von stetina

Well I guess I won't post that picture, seems my build log is gone. I'll check back in another time to see what's up with this, maybe the sites not done. No time to find all the facts about the sites change.
 
von stetina

I'l be posting a photo of the Lightnings figurehead soon.  It's rotting away in a leaky garage in Australia. Apparently the guy won't share it with the public. The guy must be a real piece of work.
 
von stetina

Thank you everyone,
 
I wish my photography was better. When finished I'll hang a neutral gray something behind it and do a better job of it.
 
My last bit of rigging that I'm putting in is a real problem to do. Apparently the heart problem made me stupid too as I completely skipped the harbor stow of sheets connected to the above clew lines as described in the Underhill book. Home from the hospital I got into the model room to look at my work and immediately saw what I'd done. I looked at the several feet of fine chain left aside for doing the lower sheets and about freaked. Reaching in in there around the main mast was tough. Things aren't as nice as I'd like. I'd also left out most of the staysail rigging.
 
I spent a lot of time repairing damage done getting into the already there rigging. I inadvertently cut braces with my safety razor blade on a stick tool, etc. etc.
 
I'm super anxious to start a new model. I might even re-do Lightning.   I'm looking at either Red Jacket, or the 4 mast barque Parma too.
 
Bruce

Hi everyone,
 
I had great results thinning my Conservators Wax with Naptha. Actually I used automotive wax and grease remover otherwise known as Pre-Cleano for before painting. It's available in automotive or auto-body stores usually. Hardware store for Naptha.
 
 I'll bet it would work great on the wood as it would soak in so well. So far I've used it on my rigging and it has stayed tight and without sag
 
Must say...Young America is looking awesome!
 
Bruce.

Roughening the two surfaces to be joined is a big help in the strength dept if you can do it. It gives what is called "tooth." The joint will be much stronger.
 
Von Stetina

Here are some pics of the yards being built. I made the cradle to help hold them still as I worked on them. Also, here are some details of the tops and crosstrees.
 
My methods are the standard ones. The masts were shaped from square blanks of lemonwood taken from bow staves. Yards too. It was a lot of shaping. Timely, but really not too difficult. It gave me a lot of control.
 
The deadeyes and bullseyes were made using standard jig techniques.
 
There is a lot of metal work involved. There will be a lot of chain rigging too. I've measured a need for about 9 feet. I've made some chain, but decided to use some 40 link per inch stuff I've found. Making this much was just too much for me. So far this is the only thing I've bought ready made except for thread.
 
I'm making the 11 1/2 inch and 8 inch standing rigging size line right now on my rope walk. This is for the lower shrouds and stays. I'll need a lot of the 11 1/2 as the Lightning had this huge stuff all they up to her topgallant back and forstays! It may look a bit heavy, but McKay really layed on the strong stuff for some of his ships. Especially the ones for the Australian emigrant ships like Lightning.
 
By the way, I have a list all of the laws layed down by the captain for the passengers. PHEW !!! I'm working on a book too.
 
I'm still trying to load that photo of her real figurehead that's rotting in a garage down under....
 
Bruce
 
 

That sounds pretty good, doing a whole ball at once. I have an earlier conversation in this rigging section about my slack rigging problem. I felt my problem was possibly left over salt and that I had used shellac instead of wax. My lower stays and shrouds drooped very badly when my AC was on, and went tight when it was off despite rainy weather. I now have Conservator's Wax.
 
I like Ritt too, I'll pick some up if I can find it in this back country area. Can always order some too. I had new Dylon on hand that used only salt as a setting agent. I have very old Dylon that has a setting agent that seems to be a household soda. It says to add salt too though. I wonder if I could use only the soda on my new dye?
 Unlike the new Dylon I used it says to wash it with detergent. I'll do at test. However my mother inlaw gave this old dye  to me...it may turn my rigging to ash!
 
My new thread arrived today. Ecru is too pale so I tried an experiment with raw umber acrylic ink. Looks good. But I'll try some finer thread to check for stiffness.
 
Bruce

These are the tools in use. Not many. 3 tweezers have done most of the work. There is a paint brush handle with a needle in it. This is for undoing knot goof ups. For cutting off loose ends you can see the bamboo stick with a broken off safety razor half. Very sharp.
 
Bruce

Hi Druxey,  Thank you.
 
These pics show the ratlines in place.  Up from the rail a bit are the fairleads. They are made by cutting tiny brass tube pieces that have had a groove turned into them so that they can be tied on. They must be check for the fit of the lines that travel through them first. They are so tiny that a dab of glue on them stuck them in place, after drying they were tied on. On the topmast and topgallant shrouds the shrouds get too close together and the ratlines are carried over onto the backstays. I found this fact in the Underhill book about masting and rigging.
 
You can see that not all of the ratlines go across all of the shrouds, but only the 5th is carried over all of them.
 
On the top and topgallant masts you can see the practice of using bullseyes instead of deadeyes. The plans show this as well as many old photos. It was probably easier to take up the slack under way? 
 
