sawdust

Truly excellent Peter. You have certainly made a silk purse out of a sows ear.

Sawdust

John Earl Published an excellent practicum on the Bluenose 2. Here is the link

http://www.modelboatyard.com/bluenose2.html

It is well worth looking at.

Sawdust

Hello Peter,  I continue to follow your build. Excellent work. I cant recall for sure but werent the Bulwarks on the Cutty Sark Steel? What does Longridges book say?

Kip

Thanks for sharing your progress. Pity about the shop on Fort St closing down.

Sawdust

It is good to see it taking shape.

Kip

Nice work. Running a pencil lead along the edge of adjoining surfaces helps  to more clearly define the surfaces.

Kip (aka Sawdust)

 Hello Caroline,  Thanks for reposting your San Fran. It revived memories of your excellent first build and your determination to overcome problems and inaccuracies in the kit.

Kip

 Hello Peter ,  thanks for alerting me to your build. As always you will manage to create a silk purse out of a sows ear. Thanks for sharing.

Sawdust

Hello Don,excellent work.   When you have it on display i will pop down and see it in person. Thanks for sharing, Kip.

Don,that really is a beautiful ship and your excellent work does it justice. Thanks for sharing,

 Kip

Hello Peter, thanks for the opportunity to view Irene at close quarters. The  fine details and your excellent  craftsmanship make this a really pretty vessel. Billings is definitely missing the boat (no pun intended) by not marketing this kit in North America.

Kip

 hello  Peter love the model, not only pretty but also perfect. In the pasr I have purchased  small sizes (61-80) from Midland tools in Nanaimo. I don't know if they still carry them. You might ask Don to check out Scotts Hobbies in Duncan. I know Cornwall Model Boats would have them.

 Lets meet for coffee some time.

 Kip

 I find pearl tweezers are good for holding small objects . Each jaw has a hollow indent which helps hold small objects securely.

 Kip

 Hello Mick, just in case you haven't visited this site,this should take you to Ivor Bittle's site on model sailing barges

http//ivorbittle.co.uk/

 It contains useful information and a good section on standing rigging.

 Kip

 Hello Mick,   sadly Billings are poor regarding instructions and the drawings impart little information when it comes to rigging. A good idea is to photocopy the rigging plan so you can mark up and include additional notes  such as color, size, how and were  a line terminates etc.. If I can be of any assistance please contact me.

 Kip

 Hello Eamonn, I would have checked and responded to your log earlier but have spent the last few days contending with problems, including a major flood in my workshop. I share the space with a 40 gallon hot water tank.It decided to spring a leak and empty itself all over the floor an for abot 7 hours.  Fortunately  neither Sultana or Old Blue were damaged. Good work, you are moving right along. I have mounted my Sultana on a slipway. I like the look and can recommend it. I am a great fan of abe books and over the years have purchased many books through the. I am a self confessed bookaholic. Sometimes set out to a single book through abe but sniff around and buy two or more on the pretext that I am saving money on postage.

 Incidentally many people do not know that abebooks.com was created by a couple of Vancouver Isanders living in Victoria.

Have fun, Kip

 Hello Mick, this too you will overcome!. I have sent you a pm.

 Regarding the Lee board winches my best source of information so far is Freeston and Kents book  "Modelling Thames sailing Barges".

  It included  amongst other things a drawing of  a leeboard winch taken from a  manufacturers catalog, a sketch of a leeboard winch and its separate handle and a series of  small b&w photos of Max Davey's model of the Kathleen.  These leeboard winches are relatively small probably  less than 2ft tall so as a detail in a small photo of a model is a little difficult to examine for smaller details like the drums ( probably less than 6" in diameter). After looking at the diagram and sketch and examining the photos with a magnifying glass I concluded  that  the  Leeboard winches are usually fitted with one drum and  handles are separate and only installed in use and on the drum side of the winch and the drums and handles would therefore be on the inboard side of the winch.   Since the winches are installed very near to the bulwarks this makes sense since the person operating the winch needs space to operate the handle and that in my opinion would only be possible if he were standing inboard of the winch.  I am not alone in my criticism in the quality of the instruction and detailed information supplied in Billings kits.

