jablackwell

The gun port lintels are complete. Now to sanding.... stand by! 
~john
 

All,  Got back into the model this week after a prolonged becalming. All is well. I finished off the gunport sills today and have built a couple of short wooden pieces to help act as a jig for the gunport lentils. I'm happy with the sills: they are level from port to starboard, and they make a nice smooth line down the side... This is all coming together nicely, though the sanding is coming in the future... lots and lots of sanding.  :-)
 
~john
 
 

The gun port lintels are complete. Now to sanding.... stand by! 
~john
 

The gun port lintels are complete. Now to sanding.... stand by! 
~john
 

My brother n law came to stay with his superior camera equipment - so lots of photos which blow up quite well for anyone looking for imperfections. I need sort out a finished model post so I may use some of these. Meanwhile my better half seems to have perked up a little and I may bet back to the workshop soon.

Fair enough .
 
I thought you might be interested in THIS old movie about the Bismarck. Not bad for it's time .
 
  Danny

CDW  I Asked myself the same question so I checked. Rigging line and a flag attaches to it. Here is a picture. 

I continue with the mast. First I finish up the piece I've been working on. 

now I lay out the 2 pieces together and adjust them till it's perfect. Then without dislodging it I just touch a drop of thin glue to the joints.  
 
 

All,  Got back into the model this week after a prolonged becalming. All is well. I finished off the gunport sills today and have built a couple of short wooden pieces to help act as a jig for the gunport lentils. I'm happy with the sills: they are level from port to starboard, and they make a nice smooth line down the side... This is all coming together nicely, though the sanding is coming in the future... lots and lots of sanding.  :-)
 
~john
 
 

All,  Got back into the model this week after a prolonged becalming. All is well. I finished off the gunport sills today and have built a couple of short wooden pieces to help act as a jig for the gunport lentils. I'm happy with the sills: they are level from port to starboard, and they make a nice smooth line down the side... This is all coming together nicely, though the sanding is coming in the future... lots and lots of sanding.  :-)
 
~john
 
 

All,  Got back into the model this week after a prolonged becalming. All is well. I finished off the gunport sills today and have built a couple of short wooden pieces to help act as a jig for the gunport lentils. I'm happy with the sills: they are level from port to starboard, and they make a nice smooth line down the side... This is all coming together nicely, though the sanding is coming in the future... lots and lots of sanding.  :-)
 
~john
 
 

All,  Got back into the model this week after a prolonged becalming. All is well. I finished off the gunport sills today and have built a couple of short wooden pieces to help act as a jig for the gunport lentils. I'm happy with the sills: they are level from port to starboard, and they make a nice smooth line down the side... This is all coming together nicely, though the sanding is coming in the future... lots and lots of sanding.  :-)
 
~john
 
 

All,  Got back into the model this week after a prolonged becalming. All is well. I finished off the gunport sills today and have built a couple of short wooden pieces to help act as a jig for the gunport lentils. I'm happy with the sills: they are level from port to starboard, and they make a nice smooth line down the side... This is all coming together nicely, though the sanding is coming in the future... lots and lots of sanding.  :-)
 
~john
 
 

Very nice, and the background does it better thanks to the Ludwig set!

John:
Your build looks good so far. The hard work here will pay off down the line. 
 
Russ
 
 

All,  Got back into the model this week after a prolonged becalming. All is well. I finished off the gunport sills today and have built a couple of short wooden pieces to help act as a jig for the gunport lentils. I'm happy with the sills: they are level from port to starboard, and they make a nice smooth line down the side... This is all coming together nicely, though the sanding is coming in the future... lots and lots of sanding.  :-)
 
~john
 
 

great stuff, and so many. i used to paint pictures years ago but somehow i never really got the bug, i`ve painted about 25 in the last 45 years and none in the last 15 most i gave away.  and i dont know why i just got bored, bit similar to my model building now, seem to have the skills but not the drive, of all my paintings only two were of ships, one i gave to an old friend that used to be in the merchant navy and the other i gave to my younger brother and his wife, i have a photo of this one, it was a picture i saw on a book cover in a second hand book store, so i bought the book for a few pence and painted it, the picture was done on a 30" x 20" board in oils, so here it is

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 267 – Halyard Gin blocks
 
In preparation for work on the upper topsail yard, I decided to make the iron gin blocks for the halyards for all three of these yards.  These are suspended aft of each topmast from a chain tye shackled to the central band on the yard.  The tye passes through the sheave just below the topmast hounds.  There is one of these iron tye blocks for each of the three upper topsail yards.  They allowed the load of these relatively heavy yards to be distributed to both sides of the ship by means of tackles that will be described later.  The heavy stationary yards below are supported by iron trusses as previously described, while those above have simpler, lighter halyard rigging.  The first picture shows the three finished gin blocks.
 

