vossiewulf

I've been wondering about boats on cutters, considering their role they'd have to have had boats, but like the forward gunports there really doesn't seem to be enough room to keep one other than on stern davits, but I don't see stern davits on the contemporary models. I had concluded the standard procedure must have been to tow a boat. And I agree with others that you could call her done after you have the anchors on, she's a very fine model as is.

Solvaset and Microset are both basically weak concentrations of acetic acid (vinegar) and pretty much identical, although I tend to use Microset as it's cheap enough to not spend time experimenting with making my own. I've never known Microsol to do much of anything useful, it's the acetic acid in Microset that makes the decals flexible to conform to underlying surface. And I agree with others that the decals on the Crusader look great, very nice job.

Nice job on the cross section Michael, it will result in lots of questions from anyone with curiosity. Also your Wasa is one of the better ones I've seen, and in particular I find your painting of all the stern figures to be much more plausible than others I've seen, which lean toward colors that are considerably brighter than any that were likely to have been available at the time.

Nice job with the rib tapes, not something most modelers know to do.

Thanks Pat, makes sense now. I haven't seen real detail about how anchors were released and stowed, what I've found in Seamanship discusses ship movements and actions of the ship, but not the details of what happened with the anchor. I am thinking that the cat hook would have to be removed from it, and then the served rope was released at the same time as any other lashings that held the anchor in place. Is that correct?

Thanks again Gregory. However, like you, I have no idea how that works Thanks Jud, interesting to know.

I thought I had read that section pretty closely but obviously not closely enough. Thanks, that makes logical sense now, if it was earlier in the build I would have added a cleat like that.

Yeah, that's what I did at first too, as it's logical. I'm just saying I've actually gotten better results by dabbing it on by q tip, doesn't make any sense but it has consistently done better than dipping.

Had I been slightly more experienced and seen this problem earlier, that is what I would have done: add a bar like that to each side of the windlass and then hung the coils of one cable from the arbor "clutch". Thanks for that idea. I forgot to ask before, what pray tell is a cat quick release toggle? I actually have been wondering how in fact the cat hook was unhooked from the anchor.

Looks fine Jo, but also at this stage if you don't like it, cut a strip of wood and glue it to the bulkhead edge and/or add more balsa and resand it. None of this will be seen, so you can freely revise as you wish until you're happy. People regularly overshoot a bit and use filler or more wood to build back up before finalizing. BTW you've done very well to get past the first stages that many people without much experience making things find very intimidating. You've kept the courage up and moved forward and now your little Il Leudo looks exactly like 100 other boats being built on this site right now, so call those days seized. Make sure you keep that faith when you first start planking

I have said that to myself about your build Sigh. Now I have to figure out how to make a tiny brain knot or whatever that's called at the end of the fluke Thanks, I think...

Thanks Gregory! I guess I'm back to turns on the windlass on both sides, and probably hanging the port one from the cathead.

Thanks Steve

That's a little simplified, isn't it Mark? As I recall the progression went from full lateen mizzen course, to keeping the lateen boom but stopping the sail at the mast as it would be here, and then the final evolution was straightforward fore-and-aft gaff sails with a boom on the bottom and a gaff up top. At least that's what I recall reading. Can't remember the dates between lateen mizzen and shortened lateen mizzen, maybe 1690-1710 or so? And the final step was fairly late, after 1800 I think.

Fixed that sentence for you

Thanks @popeye the sailor I posted one pic in the thread on how to rig these anchors, but I should catch up progress here. I've made all the rigging for both anchors, and have rigged one but the other is in limbo while the experts determine if a cutter could operate two anchors at once, and if so, how. Since you can't engage or disengage the hawsers from the windlass without pulling all the cable up on deck and detaching it from the bitts, either they went through extreme anguish trying to operate two anchors, or you could loosen one set of wrappings selectively, and work on one anchor without affecting the other. There is a surprising (to me) amount of discussion on this point, considering the commonness of cutter models built and the consistency of their windlass/anchor arrangements. If I'm allowed to wrap both hawsers on the windlass, I will hang the port anchor from the cathead. If not, I will stow it with no hawser. As expected, starting with those 2mm blocks means that working with even a 1/8" block is all giggles and rainbows. The catfall blocks with their hooks, which once again proved the axiom that no matter how many gauges of wire you have, you will never have the right size. These involved a fair amount of hand filing as what was needed fell between the two closest gauge sizes I have. Anchor ready to be installed with hawser, catfall block, and buoy rope. I went with an anchor bend as the line was too thick to do the fisherman's bend recommended for small anchors, and an anchor clinch was only used on large ship anchors. I had to flip her over to drill the holes for the catfall eyes in the underside of the catheads, which of course I didn't know I needed until now. While I was at it, I finished drilling holes for CF rod in the keel that will go in the pedestals. And we get a probably last clear view of the planking. Starboard anchor installed, but not finished. I need to put a small cleat on the top of each cathead where it sits on the rail for the catfall line. Also, if anyone is reading in enough detail, how does one finish a line belayed to a timberhead? I'm not sure what the line is called (the fully served one), but usually it goes from a belaying point on one side of the cathead to another on the other side, but since I didn't have two belaying points I went from the timberhead through the anchor and back to the same timberhead. So does the end of the line just stick out in space? Or did they go under other lines a few more times to completely hide it? Another view, I seized a loop in one end of the fully-served line and that went over the timberhead first. How I lashed the other end to a timberhead, and a good look at the buoy rope. In retrospect (AGAIN), I should have gone from timberhead to the shank of the anchor instead of the fluke. The way I have it, it would move. OTOH, if I went across the shank the lashings would be bearing on the buoy line, I don't know if that was considered a problem or not. And the controversial windlass, with the starboard anchor hawser having turns around it. As noted, just waiting for final decision before mounting the other anchor. After I do that, I HAVE to stop doing other things and mount the rudder before the whole mess becomes too fragile.

