Barbossa Posted December 19, 2015 Share #1 Posted December 19, 2015 Hi All, While studying the plans & making preparations for masts & rigging I've noticed - at first sight- the absence of the crowsfeet at the tops of the main-, mizzen- and foremast in the building instructions. It appears that e.g. HMS Pegasus and HMS Agamemnon possess this accoutrement. And I'm inclined to set up this detail on my Diana. Anyone any thoughts on this ? Anticipated thanks Canute 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtaylor Posted December 19, 2015 Share #2 Posted December 19, 2015 Interesting to say the least. AOTS Diana doesn't show crowsfeet either which I would have thought was pretty standard for the period. Barbossa and Canute 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
druxey Posted December 19, 2015 Share #3 Posted December 19, 2015 Standard, indeed. Maybe omitted not to scare off less experienced builders? They are fiddly things. Barbossa, mtaylor and Canute 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtaylor Posted December 20, 2015 Share #4 Posted December 20, 2015 Chalk up another error to AOTS. Barbossa, druxey and Canute 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Ensign Posted December 20, 2015 Share #5 Posted December 20, 2015 Lees makes the comment that Crowsfeet generally ceased to be used by the end of the 18th century. As Diana dates from 1794 I wouldn't be worried by the absence of Crowsfeet. Pegasus on the other hand dates from 1776 where I would expect to see them fitted. Ships of some age such as Victory may have had them fitted originally but they weren't apparent following her refit of 1803. B.E. Altduck, druxey, Canute and 4 others 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbossa Posted December 20, 2015 Author Share #6 Posted December 20, 2015 Hi Gentlemen, thanks for your input, it 's much appreciated. Here's the reason for my trouble : the fitting of those crowsfeet require the drilling of x-number of holes in the curved part belonging to the tops. As you can see : the idea of drilling holes in a piece of walnut no breadther than 2 mm made me feel a bit ...ahum...uncomfortable mtaylor, Canute and GuntherMT 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hornet Posted December 20, 2015 Share #7 Posted December 20, 2015 (edited) Hi Barbossa. My current build - Caldercraft 'Supply' did not have crowsfeet in the plan either, but I decided to include them. Before drilling the holes required to fit the crowsfeet, I glued the two pieces ( lower tops & lower tops rim) together, then drilled through both using my drill press for accuracy. I only needed to drill 0.8 mm holes as the thread I used to produce the crowsfeet was 0.25mm so there was plenty of room to thread through the holes. If you are worried about the fact that the front of the lower tops rim is only 2mm wide, why not shape and fit anther piece of ply behind it? In fact the laser cut ply that the lower top rim was cut from would already be in that curve. The join could then be filled with a PVA and wood dust filler. Once painted back - I assume you would be painting it, it would not be noticeable. One of my crowsfeet is shown below, admittedly the tops rim on the Supply appears to be a little wider than the Diana, but I think it could still be done. Edited December 20, 2015 by hornet joske, Barbossa, Canute and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbossa Posted December 21, 2015 Author Share #8 Posted December 21, 2015 Indeed Sir, and by doing so, you certainly enhanced your model. Having HMS Pegasus on the shelf, I've found the crowsfeet rigging scheme . Aside from Pegasus' plans I have a Proxxon catalogue at my disposal : a precision tool seems a requirement for drilling those mini-holes. Perhaps, a proposal for Santa Claus ? I think I'll follow your example. Again, I wish to thank everyone for the input and -of course- all the likes hornet, Canute, mtaylor and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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