If you look at earlier photos of the lower mast tops you can see the extra bracing McKay used for extra strength between the top and cap on the lower mast doubling. Also you can see his practice of using a 3rd topmast backstay carried before the last shroud. [it sure makes the ratlines there a problem.] I'm sure it helped down on the Australia run in the storms. Also the 11 1/2 inch shrouds, stays, and backstays up to the topgallant level would give a lot of extra strength for hard driving. The extremely long sharp hollow entrance was probably for storm performance also. I think she had the sharpest entrance of all the clippers. It's no wonder his ships held so many records for speed and 400 plus miles per 24 hours. The immigrants must of had quite a ride. 3rd class down below must have been quite an experience. I wonder if they had access to the ship surgeon too. Did they get to hear the band or get the ship newspaper Lightning Times? The very long list of captain's rules sure applied.
 
Bruce

Hi guys,
 
It's good to be back. I've finished the work that I need to bring in the bucks, now it's fun time.
 
I'm doing the ratlines now. I'll never forget how to do a clove hitch, there are well over 1000 of them. As I began I found that my tweezers were opening too far at times and stretching the ratlines above and below. By limiting them with tape I solved this. I forget the dia. right now, but I think the thread is about .015.
 
As I had finished this side I could finally put on the davits and hang the boats. The griping straps are of paper strengthened with acrylic gesso.
 
I found that very few tools have been needed. I'll show the later. I've been up all night so i'll get back to you this evening.
 
It's so good to be back, I've missed you all. I see Dan wrote. Hi buddy.
 
Bruce

As soon as the ratlines are done I will mount the davits and boats. Braces go over this area so I think it's time to put them on. Another thing to catch a finger on...
 
I have no pictures yet but I'm doing the ratlines. I quickly learned to use tape wrapped around the tweezers to limit the amount they open. They would damage the work when they opened.
 
For doing work shaping blocks I modified a set of tweezers. A lot of blocks are tiny at this scale. Some smaller than a grain of rice.  I'll try to remember to take a picture of them.
 
All the photos for a bit. I've a brass Fairfield coal drag conveyor and a stock pen to build to bring some money in. It kills me to have to take time off from the Lightning. I'll keep an eye though to reply to anyone.
 
Bruce

Hi Ed,
I've noticed the changes in photos. In MacGregor's Book  there are some good photos. YA is there changed to the closer mast doublings done by putting a sort of dogleg to clear the shrouds, and iron mast caps. I don't remember if she had been switched to bullseyes for upper shrouds or not.  I have 3 different plans of 3 different ships done by Crothers and the differences are interesting.
 
I found it at only one small RR business They are the only place I found it in 10 foot bulk packs, everyone sells it by the foot. I'll look up their name and post it later or e mail it you. I found that for Lifghtning I needed more than 9 feet.
 
Enlarge the case...it really brings home the size of these ships doesn't it. I read somewhere that one could build two 74 gun ships with the timber it took to build some of the big clippers.
 
Shop foreman shown below.   winking.

The bow is complete. Notice the different size chain. The chain was difficult to size so that there was no slack. I did this by removing links and adjusting the bullseyes.
 
I bumped the chain with a finger and it went slack....pre stretch the chain first!
 
Bruce

Hi guys,
 
Here are some pics of the upper masts and most of the stays on.  She wasn't a lofty ship as launched. The Brits added more when they took delivery, McKay gave her an extra wide rig instead, with the main yard being 95 feet long. I feel that he wanted to get power this way, maybe to minimize heeling as she was a passenger ship. Any of your views on this would be interesting.
 
Bruce

Thank you all for such kind words.
 
Here is a photo of the Lightnings figurehead. I hope somehow it ends up in a museum. It's in an old leaky garage with others. The figureheads arm is there too. The guy said it looks like her lightning bolt is made of bronze.
 
About her beautiful lines... She was the sharpest  wooden clipper built. She had the longest entrance with 16 inches of concavity ion the waterline. She was very controversial. When delivered to the Brits the wood butchers there filled in the bows. This after her record crossing which did beat the previous one by Red Jacket. The filler soon washed out and she sped back up.  Her widest point was very far back near the mainmast. This was what had been recommended by Griffiths for speed. She excelled in storms. From what I've read these types of line work best in heavy weather.
 
Bruce

Here are some pics of the yards being built. I made the cradle to help hold them still as I worked on them. Also, here are some details of the tops and crosstrees.
 
My methods are the standard ones. The masts were shaped from square blanks of lemonwood taken from bow staves. Yards too. It was a lot of shaping. Timely, but really not too difficult. It gave me a lot of control.
 
The deadeyes and bullseyes were made using standard jig techniques.
 
There is a lot of metal work involved. There will be a lot of chain rigging too. I've measured a need for about 9 feet. I've made some chain, but decided to use some 40 link per inch stuff I've found. Making this much was just too much for me. So far this is the only thing I've bought ready made except for thread.
 
