Sailor1234567890

Ouch. That's some pretty major reconstructive surgery. Not something you want to have to do too often on a project. I guess the old Keep calm and carry on applies here doesn't it?

What attachment are you refering to?

Seems the piece you're asking about is the stem it's self. Or I'm completely misunderstanding what you're asking/looking at. What is the worm in this thread for? I'm sure you'll tie it in to something interesting.

And I thought I was the only one with a fetish for bowsprits. Underhill talks at length of them in Masting and Rigging. I think they really cool. Long and tapering, or short and stubby, they add a certain something to a ship. I gained a monumental appreciation for the strength of their supporting rigging when I made a small repair to the bowsprit on my 1:96 Cutty Sark that snapped off due to my clumsy movements. I drilled out the end of both pieces, inserted a sewing needle and then glued it back together. It really was a half measure, still a little floppy and flimsy but once I rigged the bobstays and bowsprit shrouds, along with the forestays it really steadied up. All hail the long lith bowsprit.

I can't imagine the challenges in building these 3d models in a computer. They always seem to look a little off. I think I figured out why. Watching one view from the stbd bow, I noticed that even though the ship seems to move in a realistic manner, the camera angle gives it away as CG. The ship moves about a certain point and the camera is fixed to that point. There's no rise and fall of the ship, just a camera that seems attached to a point on the ship as she moves. The detail in these views is awesome. I loved watching them and have gone through each a number of times now. Beautiful work.

What a feat of engineering she was. Beautiful ship.

Hopefully it's both far and under control soon. My uncle lives in Australia and I heard stories of the brush fires a few years ago. Not a pleasant predicament.

That Great Lakes ship's bow is how I would envision it to be. Seems there's so much more effort to fabricate a horseshoe shaped piece than a straight flat piece. Or a circular plate. Thanks for the answers guys. Anybody know when they stopped using them?

Looks like you've got a bit more work ahead of you once again. You did it before and you'll do it again. I have every confidence in you. She'll be awesome once completed. You call her "majesty" for a reason.

We'll wait patiently for your pics. Keep at her.

I sailed her a few years ago and was surprised at how high the steering gear box was. The big helm felt awesome as we bore off and she powered up. No squares set but all fore and aft sails were set. We stayed in Baltimore Harbor but the wind was a nice 10-15 knots. Made for an awesome afternoon on the water. She's looking VERY sharp there. Nice and crisp details. Thanks for showing us.

Incandescents are hard to find? I have them lying around the house here. You can buy them for pennies apiece at the grocery store, hardware store, walmart etc. Interesting how things can be common in one place and rare as hen's teeth in another. I would ship you a few but they likely wouldn't arrive in much better condition than the one you already have....

I would suggest that the blocks are a tad overscale. If they were smaller, there would be more space between them to allow the gun to be hauled in completely when required. Not certain though. Maybe someone with more experience will chime in soon. Daniel

Looking good.

Very vivid picture you painted. I also enjoy the imagination aspect of it. I am a sailor and have been at sea in some very nasty weather. But like they did back then, we mostly remember the sunny days where everything is beautiful, the weather is fine, the sea is marching in ordered waves downwind and everything is right with the world. I can't begin to appreciate the restrictions you seem to have on materials aquisition. Seems every page of your thread so far mentions not being able to get a particular item or piece of material where you are. Must be terribly frustrating.

That is a beautiful shape.

Now picture that at sea, and it's not snow on the rigging, it's ice. And it's building up every time a wave washes over the ship. Now you have to chip it all off. Climbing up there with hammers, axes etc to bash the ice away from her rigging in order to be able to sail her. Not to mention keep her upright. Those men were tough back then.

Very nicely done.

I have noticed a lot of models with a curious little horseshoe shaped piece let into the keel by the forefoot. What is it's purpose? It seems to be to strengthen the connection down there but I would think a simple plate would be easier to fashion as well as stronger. Could anyone help me out. Never seen that before.

Interesting that there's a helm on the bridge. I've never seen that in a sub. Ours have a radio and a voice pipe down to the helmsman in the control room. Of course we check and double check that the hull and back up valves to both the voice pipe and the voice pipe drain pipe are all shut before we dive.

My understanding is that her masts were called, in order from forward aft, Fore, Main, Mizzen, Jigger, Driver, Spanker, and Pusher. I tend to think this more plausible than the days of the week or numbers because sailors are such sticklers for terminology. Why change the name of the fore, main and mizzen? Big four posters had a jigger mast. That is, I believe, one of the only pictures of her and she's in ballast. As such, she is showing way more freeboard than when loaded. She would have settled much deeper in the water and that would improve her looks remarkably. A low freeboard always looks better than a tall wall sided ship. It wouldn't however improve her sailing qualities and she likely was a very unhandy ship. The fact that no other was built with 7 masts likely tells something of how good a sailer she was or how sucessful a business venture.

