JerryTodd
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Everything posted by JerryTodd
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Fella's, she's been in the water a few times now, next time she gets wet she'll have t'gallants and another jib set. What I'm trying to get close to though is closing up the deck - that's a major milestone, because there's a lot I can't do until that step is taken. To that end I have to get the brass tubing fairleads that lead the sheets and braces through the deck installed - some of that needs to happen in conjunction with installation of portions of the sub-deck. The sub deck's underside will be painted with epoxy both to seal it and to glue it to the deck beams. There will be a removable section of deck under the pivot guns both fore and aft. The hatch aft gives me access to the rudder head and it's servo, the one forward gives access to the jib sheets. Anyway; once the subdeck is down I can lay the deck planking; which, BTW will be set down in 1 hour epoxy with blackening in it, and probably will be made of stained bass wood. After scraping the deck and sealing it, I can add waterways, cap rail, deck furniture, hatch coamings, and then the bulwarks Which will be made up something like this; Real rigging can then commence. For that I have to rebuild my ropewalk which was damaged in the flood as well cobble together a functional servicing rig. Remember my scale is 1:36 and this model sails, so my line has a few demands on it static models don't impart. I have a quantity of Dacron Polyester sail thread from a sail-maker's supply and have walked out some very nice line up to the diameters Constellation (and Macedonian) will need - the main stay is about 5/32" diameter, but I have a couple of miles more to make in various diameters to even get seriously started. Dacron line is really nice stuff too - not the slightest hint of fuzz! I also have a bit more than half of the chain plates to manufacture, and all the deadeye strops. In a nutshell, there's a long way to go, but there you have a basic outline of what's ahead and in what order.
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- sloop of war
- constellation
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Yesterday I made the mizzen t'gallant, a day or two before that the fore t'gallant. Everything's painted, including the tip of the flying jib-boom, which has been bare wood for years now
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- sloop of war
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My cologne used to be Stockholm Tar, we called it "Old Spike"
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I decided to make a spar before I forgot how. While the shop's still a wreck, and she sits on a cabinet behind the couch, she's too high to fit under the ceiling with her new main t'gallant pole aloft, and has to crouch like she's lying over to a strong breeze. The doubling and truck got painted white, but I still have to make the cap, and of course, the fore and mizzen t'gallant masts.
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In reassembling the wiring and such, and testing everything before fastening it down, one of the winch servos just ran and ran. Assuming it was the servo, I swapped it out with another one and found the problem was I didn't have the plug seated and the signal line wasn't connected. That's one $45 servo still good, but it also demonstrated the ease of swapping out a servo with this set up: Unplug the servo; take off the winch drum; loosen 4 mounting screws, and out it comes. So, here's the servo tray with the wiring installed:
- 533 replies
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- sloop of war
- constellation
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Painted the "trays" the servos are mounted on for both Constellation and Macedonian. The servos were remounted and cotter pins installed to hold the slide rods in place. Constellation's will get it's fuses, and other electrical items mounted, and holes drilled for it's mounting screws. The guide holes in the fairlead plates aren't drilled yet, I'm still trying to find the winch drums I made a while back to be sure the holes line up properly.
- 533 replies
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I'm on the last book of this Drinkwater series; "Ebb Tide" and I have to say I like the series. Like Hornblower Drinkwater doubts himself, feels guilt for the things he must do, the lives lost, etc; but he's resolute, knows his business, and doesn't pull punches when it gets down to it. As for the writing, I have to say Richard Woodman gets to the point much quicker than O'Brien ever did. Woodman writes like the sailor he is and I had no problem keeping track in my mind's chart just where things were relative to each other. If you like Hornblower or Aubrey/Maturin you'll certainly like Drinkwater. See, I can say positive things, I didn't mention once how much Bolitho sucks.
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Thoughts on standing after running rigging
JerryTodd replied to cwboland's topic in Masting, rigging and sails
As pointed out, running rigging is very often anchored on, belayed to, threaded through, and dependent in some way on standing rigging that's, well, already standing. You'll often find that the way things were done on real vessels, for a few hundred years, often work best on models as well. Even rigging yards and bending sails before sending the yards aloft, I've seen done full size, so it's not really a modeler's shortcut. -
Added the fairlead plates Friday. They're made from the same aluminum angle the end brackets were cut from. They're attached to the Delrin slide block on one end of the servo with 2 #4 x 1/2" panhead screws, nipped off to 1/4" (In the diagram you may have noticed the winch servos are reversed, that is the spindle is closer to one end of the servo than the other, and in the drawing it's shown at the wrong end, not making the best use of the space available - they are mounted correctly on the actualy unit.) BTW: For those of you on Facebook, there's a Scale Sail RC group for Facebookers interested in the scale modeling aspects of RC sailing.
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Since it looks like I'll have to draw them myself, I plan to do them in 1:36 scale. I'll have them scanned so I can add details to and update the digital version easily.
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I wonder what it would cost at 1:36 scale
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Most of the models I've seen on this site are of scales so small that the finest stitching looks like 1" rope forced through heavy burlap a foot apart. I draw my seams, fabric glue tabling, reinforcements, etc, and the only sewing I do is the bolt-rope - which can only be done by hand - because a machine sewn zig-zag stitch LOOKS like a machine sewn zig-zag stitch. real boat model boat
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Mac's winches got mounting blocks and springs today, as did Constellation's. The drum seen on the winch servo won't be used. Mac will get a set of custom drums like Constellation's to handle the main and mizzen on one winch, and the fore mast on the other.
