DavidG

I try to improve the process of making yards. this is my current process making them.

I start with square stock, in this case 6mm for the main topsail yard. The most important step is to prime it with white before doing anything (they will be painted black later). This simple step vastly improved the octagonal shaping, now I can actually see what I do. The white background makes the marking clear, and provides good feedback how much wood to plane or carve away. The picture below shows the yard after shaping, the central white lines are remains of the primer.

I intentionally leave the octagonal stems at the ends. These act as guides to define the centerline of the planes along the length, and with the help of a thread I can place the stirrups lined up properly (stirrups are copper eyelets in this case, as I failed several times to make proper thread versions with uniform length and having them straight).

Then I make the blocks to add, this tool is a new acquisition after not finding Quadhands locally, but basically the same and works great.

The required blocks and lines (blocks for the topgallant sheets, clueline blocks, footropes and cluelines). I pull the eyes tight after placing them on the yard and fix with diluted glue.

The parrels are made next. I ordered Caldercraft etched parrel ribs in the hope of being more scale (ie smaller) than kit provided ones, but actually they are the same size. They have a cleaner look though so I used them, but made them thicker by gluing them in pairs, as the etched part looked pretty thin. I had the same experience with beads, what I bought in a hobby store was the same size than the kit ones (€0,5 for ~300 of them) , but at least I was able to select similar sized ones.

Ethced ribs, paired ones and kit supplied parts:

After painting them, I made the parrel with served lines, eyes in the end and a lashing attached. This matches my sources, but the use of served line proved to be a mistake as the thickness made the installation around the mast very difficult due to their stiffness (despite having them wet).

Finally cut the stems, painted and varnished the yard and added the fittings. The stunsail boom irons are simulated by paper strips and held in place by brass wire. They are placed 45' forward on the top.

no need to sorry, that ebay picture is crap indeed. Scaledecks is a respected upgrade for plastic models though, maybe the pictures on the site scaledecks.com provides a better view.

they are still not individual planks, but scaledecks offers uncut sheets with small scale plank deatils: https://www.ebay.com/itm/122505736091?_ul=IN

Paul, your model looks excellent. Is it just me, or the letter "N" on the transom is upside down?

yard making continues, I'm getting faster with them. here is the finished main yard, with all fittings installed. The setup for the stunsail booms are probably wrong for the era, sources indicate the iron should attach to the end of the yard, but I already made the yards for the mizzen by the kit plans and decided to go for consistency.

there are several lines in the middle: jeer blocks, held together by a lashing (I still have to figure out, how to make acceptable lashings), jeers, truss pendants and the sling.

some plans show the jeers are tied to the blocks, but Peterson shows them attached to the yards, woven over themselves. I found it nice looking and chose to do this way.

your work is a joy to follow. the painted transom makes the model really unique.

as you use acrylics for your paint job, especially mixing them, a wet palette might be for your help. it can be as simple as a wet dish rag with a parchment paper on top, but keeps the paint from drying for hours and really a great aid for mixing. I learnt this by painting my son's (12) board game figures last year. there is a great deal of info from more competent painters than me on youtube, for example this one.

poor Diana was neglected for most of last year, but recently started to work again, as I really want to finish it and move on. this build will celebrate the 15th birthday this year. A major dusting was due, also had to examine the model and my notes to plan for the next steps. Finally made some running rigging lines starting with the mizzen, which is now mostly finished. After a few weeks I got into practice again.

Currently work on the main yard, after spraying with black primer, the truss pendants are being test fitted. In the foreground the jeer blocks are being made.

The current stage of the build:

thanks for looking in.

Cornwell Model Boats sells Mantua castings. 

They have the complete set for the Vasa : https://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/acatalog/44705-Vasa-Casting-Set-44705.html#SID=88

You may contact them for individual pieces, if you don't need a set. 

Hi Robert, the line you are referring is called a martingale, which counters the upwards pull of the stays, with the help of the dolphin striker, which is a device to increase the angle of the rope to amplify the downward pull. You took me over by your progress as I haven't rigged this lined yet. To be honest, I don't know what would be the current arrangement for the Diana, but a little research shows several options.

Petersson shows it is belayed besides the foot of the bowsprit after leading it through a block below the stay collars. While I try to follow this resource, for me it seems impractical given the different proportions of the Diana (and probably the shown example is a later period due to the double arrangement).

A well documented build of the Occre Diana exist in a Russian forum (here). On photo 13 the builder tied off the lines on the big timberhead just besides the cathead (if I see well). It seems to be a viable option.

The rigging manual of the Caldercraft Victory (available here) instructs, the martingale tied to the knighthead, similar to what the Russian builder did.

Another reference might be the Artesania Latina Surprise, with the manual available here. On page 67 the, line seems to be tied to an eye in the hull below the rails.

I hope this helps.

best,

David

On 4/5/2021 at 1:45 PM, ObviousNewbie said:

Question about rigging: Occre's rigging sequence starts with the shrouds and ratlines, and then moving on to stays. Somehow tension-wise that doesn't make sense. Thinking about making the stays, and then proceeding with the shrouds. Also, tension-wise I saw a number of build logs where the stays move forward, starting from the mizzen mast. That makes sense a swell.  Any thoughts/comments on this?

rigging the shrouds before stays is the normal practice. If it is done otherwise, the loop of stays around the topmasts gets below the shrouds which would be incorrect, as they have to be over them. 