  I prefer the darker looking thread but I hate those flat spools and prefer to buy rigging thread on round spools in the longest length they supply. You can never have too much rigging thread.

 Kip

  Hello Eamonn you might want to add your garboard strake now before you plank yourself into a "corner".

 Kip

Hello Mick,

Sorry for not responding to your thread sooner, but I have fallen victim to a bug. Head and bronchia full of snot, sneezing, running nose and watery eyes  not at all conducive to  examining plans, books or typing. All I want to do is sleep. I should have been consuming rum toddies  from the outset. but I fell victim to this during my sleep. 

The standing rigging on the Will Everard would have been multi stranded galvanised steel wire. Some of the running rigging would have been flexible steel wire  and the rest would be rope. Since the standing rigging would have been coated in Stockholm tar you  could certainly use black thread,  even though it may not be strictly accurate  I would use hemp coloured thread through out for ithe running rigging. You will also need some short lengths of chain. Did Mr. bIllings include chain  in the fittings kit.  The  things designed to trip you up are called Horses  And the fiitings which travel on them are the travellers. the devices you have assembled from the brass piece  are indeed the leeboard winches and they are used to hoist and drop the leeboards ( you called them  drop keels). They would most likely have been pained grey. I . have finally found a sketch which had previously eluded me and it shows a detachable handle which fits onto  the drum. so in all likelyhood the drums would have been on the inboard side of each winch This is contrary to my initial belief concerning removale handles..

 Incidentally the ratlines would have been steel wire  and hence could be smaller in diameter than one might expect. I am assuming  the rope sizes you quoted were in mm. If you need some rigging sizes  I can look through my information sources,  but I will be quoting circumferences in inches on a full size vessel so you will need to do some simple conversions and then compromise   to make your selection from sizes available.   if you want the size information get in touch and I will see what I can find when I am feeling better.

 I purchase rigging thread from Cornwall model boats , they have a good selection and the quality is better than the fuzzy stuff that Billings supplies, or have they improved?

 Kip

 You are correct. here they are often referred to as carpenters glue and  have a short grab time and when cured an extremely strong joint.

Kip

 Hello Eamonn,   carpenters glue  the yellow alphatic type both elmers  and titebond is readily available in all DIY stores here in Canada, Have you tried B&Q?  Generic alphatic type glue is also available under other brand names in various hardware stores. I used it all the time when making furniture, For model ship building I actually prefer pva (the white stuff) and achieve instant clamping by interspersing my glue line with an occasional drop of Ca gel type, For example when planking I apply pva along the edge of the plank and a small amount of ca on each bulkhead  just before I finally positioning the plank on each bulkhead.  Just my 2pennorth  ( forgotten the Gaelic for penny)

Enjoy the journey,

 Kip

 Hello Mick,

my medicine for coughs and colds cosists of 2 oz of dark rum , a table spoon of honey,, juice of half a lemon and as much hot water as deemed necessary. Both the rumand lemon juice have antiviral properties and the honey is kills of bacteria. The hot water helps release the medicinal vapours to be inhaled by the patient. my admiral claims I have made up the medicinal properties of this drink and she is probablyright. Incidentally all ingredients except the rum are optional.

  Kip

Great job on the deck planking. Thanks for shoring.

Kip

  Very interesting snippet of information Jimmy. Thanks for sharing.  I wonder if these were the engines they fitted ho their barges or their  larger vessels.. Do You happen to have any photos?

Kip

Hello  Eamonn. I took time yesterday to go through your log from start to finish.  Good work and problem solving  I will enjoy following your progress.

Enjoy the journey,

 Kip