 
The blocks have inverted T frames that house iron sheaves and an eye at the top to attach the chain tye.  Two have 12" diameter sheaves, one 10".  The frames could be made from formed metal strips, but I chose to use flattened brass tube for these.  The tube was flattened in a vise as shown in the next picture.
 

 
Pieces were then sawed off and given some shaping to form parts for the basic two-piece assembly shown in the picture.  It was then a simple matter to silver-solder these using the setup shown below.
 

 
One side at a time was soldered. The frames were then further refined in size and shape as shown in the next two pictures.
 
 
 

 
The brass strip holding the frame in the above picture served as an anvil to impart some squareness to the frames and to straighten the sides.  The strip also allowed the frames to be center-punched for drilling without deforming the shape.  In the next picture the eyebolt has been soldered into a small hole in the top of the frame and the sheave pin holes are about to be marked for drilling.
 

 
A wooden spacer was inserted into each frame to avoid bending during rilling of the axle holes.  The last picture shows the completed blocks before blackeneing.
 

 
The sheaves were turned and drilled in the lathe from brass rod, then secured with peened copper pins.  The assemblies were then polished, cleaned, and blackened using Brass Black®.  Meanwhile, work progressed on the upper yard itself – next post.
 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 266 – Fore Lower Topsail Yard Continued
 
Apart from the braces that will be installed later, the last items of rigging on the lower topsail yards were the buntlines.  There are two on each side.  In the absence of sails these are stopped at the buntline blocks on top of the yard as shown in the first picture.
 

 
Buntlines are normally passed through blocks on the underside of the tops or crosstrees at the head of their associated mast, but with the addition of the second topsail yard, the lower topsail buntlines are rigged through double blocks seized to the forward topsail shrouds as shown.  The starboard side is shown in the next picture.
 

 
From these double blocks the lines run down through fairlead holes in the top, inside the shrouds, through the fairleads on the #2 shrouds, and are belayed on the main pin rail on each side.  These lines may be seen passing vertically down from the shroud blocks through the top in the next picture.
 

 
The lower ends of these lines may be seen belayed at the side in the next picture.
 

 
You may note that in these pictures the shroud lanyards have been re-wrapped above the deadeyes.  These were unwound earlier to re-tension the shrouds and backstays as mentioned in an earlier post.  The running rigging of the two lower yards has also been tensioned, secured at the pins with some dilute glue and the excess line clipped off.  The clutter of these unsecured lines on the deck and above was becoming an unsightly nuisance, so it was time to get everything neatly secured.  The next picture shows the forward deck cleared of excess rope.
 

 
One of the next steps will be to make and add rope coils at the belaying points.  The lower yard tacks and lazy tacks are still only temporarily belayed until the sheets are rigged later.
 
 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 265 – Fore Lower Topsail Yard Continued
 
In the last part the upper topsail sheet chains were threaded through the blocks under the center of the lower yard and the outer blocks.  The yard was then hung by the crane on the lower mast cap as shown in the first picture.
 

 
The yard was braced temporarily back to the main top to keep it square.  In the picture the twin triple-purchase sheet tackles have been rigged and secured at the forward rim of the top.  The upper topsail sheet chains are hanging from the ends of the yard.  The next picture shows the two tackles from the port side.
 

 
As mentioned in the last post, the upper topsail was not clewed up for furling, so there are no upper topsail clew-lines.  The sheet chains and the tackles are short – used only to fine tune the sheets under sail.  These are short enough so that the upper topsail may be sheeted to the yardarm without fouling the tackles.  The next picture is another view of these tackles.
 

 
The falls are short on these overhauled tackles and simply hitched around each.  The next picture from aft shows the yard with the two temporary braces back to the main cap. 
 

