HM Schooner Ballahoo by georgeband - Caldercraft - Haddock drawings

[tkay11]

Very nice and neat, George. I love those Seahorse blocks, and have switched to using them. Excellent for 1:96.

 

Tony

[georgeband]

I have reached a minor milestone and the bowsprit assembly is now attached to the hull. The box in which I keep Whiting has also had an extension to accommodate the new spar. Part of the delay has been from deciding how to simulate a served (or serviced or dressed) rope and there is a separate thread about that. The answer for me is to paint a linen thread, or paint one of the fine ropes from Ropes of Scale for something like a shroud which is only served over part of its length. Painting Gutermann polyester sewing threads gives a rough and bumpy finish because the threads are too hairy. Little alterations to the belaying plan also took up many hours which I have not logged. Making and fitting the bowsprit assembly took 49 hours spread over one year. 

 

The gammoning loops through a metal bracket which was inspired by one I saw in Admiralty drawing ZAZ6112. This drawing could be an early proposal for the Fish class schooners. The bracket is also a convenient place to belay the martingale and the horses. 

ZAZ6112 extract

I replaced the bowsprit shrouds that I had prepared previously and attached the new, painted, linen ropes to their deadeyes with seizings which look much neater. The outhauler tackle in the photo below is a bit slack and has been tightened now. 

The next step for me is to prepare drawings for the fore mast (lower and top). I have the basic dimensions - lengths and maximum diameters -  but I know I will spend hours working out all the details and modifying the belaying plan. 

 

George

 

[Dr PR]

George,

 

Nice work. Research and figuring out how to make and rig things takes much longer than actually doing the work. Also, I find that even after the research I may still be trying to decide which of several possible ways to do the job I will choose.

 

One of my favorite sayings is "Maybe it is a good thing I am slow because I might be going in the wrong direction."

[georgeband]

For the last two weeks my modelling effort has been at a computer screen with a pile of reference books next to me. The purpose? To draw the masts so that I can start building them. As Phil has mentioned on his posts, there are a good number of near-contemporary references which give different answers about sizes and shapes; the number of options appears to be more than the number of authors. I have relied mostly on Lever and Steel for contemporary records and on Marquardt (Global Schooner), Petrejus (Brig Irene), and Peterssen (Rigging) for recent opinions, and then made my own decisions. The drawings for the fore masts (lower mast and topmast) are below and the main masts are similar. 

 

The numbers on the left are distances from the top or from the deck. A number with a description such as '5.9mm round' give the cross section of the mast. Comments in italic show various features. 

• Partner cover. This tarred, canvas cover is to stop water entering the hull around the mast. Making one from wood will be tricky. Has anyone invented a clever way of doing this?
• Pin rail. This has eight belaying pins and I have placed it perpendicular to the mast and not parallel to the water line. One cleat below it is for the spread yard truss. Any objections or suggestions for alternatives?
• Copper sheathing. I expect to use half of a hull copper piece on the mast: 6mm high and 9mm long is about right and the shipwrights would have access to them. 
• Cross trees. My belaying plan has two topmast shrouds on each side, so two cross trees should extend from the trestles. I chose the aft and middle positions because they line up better with the lower shrouds. Does anyone have information to support this, or an alternative?
• Hounds. Phil made a good case for defining the hounds as the line where the trestle trees rest on an extension of the mast. This is self-consistent and admirable but unfortunately several authors use hounds to describe the widening of the mast. This is apparent on the topmast which has hounds to support ropes without any trees. I think the dual meaning will remain and the only solution is to define it for your application. 
• Eyes and bolts. I have not shown these on this iteration of the drawings and will have to check the belaying plan carefully before I do. 

Drawing for the fore topmast comes next. The stick is 4mm square at the heel and 1.5mm round at the top, and to paraphrase Steel it would be very wasteful of wood. He states that the normal practice was to add planking around the heel so that it fills the fore hole in the trees better. I plan to use a 3mm dowel and at the heel I will reduce the size to 2mm square then add planks on all four sides. 

The hounds on the topmast are octagonal and I will repeat a technique I used on Sherbourne many years ago. This is to make the mast without hounds, then wrap layers of glued paper around the mast to build up the diameter, and finally cut back the laminated paper to get the octagonal section. 

Christmas is coming and the physical mast making will have to wait until next year. 

 

Best wishes to all. 

 

George

 

 

[Dr PR]

George,

 

Excellent research! Here are some comments about the questions you ask.

 

1. I made the partner covers from plywood. As you noted carving them out of wood will be tricky because you know they will break in half just as you are adding the final touches. The plywood has better strength than plain wood.

 

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/19611-albatros-by-dr-pr-mantua-scale-148-revenue-cutter-kitbash-about-1815/?do=findComment&comment=911535

 

2. Having the pin rail perpendicular to the mast seems reasonable to me.

 

3. The cross trees look good. I would use the two aft most as as you did.

 

4. "Hounds" is a multiple meaning term, almost arbitrary. The area below the trestletrees is referred to as the hounds. However, I have seen one reference that said the hounds were additional pieces applied to the sides of the mast, and sometimes extending down 1/3 the length of the mast above the partners. Some authors call the cheeks the hounds. So the meaning of "hounds" and the length of the hounds is entirely arbitrary, and varies from vessel to vessel. It is essentially anything below the mast top.

 

This is all and good until an author starts talking about the "hounded length" of a mast - the length from the foot/heel of the mast to the hounds. Many of the calculations for mast properties are based upon hounded length. But what part of the hounds? To the top, the bottom or somewhere else? To the top of the trestletrees or the bottom? Rarely does and author tell. We are supposed to already know the "right" answer, or to read their minds.

 

Harold Underhill (Masting and Rigging the Clipper Ship and Ocean Carrier, Brown Son and Ferguson, Ltd., Glasgow, 1972, page 5, Figure 4) is the only author I have found who gives a definite answer to what hounded length refers to, and he shows the hounds as the bottom of the trestletrees for determining hounded length.

 

Harold Underhill does give a definition of "hounds" in Sailing Ship Rigs and Rigging (Brown Son and Ferguson, Ltd., Glasgow, 1969, page 110):

 

                Hounds - A change in the diameter of the mast to form a rest for the eyes of the rigging, crosstrees, etc.

 

So now we know!

 

In any case I think you have done your homework and can justify the decisions you are making for your model.

Edited December 12 by Dr PR

[georgeband]

Thank you for your comments, Phil, which provide welcome reassurance that I am not speeding off in the wrong direction. I have now expanded the mast drawings to show the rigging, an activity which again combines research with second-guessing what might have been done 200 years ago. 

 

The drawings for the fore mast, below, are supplemented by tables to name the numbered ropes and to show in which order they are placed over the hounds. The fore topmast is crowded with ropes and blocks (15 altogether that rest on the hounds) but they have to go somewhere. 

 

   

The main mast has simpler rigging but still needs decisions about where to place each rope or block. All these drawings and notes will be my guides when I return to model making next year and I fully expect to change my mind about some of the placements. 

 

George

 

[Dr PR]

Nice plans George!

 

When you look at a full rigged model you see lots of lines going here and yeah, it looks pretty busy. But when you really study the rigging it is amazing how many lines actually converge on the mast tops!