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

[keelhauled]

Hi all, 

 

Well, I'm the proud owner of a 1941 South bend model A lathe! 

 

It has some wear, but so would anyone born in 1941!

 

 

I'm the forth owner.  The third owner bought it three years ago, but never set it up and ran it.  The the machine never ventured past the suburbs of DC.  Even have the original shipping info.

 

 

It needs some cleaning and surface rust removed on the tooling, but the gears and the gear box are clean- no chips in the gears of the box.  Everything works as it should and was well lubricated.  Just VERY dirty and in need of a good cleaning, new oil and probably new felts in the wipers.

 

Lots and lots of tooling included as well as several options were ordered with lathe. Even came with the 2nd owner's machinist tool box.  The tool box was also full of tools, micrometers, gauges, etc.  There were three boxes full of tooling and a box full of cutting bits.

 

His Union record book and certificate were still in one of the drawers

 

So, although the lathe was extremely heavy (between 300-400 pounds), two people were able to move it.  I was lucky a good friend was available as was his truck.  Saved me from trying to figure out how to get it in and out of my wife's SUV.  For me, it was VERY heavy.  I used my legs and saved my back.  The tools and tool box are heavy enough to bend my table.  In fact, the chucks actually deformed the surface.  Oh well, who cares.. I've got a lathe!!!  Now I just need to learn to run it.  Now I need to turn my focus back to the ship!

 

I need to focus on the rigging!!!  Ignore the lathe... focus on rigging... ignore the lathe ...ignore the lathe...

Did I mention that I got a lathe!!!

 

 

 

 

Edited June 22, 2019 by keelhauled

[hof00]

Nice!!

[gjdale]

Congratulations - that looks like a real find! All that extra tooling is probably worth more than the lathe itself - what a bonus!

[md1400cs]

Excellent - really enjoy looking at your work

 

PS: Damn that lathe is older that me.  

[petervisser]

Hi Marc,

Just catching up on your Cutty Sark log. It's very impressive and I am rather envious of how far along you are. My rigging jobs are beyond the horizon...

Anyway, just wanted to say how good your rigging looks so far. And the whole model too. Great work.

 

Peter

[hof00]

7 hours ago, petervisser said:

Hi Marc,

Just catching up on your Cutty Sark log. It's very impressive and I am rather envious of how far along you are. My rigging jobs are beyond the horizon...

Anyway, just wanted to say how good your rigging looks so far. And the whole model too. Great work.

 

Peter

Ditto!!

[Azzoun]

On 1/18/2019 at 6:28 PM, keelhauled said:

Hi Harry,

 

G.F Campbell created a set of three plans which have been available through the Cutty Sark's gift shop for at least the past 28 years.  When I bought mine, they offered to stamp the plans with the ships original seal.  Campbell was a navel architect that as I understand it was commissioned to draw plans during the 1st half of the 20th century.  Campbell also wrote a couple books on clippers.

 

Lou, if you are following, perhaps you can give us some info.

 

as

this is a shot from my set of plans.  The plans are available from the website below.

   

The sail and rigging images are from the Cutty's shop website (link below)

 

I've purchased two sets of plans over the years, one set in 1990 another in 2003.  The quality of the 2003 set was much lower than the 1990 set, which was  very crisp and clear.  The 2003 set looked like copies of copies.  I recently was at the Cutty back in June and looked at the set for sale (which at that time only 2 out of the 3 plans were available).  The quality of the 2017 set was significantly better than the 2003 set.  They can be purchased in person at the ship's shop or online at https://shop.rmg.co.uk/collections/prints

 

The sail and rigging plans are 5 pounds and the general plan is 8 pounds

 

I don't know if these plans are the same as the Cutty Sark preservation Society plans.

From best I can find the Cutty Sark Presevation Society became the Cutty Sark Trust both under Prince Phillip. I have a couple of reports that the Trust put out concerning the plans for restoration.  Sometime between the restoration work starting on the Cutty and now, the Trust website redirected to the Royal Museums Greenwich site.  I'm sure someone can tell us what happened.  Maybe the Trust became a part of the RMG?  Any way, I've tried to search for plans from the Cutty Sark preservation society using google, without success.  So I can't answer your question about whether they are the same plans.

 

Longridge's plans are as they were when he visited the ship as she was being used as a cadet training ship.  She still retained major changes to the ship including a different fore castle and monkey poop/liverpool house with an aft entry and a completely different forward entry (both are retained to this day).  Campbell's plans are supposed to be "as built"  but we know that isn't true, because it includes the crew deckhouse.  However, they are the best plans I've seen.

 

Don't know if this helps, but at least you can see the thumbnail images of the plans of Campbell's plans for comparision.

 

thanks

Marc

Marc,

 

That website appears to be down now, any chance you'd be willing to make a copy and send them to me? 

Joshua 

[hof00]

Hi Chap,

Yup, the same set of plans, Cutty Sark Society....

(I went to a Print Shop and increased the size to A1? The largest that they could do anyway.... I need to see!!!))