I'm making the 11 1/2 inch and 8 inch standing rigging size line right now on my rope walk. This is for the lower shrouds and stays. I'll need a lot of the 11 1/2 as the Lightning had this huge stuff all they up to her topgallant back and forstays! It may look a bit heavy, but McKay really layed on the strong stuff for some of his ships. Especially the ones for the Australian emigrant ships like Lightning.
 
By the way, I have a list all of the laws layed down by the captain for the passengers. PHEW !!! I'm working on a book too.
 
I'm still trying to load that photo of her real figurehead that's rotting in a garage down under....
 
Bruce
 
 

Hi all,
 
I've been gone getting my ticker re-plumbed. Had a bad ekg, then a heart catheterization for a stent, found out a stent wouldn't work. I had a triple bypass at the Gainesville/Shands V.A. Hospital within 4 days. Had a bleed, they stopped that. I went home for  3 weeks and passed out. Ambulance to Tallahassee this time as they could only get me back to the V.A. hospital by chopper for $40.000. I spent 5 more days with them trying to figure out where my blood went. Anyways, the V.A. was terrific [Tallahassee too] and I'm all patched up and am shortly to finish Lightning. Below are some pictures of me adding rigging that I forgot to put on earlier. It is a terrible job getting in behind what was there. Also Lightning has that recessed deck with the flying bridges making it very hard to get to the belaying pins.

Hi Ed,
 
First class work as usual. It's fun catching up on your build after being away from things.
 
I found the standing rigging work on my Lightning model very enjoyable.  I swore my whole way through the running rigging. I'm about finished and glad of it. The air in my modeling room will be blue for years. The tiny .008 line needed for some things was a horror show.  Though this was my first ship model.....
 
Can't wait for the next model.
 
Bruce

These are the tools in use. Not many. 3 tweezers have done most of the work. There is a paint brush handle with a needle in it. This is for undoing knot goof ups. For cutting off loose ends you can see the bamboo stick with a broken off safety razor half. Very sharp.
 
Bruce

Hi guys,
 
It's good to be back. I've finished the work that I need to bring in the bucks, now it's fun time.
 
I'm doing the ratlines now. I'll never forget how to do a clove hitch, there are well over 1000 of them. As I began I found that my tweezers were opening too far at times and stretching the ratlines above and below. By limiting them with tape I solved this. I forget the dia. right now, but I think the thread is about .015.
 
As I had finished this side I could finally put on the davits and hang the boats. The griping straps are of paper strengthened with acrylic gesso.
 
I found that very few tools have been needed. I'll show the later. I've been up all night so i'll get back to you this evening.
 
It's so good to be back, I've missed you all. I see Dan wrote. Hi buddy.
 
Bruce

As soon as the ratlines are done I will mount the davits and boats. Braces go over this area so I think it's time to put them on. Another thing to catch a finger on...
 
I have no pictures yet but I'm doing the ratlines. I quickly learned to use tape wrapped around the tweezers to limit the amount they open. They would damage the work when they opened.
 
For doing work shaping blocks I modified a set of tweezers. A lot of blocks are tiny at this scale. Some smaller than a grain of rice.  I'll try to remember to take a picture of them.
 
All the photos for a bit. I've a brass Fairfield coal drag conveyor and a stock pen to build to bring some money in. It kills me to have to take time off from the Lightning. I'll keep an eye though to reply to anyone.
 
Bruce

A look at the overall project. It's such a relief to be able to button up my model safely in the temporary case. You might notice that the ship is mounted on it's base at this point. It was time for the stability and safety of being fixed in place. The supports on the side are blackened brass. I experimented with different looks for this and settled on the simplest way. The model will need to be shipped a long way and need this stability. 

A look at the backstays. Originally I had intended to us Conservators wax on all of the rigging. However I found that it didn't lay down fuzz well enough so for the running rigging I switched to beeswax. On the heavier lines of standing rigging the Conservators wax was good, but when used on the finer stuff I wasn't happy.
 
I keep bumping fingers into the thin lines and they slacken. I was trying deal with the idea of doing some over when I just wiped a finger of, um, spit, down the line. It tightened right up! So now besides being careful I just do this.
 
I'm not to this point yet but in Wingrove's ship modeling book he says to put the yards on by doing the highest first and working down. Have any of you done this?

It felt great to finally put on the spreaders. Waiting to put them on until now allowed me to position the length and spread correctly. Putting them on too early could have resulted in a bad fit.
 
They are made of brass also. Another thing I wanted to mention is the use of bullseyes instead of deadeyes here. This is correct for the period.
 
Time to spend some time with the wife, I'll post more later.
 
Bruce

The spanker boom and gaff rigged in place. Using the correct different sizes of rigging bring on the appearance of reality. Seeing the blocks in place is bringing the ship to life for me. Just as doing the rigging on my oil paintings brings the ship to iofe for me.
 
I took a piece of brass tubing and ovaled it out to wrap my coils of line around to be put on the belaying pins. A touch of white glue fixed their positions.
 
 
OH! I forgot to tell you, the flying jib boom is made of brass. The wooden one would have broken. I kept bumping the brass one. Next ship at 1/8 scale I'll do more of this.
 
Bruce