CUTTY SARK by keelhauled - Mantua - kit bashed - First wooden ship build

[NenadM]

Nenad, are you going to put sails on your Cutty. If so, which ones?

 

thanks

Marc

Hey, Marc

 

For now, my plan is to set ALL the rope lines and ALL the sails. From reason that I am not quite familiar with nautical terms and names in english, and that for mist of them there is not synonime and/or translation in Serbian, there is a looooong way in front of me to study learn research, and most imoortant - to understand all rigging elements and their function. Maybe somewhere in that process I'll change my mind, maybe not. Probably not. We'll see, when I face with thickness of lines and material for sails toward my ideas and thoughts how it have to look

Edited July 22, 2016 by Nenad

[keelhauled]

Thanks Popeye and Nenad!

 

I'm started working on the anchors today.  I think that I will just stow them on the sides.  Longridge has his anchors on deck - see page 82.

 

Had to find photos of the anchor stowed.  Here a a couple.  Hopefully it will help when you get to this point.

 

I believe that the first photo is before the restoration.  It has the fluke on the billboard and the has the shank painter chain made fast similar to Campbell's plans

 

 

I think that this is after the restoration and has the fluke up on the rail.  This is true for photos after the restoration.  Not sure why the fluke is on deck instead of the billboard.  The billboard is to protect the ship from the flukes. Also the shank/fluke chain is forward which wouldn't have been stable.

 

 

Anyway.  Hope this might help when you get to this point.  I'll photo my anchors after I'm done grinding the seams.

 

Here are a couple of paintings of the cutty with sails.  

Nenad, here she is with almost everything set.  In this painting she is still missing several stunsails!!

You'll need a big case, she is about as wide as she is tall!

 

 

This is probably how I will have mine set (approximately)

 

Thanks

Marc

Edited July 23, 2016 by keelhauled

[keelhauled]

Hi,

 

Worked on the anchors.

They came from the kit, but required quite a bit of grinding work (still under progress in the photos).  Also I had to plug and re-drill the shank for the anchor stocks - the opening was much too large.

 

Here they are assembled

 

 

And painted

Edited July 24, 2016 by keelhauled

[NenadM]

Hey Marc

 

Rigging and sail rebus, yes? It seems to be more easier to solve the hardest Sudoku you can find than to decide about sail formation

 

Did I mention that I am Sudoku fan, when I have half an hour to chill out ?  I was also chess fan, until my chess skills grow to the level I have to learn chess theory more seriously than I did, which is time demanding too much for measure of my love to chess

 

I like ship building more than that

 

I have saved anchors from my old "tehnodidakta" kit, but I am 99% sure I will make them from zero

 

Nenad 

Edited July 24, 2016 by Nenad

[keelhauled]

Hi  Nenad!  

 

I used to work calculus problems for relaxation - partly because I liked solving the problems and partly because I was always afraid that I would forget how to do calculus if I needed it for work of If I went back to school. (24 years as a chemist and I only used calculus for work twice - although I did teach it for a year).

 

 I tried Sudoku. The admiral loves these games and goes through several books  a year of NINJA level Sudoku.  I tried these puzzles, but find them too tedious. Nenad, my hat is of too you for your skills with these games!

 

I was blown away at how much work the sails required.  I'm sure that they will be worth it.  I'm now trying to figure out what deck features have to be put into place  before rigging the mast verses what deck features will block rigging that mast.  Now that is a puzzle!!  

 

Take care and enjoy your Sudoku and chess!

Marc

[popeye the sailor]

looking good Marc.......love the detail the anchors have.    best part is........they're metal     super!

[Guest ir3ausley]

Great work on the Cutty Sark. I have one on the shelf. It is my favorite clipper. I will be following your build closely.

 

ir3

[keelhauled]

Thanks Popeye and Ir3!  

Marc

[keelhauled]

In case you haven't heard George Lakie, aka glakie passed on.

 

He was always supportive of me both in this forum and others, as well as private messages.  I used to kid him about his power tool collection which seemed to grow constantly.

 

I'll miss his support, suggestions, feedback and humor.