(I don't think that there would be too much "Copyright" stuff going on....)

 

Wot can I help with further?

 

Cheers....HOF.

 

 

 

[keelhauled]

Hi Joushua,

 

The plans are still available. 

 

They just moved the page: https://shop.rmg.co.uk/collections/maritime-gift.  I went to the sight and I just copied this link.  They currently have the prints in stock.  They are pretty large 3/32" scale if I remember correctly.

 

 Just for info you can always check the cutty sark gift shop, if the link doesn't work anymore.

 

The plans are great!  Also they are copyrighted.

Best

Marc

Edited July 5, 2019 by keelhauled

[keelhauled]

Grant, Harry, Michael, Peter, 

thank you for the kind words about the lathe and the model!  I really appreciate the words of encouragement!!

I'm currently working on the ratlines for the lower main mast.  the rest of the main mast ratlines are in place.  I'll send photos soon.

best

Marc

[hof00]

Hi Chap,

Merry Christmas, Happy Guy Fawkes! (Belated)

 

How's the Cutty going?

Long time, No see.... 😀

(You could say the same for my updates.)

 

Cheers....HOF.

[keelhauled]

Hi Harry!

 

Merry Christmas and new years! (belated)

 

to answer your question about the Cutty, she is sitting there unhappy for lack of attention.

All of my time from July until Christmas was taken up with that lathe from my post in June.  What began as work to just clean up the lathe and get rid of the chipping paint turned into a complete tear down to the bed frame.  All disassembled, striped, cleaned, repainted, and reassembled. I'll post some photos soon.  Now that the rebuild is finished and a table built to hold the over 450lbs (don't know the kilos) of iron, I will start back on the Cutty sometime this month. 

 

best, 
marc

 

 

[hof00]

Hi Chap,

Looking forward to your updates.

 

Cheers....HOF.

[keelhauled]

Hi everyone, 

here is the reason that I haven't been working on the ship since June.

 

Here is the lathe when I started.  I was just going to clean it up some and put it on a bench.

 

Here is what it looked like five months later

 

I started by just doing some cleaning.   Then, before I knew it, I had disassembled the lathe down to the bed!!!  It become one of those projects where the more you get into it, the deeper you get.  I took just about everything completely apart, stripped it to the bear metal. 

 

 

Here is the apron.  several coats of flaked paint.  Levers and gears aren't smooth and hard to use.

The  back of the apron.  surface rust, caked oil and dirt filling the gear teeth.  blocked oil paths. 

 

Apron disassembled and taken to the bare metal

  I was hoping that it all went back.  Notice the collection of labeled zip lock bags.  I photographed each component in-place before removing it, then removed the component and placed it into its own labeled bag. 

After complete cleaning, painting, new felts, new oilers, and reassembly.  the wheel and all of the levers and gears operate very smoothly

Here the lathe is on the table that I built for it.  I wanted to have the table on castors so that I could move it around, but I wanted the stability of it resting on legs. I couldn't find a solution online that didn't have complaints.  I actually built the table so that it could rest on cribbing (boards) that lift the table off of its castors. I use a hydraulic car jack that lifts one side of the table high enough for me to slide cribbing consisting of 2"X 8" boards formed like a "U" that supports the table.  It only take about 4 pumps on the jack to lift it to the correct height.  It takes less than a minute to do both sides.  In this photo the table is actually siting on this cribbing, not the castors.

I made two carts that slide under the table.  I'm able to store most of the tools and accessories in these carts. The slot at the top of the cart on the left holds four chucks and the collet draw bars.

On the back of the carts, I store all of the oils needed (5 different types) and various tools that don't fit well in the drawers.

I'm very happy with the results!   One change with the tops of the carts - i placed a soft oil resistant mat on the tops.

Now I need to learn how to use the lathe!!!😲

Edited February 16, 2020 by keelhauled
wasn't finished with the post when it was uploaded

[mojofilter]

Marc -

That is a beautiful job!!

So when I send you the quantity for my brass belay pins, do you need an Autocad file or just a dimensioned drawing? 😉

- Tim

[hof00]

Awesome restoration!!

 

Cheers....HOF.

[gjdale]

Beautiful job Marc - almost too nice to use!

[keelhauled]

Hi Harry, Tim, and Grant!

 

thank you for your kind comments.

 

Grant, your comment hits close to home.  The first time that I oiled everything and fired up the lathe to make sure everything was working, I was dismayed to see the gleaming surfaces become covered with oil.😲

 

 

I finished the table in January.

 

So back to the ship!!!  I've been doing some rigging during this month. 

 

Thank you for your patience!

Marc

[hof00]

Hi Chap,

No Prob. patience, esp. in Ship modelling, is definitely a virtue. 😀

(I'm interested to know what you will be producing with your refurbished/restored machinery.)

 

Cheers....HOF.