Everything I see is very nice, very clean work Jean-Paul. No need for help here, just sit back and watch a pretty ship being made

Isn't this another kit that was designed by Chuck Passaro? You're right that you solved the problem well and are moving on, but out of curiosity's sake and future needs, you might could drop him a PM and see if he has any input on bending the wood that MSW is including in the kits these days. You're right, woods have different fundamental bending processes and you could do everything right and still have problems with certain woods. The beauty of the steam cleaners is that you just tell the admiral you're buying an excellent tool for cleaning bathrooms and kitchens to total sterility, and she approves and awards you a medal of bravery

The F-8's other claim to fame, that Slog has already shown, is that it's the only production aircraft that had a variable incidence wing. It was an odd feature in that it was fairly Russian in its sledgehammer approach to solving the competing needs of supersonic wings vs. wings that would allow a reasonably slow approach to the carrier- the hell with that complex swing-wing idea, we'll just tilt the whole damned wing! Problem solved! Pass the vodka comrade! Also, anyone with a vague interest should watch the below, it's one of the best Dogfights episodes and its title is The Last Gunfighter

An excellent example of a Linus Battlei, probably of the species Franconium LXXIV. And Tiziano gets the singing of angels also, like Amalio, as it's the only proper music to match his work

Jim, I haven't checked this case, but all of your machines that I own are built in a straightforward fashion with standard fasteners, making them easy to disassemble as needed. Is it really not possible for us to remove the current table and install the larger one?

I've looked at as many contemporary cutter models as I can find, and I've never seen a gun port lid of any kind on any of them. And all have bow ports, and virtually all of them look as if it would be nearly impossible to operate a gun from there, and many are such that you'd have had to lift the gun and carriage just to get them to the bow ports. So like B.E. and others, I'm at a loss as to why they are that way, and consistently so when there is written evidence that they actually were used. It's a conundrum that is unfortunately unlikely to be resolved without the use of a Delorean going 88mph with a Mr. Fusion powerplant attached to the back.

The degree to which you can bend wood is a function of how hot you get it for how long, at high temperatures the lignin that provides the strength of the wood structure gets progressively more flexible. The hotter you get it, the more you can bend it without fracture. That's why steam is much better for serious bending as it gets the wood considerably hotter without burning than other options. She looks fine as is with the bow planks covered, so no worries, just something for the next time around. Good steam cleaners that produce lots of steam on demand are pretty cheap these days, and all you need is a clear plastic tube to attach to the output end of one of those and you have a perfect plank steamer. Leave them in there for 15-30min and you'll be able to tie bows with them. Ok you won't be able to tie bows with them but you can bend them around very tight curves. Look up Kortes' boier build, it's apparently against the law in the Netherlands for a boier yacht to have a straight line anywhere, and their hulls are closing in on being circular. He had to do lots of severe wood bending for that, all done with steam.

Sam, I finally had success blackening with a good finish after rinsing the parts well in alcohol to clean and remove any finger oils, and then leaving the parts in vinegar for 30 min or so. You have to do two things- generally clean the parts, and remove the oxide layer so the blackener works. You could just use your ultrasonic cleaner for the cleaning part, and use vinegar to remove the oxide layer. I also had better luck dabbing the blackener on with a q-tip and periodically rinsing it off in water rather than dipping the parts in, as nonsensical as that may be.

Ok so now do I put hawsers going to both anchors, and have both of them going around the windlass? I agree that letting out an anchor by easing out line wrapped around the windlass would be more controlled, but even the anchor on a cutter was plenty heavy, would that have been a reasonable process? I'm thinking it was heavy enough that you'd have to go very slowly, and all of the anchoring procedures I've read seem to involve the anchor going down quickly.