 
The next step was to rig the lower topsail clew-lines.  These are shackled to the ends of the lower topsail sheet chains.  Without sails the clew-lines are pulled up, overhauling the sheet tackles, positioning the lines for shackling to the sail when it is raised.  The length of these sheet chains is limited by the height of the triple tackles below the main yard so the sail is able to be sheeted to the yardarm without the tackle becoming "block-on-block" or "chock-a-block."  For this reason I raised the height of those tackles from their initial position.  The difference in height is shown in the next picture.
 

 
In the picture, the starboard block has been raised from its original height at the position of the port block in the photo.  Both were then set at this upper height.  This adjustment turned into a major, multi-day task, eventually requiring removal of the sheet block and the yard.  I will not elaborate, except to say that getting things right the first time is preferred.
 
The next three pictures show the clew-line/sheet chain rigging.
 

 
The problem of shackling the clew-line/sheet to the sail is interesting.  With the limitations described, it could certainly not be done from the lower topsail yard and the gear was probably not reachable by men on the top where other lines would be bent as the rolled sail was raised.  Most likely this was done from the lower yard during raising.  Whatever the method, it would have been easier than with a single topsail, where the lowest position of the yard would be even higher – above the cap.
 
The next two pictures show the lead block arrangement for the clew-lines.
 
 
 
 
The standing end of each line is seized to a thimble on a block hooked to an eyebolt under the yard.  It then reeves through the block at the clew end, back through the block at the yard then through a single block at the quarters.  From there it passes through a fairlead hole in the top down inside the #2 shroud and through its fairlead, to belay on the main rail. The next picture shows a view of this from aft.
 

 
This picture also shows the stopping of the upper topsail sheet chain to the jackstay.  Again, the length of the chain is limited by the length of the tackle.
 
There are still a lot of loose lines cluttering these photos at the top and especially at the deck.  I have delayed permanently securing these at the pins (fortunately) but it will soon be time to do this.
 
Next, the four buntlines will complete the current work on this yard.  All the braces will be left until much later for access reasons.
 
Ed

Excellent work, Bob. Thank you for letting me (us!) join you on this adventure. 
~john

Excellent work, Bob. Thank you for letting me (us!) join you on this adventure. 
~john

Done! Halifax is now completed. The last work was the swivel guns and the anchors.
 
The swivel guns were done using the barrel castings supplied by the Lumberyard, to which I added a handle made from wire with a small bead at the end. The mounting brackets were made from some brass backing links that I had on hand, which were bent to shape, a hole drilled, and a mounting pin inserted. The whole assemblies were painted black and glued in place.
 
The anchors were entirely made from boxwood strip. The "metal" portion of the anchors were painted black and the stocks were left natural. Simulated bolts were added to the stocks, as well as black painted paper bands. The rings are wire with puddening done by wrapping tan line around the wire. The anchors were then rigged and mounted.
 
I will post photos of the completed model in the next day or two, as well as starting a new log for my next project, Prince de Neufchatel, starting with the Model Shipways kit.
 
Bob
 
 

All of the rigging is now complete. Some health issues have limited my golf, which always means more modeling, resulting in a push to finish the rigging. This involved making, mounting and rigging the main lower and topmast yards, doing the braces for all of the yards, and, finally, tying off all of the lines and adding rope coils.
 
The making, mounting and rigging of the main yards followed identically the items and procedures for the fore yards, and won't be repeated here.
 
The lower yard braces were a bit of a challenge because they run to the shrouds on their opposite mast, making it difficult to give them tension without pulling the shrouds out of line. I think that I was finally able to do that.
 
By far the most difficult task was to tie off and add coils to the many lines that were hanging loosely as I proceeded through the rigging. The combination of tight spaces and aging hands that aren't quite as steady as they used to be made for a lot of bad language and a few 'timeouts".
 
All that remains to be done now are the swivel guns and the anchors.
 
Bob

Since no log can be deemed complete without some overall photos of the finished model, mine are attached here.
 
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have followed this build, who have hit the "like" button, and, particularly, those who have provided their support and encouragement through their generous thoughts and comments. It is gratifying to have such an appreciative response from such a talented and accomplished group of modelers. Thanks again.
 
I hope to see you all on my new log for Prince de Neufchatel, which will be opened a little later today.
 
Bob

Once the glue, dried overnight, the bow was sanded to create a smooth surface, by beveling the installed pieces.