I firmly believe that with both castles and ships there can be a balance struck so you have the essence and feel yet still have some of the modern comfort and convenience of it. I would not want to live in a draughty old castle either but if you were to properly insulate, seal things up tight, heat it, provide power, Air conditioning, internet connectivity etc. (properly hidden in the walls), as well as things like running water, hot and cold, modern cooking appliances, refrigeration...... etc etc etc, then yes a real stone castle would be cool to live in. As far as driving Cutty Sark at 17.5 knot today.... I have no idea if there is anybody skilled enough to do what she did back then, however we have things like weather routing and GPS feeds that would allow us to cheat a little bit on that. Modern sail cloth and rigging lines as well as building methods would allow her to be a much stronger ship than she was. LIkely faster. That 17.5 knots is a top speed, average speeds were closer to 14 and I see no reason why with modern technologies to help, an average of 14 knots could not be sustained. There are plenty of young sailing ship sailors today in the training ship world who would jump at the chance to drive a ship like that as fast as they dare. I know I would given the opportunity. Imagine this: Cold moulded hull. Carbon fiber lower spars, hollow wooden upper spars. You've saved weight aloft making her a bit stiffer. Remove her elm keel and false keel and replace it with external lead. It has been shown (and used effectively by naval architects) that lead has about the strength of white oak when used in the same size. That means her external keel could be replaced with a lead keel giving her increased stability by increasing her GM. More efficient blocks with nearly frictionless bearings would make working her easier but we don't want to take away from the actual act of sailing her by connecting everything to electric winches. We still want to sail her now don't we? Crew accomodations can be fit into her holds with a modicum of comfort and convenience items. Hot and cold running water, proper heating and air conditioning etc. Modern Navigation suits with radar, radio, GPS etc would be required by law and we'd be delinquent in our responsibilities not to include them even if they weren't required. Given the fact that the weight of accomodation spaces in a ship are significantly less than that of a load of tea or wool, she'd have a need for more internal ballast, likely in the form of lead trimming ballast, fresh water tankage, fuel (for she'd need auxiliary propulsion and machinery) and stores. I suspect built like this, she would sail higher out of the water, possibly even higher than her days in the tea trade yet still be a stiffer ship. Modern high strength lines in the standing rigging would reduce weight and windage aloft while the lead keel would improve her stiffness (Stability wise, not so much structurally in a longitudinal manner). Stronger sailcloth and rigging would mean she could likely stand up to a stiffer breeze than the original without being laid on her beam ends. I think one could expect over 19 knots of this hypothetical ship. All this and she'd look to the casual observer, like Cutty Sark did back in her prime. The only obstacle I can see to this is money. Nobody with money is interested in doing this and those that do have it choose to build massive white wedding cake type motor yachts with helipads on them. They do however build castles and live in them. Massive stone homes of 10 000 + square feet with towers, turrets, gates, 20 foot tall wooden entry doors and all the other things you'd expect of a castle. They include Wifi, air conditioning, 10 car underground garages, swimming pools, tennis courts, home theaters, home gyms and just about anything else you can imagine. Too bad they have no taste when it comes to things nautical. By the way, if anybody wants to foot the bill, I'd be happy to spend your money to build this "hypothetical ship" (Sorry for the thread hijack Nenad, I'll let you get back to showing us your progress now).

Beautiful. Nice job. Love to see that.

It's interesting to me how we as a species can lose a technology that we had once mastered. Trying to replicate something like a ship that was built 200 + years ago should be easy. We did it before. How hard could it be to build one now? We have power tools, we have computer softward to do the design work, yet even with all this extra "help" to get the job done, we would be hard pressed to build a large vessel like this. Pyramids.... forget it. Yet, relatively small groups of enthusiasts like us will labour for years to figure out something and keep pushing to "get it right". I love that.

I only wish they had sent her back to sea after her latest refit instead of condemning her to a dock in that most unatural suspended structure. Look what the Australians did with James Craig. I look forward to seeing what they do with City of Adelaid. I'm sure she'll be stunning as well. The Australians seem to know how to rejuvenate an old beauty like this. Cutty Sark is about the toughtest out there I think. Her longevity demonstrates this. One day someone will replicate her and do her justice.