 

You can see others that he touched:

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/13935-rip-george-lakie-glakie/page-2

 

Marc

[popeye the sailor]

I heard Marc.....very sad indeed.  good of you to post his obit.......it has grown a lot  

[keelhauled]

I have a question about stowage of the accomodation ladder here:

 

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/13960-question-cutty-sark-accommodation-ladder-stowage/

 

feel free to join in!

 

I haven't built the accommodation ladder yet.  do you think I should include it or not?  Since the ship is being modeled under way it would be stowed if I include it.  But where to put it?

[popeye the sailor]

if it were stowed,  it would probably be brought below deck.........or on a rack,  on the side of one of the cabins.    if it's a rope type ladder,  it may have been rolled up and stowed in some out of the way place on the deck.   I'm sure they wouldn't clutter the deck.......too much going on.   for something that doesn't have a lot of info.........I for one might not add it  

[keelhauled]

Thanks Popeye!

[NenadM]

Marc, I put my thoughts about in my log, answering to your post

[keelhauled]

Thanks Nenad

[keelhauled]

more anchor work. I decided to stow one anchor outboard and the other inboard.  This wouldn't be unusual when heading out to open water or coming into a harbor.  

 

Here is the inboard anchor.  I used drawings and historic photos of the cutty and Longridge's book.

 

 

 

 

and here is the outboard anchor

 

The real one for comparison

 

 

The outboard anchor was only temporarily mounted so that I could remove it and continue rigging the ship

 

Marc

[NenadM]

Exelent job. Just exelent.

 

It is pitty I can hit only one like

 

Are in your plans davits for anchors?

Edited September 2, 2016 by Nenad

[popeye the sailor]

looking great Marc.........very nice indeed!

[keelhauled]

Thanks Popeye and Nenad!  I appreciate the feedback.

 

Nenad, I did make a pair of anchor davits and the corresponding fixtures on the fore castle per Campbells plans.  However, Longridge says that she didn't have them and I haven't been able to find a photo with them in place.  If you have a photo with them could you send it to me?  I haven't made up my mind whether to add one or both to the ship. they are built and just have to be rigged.  If I add one it will probably be with the outboard anchor, like they are waiting to pull it on deck.

 

Thanks!

Marc

[keelhauled]

First actual rigging!  The bowsprit is now permanently connected to the ship.  Exciting and scary!

I had it temporarily attached earlier, but now the chain and eyes are epoxied in place

 

 

 

 

The size of the chain made this a pain!  But i think it looks good.

 

real ship for comparison

 

 

 

historic photos and photos before the restoration have the lines connecting the hearts with a dark tar.  so I used the black line.

 

 

Edited September 3, 2016 by keelhauled

[Chasseur]

Simply outstanding work Marc*****

 

I love the detail you have put into this build. Some of your techniques I will incorporate into my SIB of the Preussen just at a smaller scale.

 

In particular your attention to detail on the sheets furled on the yards. Extremely well done here!

 

It's all really good to be honest ... Jeff

[keelhauled]

Thanks Jeff.  I really appreciate the kind words.

 

I rigged the fore shrouds to the deadeyes.  only the lower hitch is in place in these photos.

 

 

and made fast the cow hitches

 

 

All of the shrouds are served as are the stays.

 

I made a set of hearts for the fore stay

 

 

 

 

And then the next day after temporarily rigging the fore stay, I noticed that it had slacked slightly.  Odd because i haven't had any served lines stretch.  I tighten the stays then had the same slack the next day.  Then I noticed that the irons securing the hearts were pulling out of the knights heads.    The epoxy had failed.  So, I've removed the fore stay and have cleaned the old epoxy off.  mixed new epoxy and remounted the iron and heart.  I saved the sheet that I mixed the epoxy on, which is hard as a rock the day after mixing.  I'll give it another 24 hours before testing their strength.  I guess I had never tested the strength of the previous attempt.  Lucky that I had only temporarily rigged the fore stay!!  Otherwise I would have had to serve another set of stays.

Edited September 4, 2016 by keelhauled

[NenadM]

Go on!

[Chasseur]

Yeah I learned the same lesson with two part epoxy but in a different scenario. I found a tip from a guy as follows: Get a bottle cap from a typical 2 litre plastic bottle of pop. Mix half and half in it vigorously. If you don't feel any heat from the cap after about 30 to 45 seconds you know you have failed as the chemical reaction needed never took place. No heat throw it in the garbage and start over!