I found it is not practical to finally tension the lines until a much later stage. The braces will pull the shrouds after you rig them, and have to adjust anyway.

Also note, the Occre rigging plan show the stays tied off on the middle of the masts. In practice, the lines were belayed on the deck or the mas top as below, if you choose to to complicate your life further

congrats to your fleet. Very nice progress through the line of builds on different difficulty levels.

Looking to the list of your future builds, you may want to have a look on Dusek's take on Le Cerf. That one seems to be a more modern design of the same subject.

that is some great sclupting, well done.

nice work, that's certainly a difficult bend.

you may consider styrene strip for such difficult parts, especially if the model is painted as yours.

another option is the "flexible beech" sold by Cornwall in several dimensions. That's a chemically treated wooden strip, and you can tie knots on them even dry, but after soaking can be formed to any shape, which is well retained when dried again.

part 198 is the sling, which holds the yard as a security measure. the loop is the bottom part of the sling (actually holding a thimble), which is clearly visible in the the front view. My build log have a picture of the sling in post 38. Be sure, you install them before the topmasts are glued into place.

the blocks on the mast cap must be for the lifts, they are lines to lower/raise the yards. What makes me wonder, these blocks should be under the mast cap, and  forward of the position shown. The lifts must clear the shrouds in front of them, and I see the proposed alignment would cross the shrouds between the ratlines.

A year ago I had a plan to finish the model in 2020, which goal certainly wasn't met. Now it's time to make another public commitment, to finish it this year, 14 years after I started  

At least, I was able to install the topgallants and finish all standing rigging, also made the yards for the mizzen mast. The lines are not tied off, I'm sure they need adjustment later, especially when rigging the braces.

Below is a picture of the current state, with standing rigging done:

very nice planking, Andrey. If you set up your build log, all members can follow your progress and you can get advice on building.

Hi Andrei,

welcome to MSW and thanks for looking into my log. I'm happy to discuss your Diana build. The best way is to set up a build log of your own, simply by clicking the "Start new topic" button in the build log section.

selecting the "choose files" option below your post, will allow you to upload pictures, which you can insert to your post with the "+" sign:

Hi Peter, the thicker, lime strips are used for first planking. After you are done with that, and gave it a thorough sanding, you plank the hull a second time with the thin strips. Looking to the pictures of your boat, the dark one is used on the lower hull and the lighter on the upper parts. This is very typical for Occre kits, many of their kits use this color scheme (like the Trinidad, Diana, Montanes, etc).

you can just click the quote button below the post.

there are several ways to do this, software like Adobe Illustrator can certainly do that. Much depends on the quality of your image, and probably you will have to adjust it manually after the conversion. I think Adobe provides a trial period, which might be just fine for your needs. But if you make a search to "jpg to vector" you find several videos on youtube and other solutions, like vectormagic.com and similar.

I came across this video on youtube recently, showing the finished model. I think not posted here before:

you may want to check this thread:

you made great progress on the second planking. looks very nice.

regarding bending the thick wood, I can think of a couple of options.

- soak it for several hours, than take a fairly large pot from the kitchen, clamp it slowly and wait until dries. than remove it, soak it again, and clamp it to a smaller one with a bit more severe bend. I had some success this way in the past, working progressively towards the required bend, but it takes a lot of time. all previous advice about using heat/ steam will help the process.

- if you are going to paint your wales black, you might use the leftover strips from first planking. they bend easily, and the rough grain can be sanded and filled before painting. this is the path I chose.

- you can also source some replacement walnut strips from Cornwall if everything fails and if you are for the natural look. they are not expensive and the one they sell bends way more easily than the Occre wood. 

I made some progress in the recent months, actually finished all the ratlines. They add a lot to the look of the ship. Actually it wasn't too bad. On average I tied 7-8 lines per day, but sometimes I really got into it and finished a whole section in a day. Here are some pictures of the current progress. 

the topmast stays are already on, but not finally tensioned. I started to work on the topgallant masts, which is the next task on hand.

Finally a picture of the rigging thread collection I use, purchased from a local source.

congrats for the nice planking! 

regarding the bulwark templates, I used them, but if I was to do it again I would plank the bulwarks. For the gundeck it's not an issue, nothing will be seen. But on the forecastle deck there is an opening for the catheads:

which is a rather dubious feature. A flat piece of timber laid across the deck, connecting the the two sides.. can't imagine it is correct. The point is, the bulwark templates already have a hole for this board, which I decided not to install, and found it difficult to fill the gap nicely in the bulwarks. But the decision certainly is yours, I recall the templates are fine and fit as they intended. 

For the color scheme, I decided to go with natural wood look and the bulwarks (and guns) stained red. You can check my build log if you like this look. Must admit, I know nothing about Spanish ships, and I followed British reference material. 

I don't think varnishing of the hull before second planking is a good idea. Wood glue sticks to wood and anything in between results a weaker joint, But don't be afraid of the second planking, your job done is great.

keep on the good work,

David