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- macedonian
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My initial plan for operating the sails wa back in post #16. The plan's generally the same except that the winches that will control the braces will slide fore-n-aft against springs to maintain tension on the braces, and these mechanisms will be mounted side-by-side instead of in tandem. The original plan had the braces going to springs mounted on posts forward to get tension. Today the Delrin plastic arrived and I got right down to making the mounting blocks for the winch servos. My shop's still a shambles and I haven't a clue where all my clamps got off to, but I finally got 8 of the little beggars made, plus two screw-ups. If you opt to try this system, make a jig for drilling the holes, precision makes a big difference with this, any thing that rubs and doesn't slide effortlessly will be a big problem under sail. The springs I was initially going to use felt too hard, enough to bow the yard, or even possibly break it, so I opted for two much weaker but shorter springs. I only had 8 of these, so I only put them on one side of each winch slide. We'll see when I get to testing how this will work out. Next up I'll make the fairleads for each servo, which looks like it'll mount to one of the mounting blocks and lean out slightly to clear the end of the winch drum, which is the diameter of a compact disc.
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This one uses a thimble in the eye. As for making the strop grommet, I just pass the line around the block and cross it at the end where the eye will be. Lash it with some thread, or a drop of CA place your nail/pin/toothpick or whatever will hold the eye open for you. Turn the line around the nail to make the eye, crossing it again between the block and the eye where it crossed before. seize it good and tight, trim the ends close and you're done - no need to unlay line the size of sewing thread.
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Two control units taking shape, one for Macedonian, the other for Constellation.
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- macedonian
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The two control units with 2 sliding winches and a sail-arm servo each. Ivan reveals how massive these thing actually were! Still waiting for the Delrin to make the mounting blocks, and I have yet to make the fairleads for the winches.
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On real blocks the strop is a long-spliced loop of line. The seizing that tightens the strop around the block also pinches off the eyes/beckets. The upper block in your image would have a becket at either end, the lower block would have a single becket and get attached to the traveler via a shackle or ring. The upper block would be lashed to the boom and there would usually be a couple of cleats on the boom to keep it in place. When I make beckets, cringles, etc; I hold the eye open with a round toothpick, dowell, etc, depending on the size of the eye, and seize between the block and becket(s) with enough turns to make everything snug.
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If you've been following my Constellation log, you'll recognize the servo tray set-up that Macedonian will carry. Two Hitec HS-785HB winch servos will slide on rods with springs mounted to maintain tension in the yard braces. One servo will operate the main and mizzen mast yards, the other will operate the fore mast yards. The Hitec HS-815BB sail-arm servo will operate the heads'ls and driver. The tray is 7" wide and 8" long, and will easily fit through Macedonian's main hatch. A Hitec HS-645MG high-torque servo will handle the rudder. which will be constructed in a similar manner as Constellation's
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I cut the angle aluminum into pieces about 2-1/8" wide, 1-5/8" tall, with a foot about 3/4". Half of them got a 1/2" hole for the servo plug/cord to pass through. All of them got a pair of 3/16" holes 1-3/8" apart and 1-3/8" up for the rods. A pair of holes were drilled in the foot for the mounting screws. The rods will be retained between the brackets with a pin. I tried to find some small hitch pins, but they didn't have any small enough, so I'll use a bit of 1/16" rod or cotter pins. All this plus the sail-arm servo and it's semaphore arms will get mounted on a plywood "tray" 3/8" thick and 7" x 8". The brackets will be about 5" apart with the mounting foot on the inside. Two of these trays will be made, the other one will be for Macedonian. This will easily fit in through either model's main hatch and is much more compact and self-contained than my original set-up. Right now, I'm waiting for the Delrin plastic to arrive to make the blocks that slide on the rods. I also need to make the fair-leads that guide the braces onto their section of the winch drums. The braces lead aft, out of the winches since they come through the deck at, or aft of the main mast. This tray will be mounted right in front of the main mast.
- 533 replies
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You have to sand down all semblance of plank edges before any filler will do any good. The danger is sanding through the plank. You might consider actually plating her in metal. A roll of aluminum duct tape, peel and stick aluminum sheet runs about $20 US and you get some like 20 yards of the stuff 4 inch wide. Sand the hull, fill it and sand some more, seal it, prime it, and sheet it. Nothing looks like metal quite like metal does.
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Same Gazela. I have a bit more about her on my website, some history and such. If you search for her plans it'll lead you to Mystic Seaport, but they say they don't have copy rights and send you to the Independence Seaport Museum. They have the plans, or most of them, they're not really sure. They offered to photograph them for me and didn't want to have them scanned or copied by a blueprinter. Now I suppose they're just tired of thinking about it and are playing the "ignore him and he'll go away" card. The model will get built, and it will be as accurate in shape and function as I can make it, despite the Independence Seaport Museum.
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I don't know what's happening with getting a copy of the plans from the Independence Seaport Museum, but it looks like it's not going to happen. I 'm just going to have to fudge it as I initially thought and fair up what I have in hand. My drawing table was caught in the flood and looks like a delaminated sine wave now, so it's gonna be a while longer before my drawings are ready to build from.
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Qwerty didn't give us any photos of constructing his hull, but he generally used the same method I did on my three hulls (links in my signature). One of them is the boat he's based his model on which will give you some notion of where he's headed with Byzantium.
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