 

She is looking wonderful Marc*

[keelhauled]

Nenad, Jeff, and Thomas, Thank you for the compliments and encouragement.  

 

Thanks for the info Jeff.  I sounds like good advice for checking the epoxy.

 

The next steps are to work on the rest of the fore back stays and then I start with jibs and the fore stays!

I've found that I hadn't finished putting the hanks on the jibs.  So I started making more hanks.

 

thanks

Marc

[popeye the sailor]

looking good Marc.  sometimes flattening the tip of the eye bolt will give it a better anchor,  when pressed into place.   I've done this with high stress rigging.

[keelhauled]

Thanks for the tip Popeye!  I've never run across that suggestion.

 

Also thanks for the "likes" everyone.

Edited September 8, 2016 by keelhauled

[keelhauled]

I've completed the Lower stunsul/stay sail/ jib, and flying jib.  All the hanks are in place.

Someone a couple of years ago recommended using hook and eyes used for clothing, the bra in particular for the hanks. size o for my scale.

I bought a pack, which I thought was expensive and found that only 7 of the eyes our of the pack were the ones that I needed.  Since it looked like I was going to spend a small fortune on these, I decided to build a jig and make my own for about the cost of one pack (the cost of the wire).

 

Here is my jig with the hanks.

 

 

Here is the stunsul and jib.  I decided that they looked a little bulky (right) so I cut the ears off. (left).  In my research both versions were found on ships during that time.

 

 

Also, I went to finish the fore stays and put the forward pin rail in place and found that there wasn't enough room for the pin rail.    I mounted the hearts on the knightshead based on photos that I took of the ship and separately I made the pinrail and located based on the photos that I took.  So what went wrong???  I'll tell you what went wrong.. the (expletives go here) stupid model kit with which I started this build is off in the framing and height of the bulwark in this area!!!!!!!!!!!!    I tell you, I've ended up scratch building almost everything on this ship past the frame and the pinrails (also with exceptions of the deck pump, deck wench, ship's bells, mast caps). I should have stopped and thrown the hull in the garbage back in 15 years ago when I first noticed something was off  and just used the hand full of fittings and scratch built everything.  I by the way, the pin rail on the bulwarks are missing 3 back stays.. Stupid model... too late to go back now.  

 

Ok rant over.  If it was not for this model kit, I would have never started to build in wood and a I would have never found that I actually had the ability to build things from scratch... 

 

Here is the fore stay before.  The run of the stay goes directly through where the pin rail should be.  I can't move the bollard on the rail (can't think of the correct name) back toward the cats, they are epoxied on the rail and actually they are in the correct position anyway.  

 

 

 

So after lots of thinking about fixes, I decided to bite the bullet and remove the forestays and hearts and rebuild/replace them.  I thought that if I didn't do this, I would tick me off for the rest of my life when I viewed the model.  I was able to keep the upper hearts.  I had to remake the lower hearts.  luckily the stays were in pretty good shape.  I hadn't actually glued the siezing yet (still concerned about the epoxy from the previous issue).  the acetone that I used to soften the expoy on the bottom of the brass wire mounting the hearts to the knightshead did a number on the paint finish - no big deal. I damaged the lower hearts with pliers drying to pull them out of the knightshead.  

 

Here is the result.  The forward pin rail can go into its correct position and the heart and stays clear the pin rail and the look is close to the actual ship.

 

 

 

Sorry for the mess of all of the extra line.  After I'm sure everything is ok, I'll take photos without all of the extra line removed.

 

Thanks for the help, advice, and likes.

Marc

Edited September 9, 2016 by keelhauled

[Chasseur]

Very impressive work on the sails. You definitely went to a lot of work here. Well done Marc.

[NenadM]

"... So what went wrong??? I'll tell you what went wrong.. the (expletives go here) stupid model kit with which I started this build is off in the framing and height of the bulwark in this area!!!!!!!!!!!! ..."

 

Keel hauling of kit author may help to further builders

 

I strongly suggest longitudinal hauling

 

Impresive work, Marc. A lot to learn. Another point where we can understand how complex are all ship lines, and where are "holes" we can bump in if do not think about on time

 

Keep on my friend. You will find adequate solution