cutting it at a more acute angle to run below it as indicated on the plans (both kit and official)
 
My aim is to get the supporter to look as if it is fastened directly to the hull, and to achieve this it is necessary to fine down the waist rail to allow the supporter to sit flush with the hull. The aft side of the supporter is also built up to compensate for the gap between Upper rails and Waist rails.

1584a
This modification is still a bit of a fudge but I can now live with it.

2914

1588b

2918
There’s a lot of work left to do on the finish, and getting clean lines on the mouldings is also proving a challenge.
 
I need to wait for better light for detail painting, the light levels in the UK are very poor at present.
 
The Bow saga goes on…..
 
B.E.
07/12/2023
 
 

Completion: Equipment of the main fore yard
With the attachment of the studding sail booms, the equipment of the main fore yard was completed.
This means that this yard can be placed on its side next to the others until it is finally installed on the model. Finally, a picture that shows the entire yard with a detailed section.

 
Everything that seemed possible and sensible was attached to the yard, which will make the later rigging work on the model a lot easier.
Next I will equip the fore topsail yard, similar to the main topsail yard. However, in an adapted form in terms of rope strengths and block sizes. Many rigging elements were already made with the parts for the main topsail yard. In this respect, I can assume that the new phase of work will progress a little more quickly. In addition, the research for the detailed training has also been completed.
 
Sequel follows …

Post One Hundred and Twelve
 
Headworks (Part Two)
With the Head timbers in place the Lower rail can be fitted. These are the ones that run along the slots in the Head timbers to join the Hair bracket at the fore end and the Ekeing rail aft.
The kit blurb indicates fitting the decorative cover panels to the head timbers and slotting the rail through them before fitting to the hull.

2851
I prefer to fit the rails on the model and then add the covers. I temporarily fitted the first cover to help hold the rail during positioning.
The provided slots do err on the generous side, presumably to allow trouble free access. Some remedial work will be required post fitting.
Looking at the manual photos the rail terminates on the Waist rail that runs between the gunports up to the bow. The plans show the rail meeting the ekeing rail which runs just below the termination of the Waist rail.
It is almost inevitable to get some variation in position due to the vagaries of individual builds, but with the head timbers in place (not glued) I can test the rail and see how it all pans out.

2866
Fitting the Lower rails is quite a tricky operation, these are delicate parts and I managed to break the tip off one, fortunately the repair held.
 
Cathead completion
This involves adding the caps and decorative motif and the cleat for the Cathead stopper.
The decorative motif on the cap is a star design neatly laser cut.
 
Ekeing rail
This runs from beneath the Cathead to meet the Lower rail just below the previously fitted Waist rail, or in my particular case at the lower edge of the waist rail.

2872

2874
It is a composite of two parts;
(inner214) and outer (212/213) I have confirmed with Chris that the inner (214) is a ‘spare’ but could be used to bulk out the Ekeing rail if desired.
I believe it did taper in thickness as it runs towards the Lower rail, so I opted to use it, looks better to my eye.

2870
 
As an aside, David Steel The elements and practice of Naval Artchitecture 1812) is rather scathing about the Ekeing rail.
 
The Ekeing rail at the low part of the supporter under the Cathead is only to continue the shape and fashion of that part, being of no other service.
We make this remark because if the supporter was stopd short without an Ekeing, it would be better, as it causes the side timbers to rot, and it commonly appears fair to the eye in but one direction.
 
Not many years later and by the time of the Leda class frigate Trincomalee the Ekeing seems to have been dispensed with.

Onto the delights of the Cathead supporter.
 
B.E.
05/12/2023
 
 

Hello,
the carpenters have finished the cabins for the 1. officer and the master. The paint is really fresh at this moment.
The bad thing is, you could't see most of it when the model is ready 

another piece:





 

I can’t remember who, exactly, but a while back someone very astute pointed out that a 17th C. lower mast of this time period would not have been equipped with either front or side “fish,” or re-enforcements.  It is a Hellerism for them to be moulded into the fore and main masts:

They are nowhere to be found in the work of leading authorities like Boudriot or Lemineur:

And so, for a long time I debated whether to shave away these details.  My main argument against it was a concern that doing so would make the lower masts appear too spindly - this, especially, because I had raised each mast footing by about 1/2” for better scale.
 
The primary argument FOR doing this was that it would enable me to properly represent the wooldings with their top and bottom retaining mouldings.  To apply these mouldings over and across all three fish would just look completely wrong and weird.
 