Edited February 26, 2020 by hof00

[keelhauled]

hello everyone,

 

thanks for your support Harry!  I've been learning to use the lathe.  I've been accomplishing turning threads at the correct pitch and turning rods to the correct diameter within a 1/10000 of an inch. I have a way to go to before tackling anything of substance.  working on skills.  I'd like to make some parts for my tiny wood working lathe (like a following rest) and make some jigs for modeling.  Eventually I want to turn the ships bells, stanchions for the rails, sheaves and maybe cannon and  belaying pins. 

 

Sorry, I haven't posted.  Unfortunately, I've been working long hours as a result of COVID-19 and when I've had time off, I wasn't overly productive and didn't feel like being in front of a computer screen.  I don't think I checked email more than once a month.   Anyway, I have worked on the Model some when I can get myself motivated - seem to be in a funk and extremely tired.  Then I moved my home work environment from my house in Virginia to my house in Florida for the month. 

 

On to rigging - 

I continued work on rigging the mainmast.  I continued with rigging the ratlines, using templates created for both sides.   

 

The template is designed to be up against the shrouds to align the ratlines. The view of the template isn't aligned with the ratlines in the photo (its leaning against the mast, so the ratlines don't line up with the correct template lines. 

  

You might notice that there are two groups of lines red and black.  I screwed up which was evident when I checked the port and starboard alignment and height above the deadeyes.  The red lines are the corrections to the spacing. 

 

 

port side

 

some views of the foremast and the pin rails. You can see the serving of the main stay.

 

 

 

a view of the fore top from aft.  can see the 

 

Next is some work on the ship's boats

thanks

Marc

[Bruma]

Marc, 
I’m so happy to see some update on your Cutty Sark! 
Your build is awesome, one of the best I ever seen. 
I am building the Cutty Sark, a humble Revell plastic one, I frequently check your marvel to cross check informations and to find anwers to my own doubts. 
Keep on going! 
Marco

[keelhauled]

Boat time again!

 

I had previously attached the boats to the chalks and checked it's location and fit of the supports with the pinrails.  I continued with adding the lines and chains, fastening the boats to the eyebolts.   As you can see, I did the work off the ship using some plastic containers to allow me easy access to all of the eyebolts.  The next step will be adding the studding sail yards, spars, and accommodation davit.  If I can fit all of that stuff on the beams. 

 

 

 

 

 

[keelhauled]

Hi Marco!

thank you for your comments!  I'm learning as I go.  I was originally going to build the large Revell model.   By the time I was ready, I couldn't find it and was told that they stopped producing it.  I was intimidated with the wood, but it's been fine.  i spend a great amount of time trying to research the ship.  Wish I was closer to the actual ship.

If I can help in anyway, please let me know.  Also, do you have a build log I can follow?

best

marc

[Bruma]

Thank you for your kind offer, I will surely need some help on the way. 
As for the build log, I might open one here too, seeking from good advice by experienced members. 
Till now, the only one in English is here:
http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/7/t/183268.aspx
I hope I’m not breaking forum’s rules, if so let me know and I will quickly delete the link. 
The other one are in italian, my native tongue. 
Again, all my respect for your wonderfull build! 

 

[keelhauled]

Work proceeds on getting the mizzen ready to step.  Before stepping the Mizzen, I wanted to make sure that the driver was attached and rig.  Here is preparing the booms.  There are still a couple of fittings and cleat to add.

 

 

I finished rigging the ratlines and checked and double checked the blocks to make sure that I haven't missed any. 

 

 

A view of the progress on the sails and test fitting the mizzen.

[keelhauled]

On to bending the driver.  I wanted to have the driver attached before stepping the mizzen.  I made more hanks using the jig described earlier in the log.  why I didn't make all of the hanks at the same time, I'll never know! I built the channel for the hanks to slide on as well as attached the hanks to the driver.  I used photos of the cutty to make sure of the detail. I have an observation. I shot around 200 photos and still don't have the shots that I need. 

 

 

 

With the driver rigged, I stepped the mizzen mast.  I used toothpicks for the wedges.  

 

Thanks for looking!!

marc

[keelhauled]

With the mizzen stepped.  I checked the alignment of the mizzen mast against the other mast and a pumb bob.  You probably can't see the plumb bob and string well - it has a white string.  I can see if fine in person.  Also, I know the  photo isn't lined up with the center line. sorry.  i took it with my phone instead of my camera.  Looks like I need to go back to using my camera. 

 

 

With the mast lined up, I started the mizzen shrouds.  I'm using forceps to keep tension on the dead eye lanyards. 

 

 

[keelhauled]

After letting the shrouds and lanyards sit overnight, I adjusted the tension where needed and let it sit again for a few days.  Then I checked the tension and alignment of the mizzen against the other mast again. this time I got a better photo.  The caps are lined up, the tops are lined up and the royals and sky are lined up.  I'm sure that they never were on the actual ship.  But I tried to keep the rigging ship shaped     For reference, the only square sails set thus far are on the fore mast.

 

 

 

thanks for  looking!!

[gjdale]

Nicely done Marc - looking very “shipshape”.

[keelhauled]

Thanks Grant!  Appreciate your feedback!

best

marc