Now that at least one big holiday is out of the way, I was looking for something to jumpstart the project again, so I decided this was a good task to finally tackle.  I started with the coarse Dremel drum sander to remove the bulk of the material:

The challenges with this little project are two-fold.  The first is to carve-in the missing segments of the iron bands (between wooldings.  The other is to maintain a smooth continuous mast taper between the bands.  The pictures basically tell the story:



I think this was a success, primarily because the masts do not appear spindly.  Going forward, I will try to be somewhat more present with this project.  Our CYO basketball schedule kicks off this weekend, and there are a lot of games in the first few weeks.  Then, of course, there is Christmas to contend with.  Who was it that said “life is just one G’damn thing after another!”?
 
Anyway, I think that’s me saying that.  Thank you for looking in and for your continued interest in this project.

Hello colleagues,
Thank you very much for your interest and the nice comments.
 
A long time ago I made these hollow spikes from cannulas in two thicknesses. For example, I used the thinner hollow spike to make the brummel eye splices at the ends of the ratlines.

With these “model spikes” it works quite well after some practice.
It is recommended to make the sharp tips of the needles slightly rounded and blunt so that the thin ropes are not cut.

@giampieroricci
Many thanks vor your nice comment, and also thanks to the others for the LIKES.
 
Continuation: Equipment of the main topsail yard – eye splices for sheets
If I remember correctly, some time ago a dear fellow model maker once described weaving linen as a “complementary meditation”.
I discovered another passion by making eye splices... 😊.
But seriously, making splices is really relaxing. The feeling of looking at the result also conveys a certain fulfillment, at least for me.
After many attempts, I am now more or less able to make usable eye splices in almost any rope thickness.
In the meantime I have formed the ends of the main topsail sheets and main topgallant sheets with eye splices so that I can later create the connection already described using a toggle on the clewline blocks or on the clewlines.

 

Up soon …

Continued: Equipping the main topsail yard - footropes and stirrups - Marchepieds et étriers etc.
The garden has been "tidied up" and made ready for the winter. Everything has also been done in the house. The days have become shorter and motivation is at a high level again. 
So I'm continuing where I left off a good 2 months ago, with the footropes in the main topsail yard.
In the meantime, I have carried out further research into the design of the footropes and stirrups for this yard and have therefore decided, contrary to my previous assumptions (see sketch in previous reports), to attach two stirrups to each half of the yard. I will therefore move the outer attachment points of the footropes further inwards. 
What seems important to me in this context is the fact that even with such inconspicuous details as the footropes, the following principle must be observed: the higher up in the rigging, the more delicate the rigging elements, such as ropes, thimbles and blocks, become.
This is why the following picture shows the difference between the stirrups of the main yard (top left in the picture) and the main topsail yard, which is quite recognizable.

On the next picture you can see the finished footropes with the stirrups of the main yard and one or the other detail in an enlargement. The footropes have a diameter of 0.54 mm for the model (original size ø 26 mm), the stirrups ø 0.48 mm (ø 23 mm).
After attaching the footropes with the stirrups and the rest of the equipment, such as the brace blocks and the lifts, I also attached the sheets, clewlines and the ropes for the reef tackle. 
The length of the clewline blocks for the main topsail yard for the model is 4 mm, as can be seen in the next picture. The block strops are already lying next to it, ready to be tied in.
Since I do not attach sails to my model, I connect the sheet ends (eye splices) to lower clewline blocks with toggle, as seen on the Paris model and various contemporary models. Apparently the French preferred to use toggles (cabillot d'armarrage) to connect the clews to the sheets.
On the other hand, the stopper knot was obviously widespread among the English, at least that was my observation. Unfortunately I can't prove that.

I made these little toggles from dogwood, one of the hardest native woods, which is very suitable for turning and polishing, so ideal for this purpose.
The following illustration shows the eye splice of a sheet for the main topgallant sail (0.40 mm), which will later be connected to the clewlines of the main royal sail using a toggle.
At the moment I'm still working on the main topsail yard, as you can see in the following picture.
The last picture shows the back part of my “rigging workshop”. On the one hand, you can see the yards and spars that have not yet been equipped, and on the other hand, various rigging thread and a few rigging utensils, always ready to hand.
By attaching the studding sail booms, the main topsail yard will ultimately be fully equipped.

Sequel follows …

Hello,
and thank you for your comments and likes.
 
The last days I was busy repairing some things. As an example I made middle window of the star board gallery new. I also managed to clean up most of the windows.  
And yes Theodosius, we plan to build in cabins. 

small stern decorations:

I redid the columns, I did not like and added small friezes:
 

Hello,
I'm ready with the windows  If I ever get the window panes clean, I don't know. And I don't know, from where all the dirt comes  
As next comes then the ward room and the cabins for the officers.