HM Schooner Ballahoo by georgeband - Caldercraft - Haddock drawings

[tkay11]

Yes, belaying plans are such fun!

 

Tony

[georgeband]

Thank you for your comment, Tony. I keep wanting to do some 'proper modelling' but find that my research is inadequate and I need to find out more, sift and sort it, shuffle it around and finally turn the data into useful information. I enjoy doing it but it is time consuming. 

I have added my current work on the belaying plan to another thread so it does not get in the way of the model build log. 

 

George

 

[druxey]

A very methodical approach, George!

[hollowneck]

22 hours ago, tkay11 said:

Yes, belaying plans are such fun!

Your model is looking good. Nice job on your hull plating, a very difficult and fiddly task.

I've been dealing with my model's sail belaying for the past month. There is not a lot of information on the specifics of where and how sail management lines get rigged on a 17th-C, three-masted frigate. Detailed sail and belaying plans for frigates are also in short supply!

 

[georgeband]

Eyes almost everywhere

My belaying plan has reached a level where I feel I can justify my decisions, though I am sure that a competent sailor would disagree about some of the placements. The belaying pins went in a month ago and I have now added a lot of eyes to the deck and the bulwarks. Some more are yet to come but the model making will be less stressful if I leave them until after their ropes have been tied to them. 

 

From left to right on the photo below:

• A hook in the bulwark for gun tools (below it is the sweep port and below that the scuttle in the waterway)
• An eye in the bulwark for the gun tackle
• A hole below the eye for another eye later. I will tie the breeching rope to the eye before gluing it in
• Peeking over the left gunport is an eye for the other gun tackle
• Visible through the right gunport is an eye on the fore channel for the staysail sheet
• Extreme right there is an eye on the outside and its tail has been clinched over inside the bulwark

The next photo is the same area from the outside, starboard this time. 

• Top centre is an eye for the gun training tackle
• Top right are four eyes in the deck (five on port side) for yard lifts, gaff tack and main mast fore stay 
• To the right on the bulwark is an eye for the bowsprit shroud
• At the fore (right) end of the channel is the eye for the staysail sheet
• Two eyes on top of the channel are for the mast tackle
• The tops of the belaying pins have worn a little and will get a touch of paint later

And here is a general view of the deck. I have taped over all holes to stop rubbish from falling in. The pumps are taken out for the moment and locating pins sit waiting for their return. The yellow boat outline is where the cutter is stored and reminds me how cramped it is on deck. 

I am now working on the gun tools, and while a rammer, sponge and crowbar are easy enough to scratch build the worms are delicate and tricksy. There are also nine cleats to prepare. 

 

George

[georgeband]

Gun tools and shot racks

 

I have made the gun tools now. It was an exercise in assembly of fiddly little bits and then painting them. The rammer and sponge are from wire with plastic insulation and tubes pushed over the ends. The worm is also wire for the shaft and very thin wire for the double helix. The handspikes are cut from 1mm thick walnut and given a layer of black paper to show the iron cladding. The longer tools in the photo are for the 6lb cannons, the shorter are for the 12lb carronade and I tied them into bundles so that they can hang on the bulwarks. Tying the thread loops around the bundles was a very slow process because of having to wait for PVA glue to harden. 

I am surprised at how few models that have guns on an open deck actually show the gun tools. Were they stored somewhere else? Below decks on HMS Victory they are suspended from the ceiling. 

The shot racks started off as plastic card and ball bearings. One strip of card had holes drilled through it and a second strip was glued below it to create blind holes with uniform depth. The ball bearings were then glued in. I used 1.5mm balls for the 6lb shot and they are a close match for size. The 12lb shot should be 1.75mm diameter and I had the choice of 1.5mm or 2.0mm, and chose 2.0mm which exaggerates the difference from the 6lb balls. 

I used these shot racks as masters to make silicone moulds and then cast replicas in polyurethane resin. I can make more now quite quickly for future models! 

Cutting to size, sanding the width and thickness and a paint job finish the racks. The photo below shows the 1.5mm balls; the whole rack is 25mm long (1 inch for those who think in Imperial) so please do not be too critical of shaky boundaries between black balls and the brown rack. 

I glued the racks and the bundles of gun tools to the bulwarks above the waterway planks. (One loop of thread has slipped off its hook and the black paint on the worm has to be touched up.)

 

George

 

 

[georgeband]

6lb cannons

 

Whiting carried two 6lb cannons and two 12lb carronades and I assembled the cannons first. 

 

I used the Vanguard Models kit as the basis for the carriage. It is nicely laser cut from pearwood with sharp edges and corners and a useful fret of etched brass parts. Some of the brass parts are tiny (look at the caps for the trunnions) but are still oversize. I was lucky not to lose any during assembly. Note to Chris if he sees this page: Please can you put in five of each etched brass part so that there are spares for when the bit you are working on pings onto the floor? The quoin is not included in the kit but is simple enough to make. I painted the carriages yellow ochre and left the running surfaces of the trucks (wheels) in the scorched finish from the laser cutting. 

 

The barrels in the Vanguard Models kit are very nicely 3D printed representations of Blomefield guns. Unfortunately for me they are 8 foot long in scale and cannot fit on Whiting; loading would be near impossible and their recoil would demolish the hatch over the fore ladderway when they were fired. I found replacements in the Amati range 'Part no. 4165/30 1:100 Scale Victory Cannons 30mm' which are the right 6 foot size for the model.  They needed some gentle filing to remove a small step at the mould join and then a coat of black paint. 

The breeching rope is from Caldercraft '0.5mm' natural thread which is closer to 0.4mm. I tied one end through an eye with an overhand knot and seized the joint. The thread was then fed through eyes on the carriage and cannon and tied to another eye so that at full extension the mouth of the barrel would be a millimetre or two inside the bulwarks. Pushing a cocktail stick into the eye gives something to hold during tying and stops the thread from slipping. In the photo below the eyes still have their long tails which will be cut short before gluing into the prepared holes in the bulwarks. 

Fitting the cannons into the hull needed some fine juggling and I unhooked the gun tools to allow better access. I glued (CA) the foremost breeching rope eye first, somehow getting it in behind the belaying pins, and then glued (PVA) the trucks to the deck with the gun run out. The other breeching rope eye was easier to tuck into its hole and when it was secure I adjusted the rope so that there were equal lengths on both sides. I used some fine Amati thread to lash the left and right sides of the breeching rope together over the barrel. 

 

The gun runout tackles have a single block hooked to the carriage and a double block hooked to the bulwark. I used 2mm blocks from HiS models in Czechia which are wonderful examples of CNC work. The etched brass 'clamps' from HiS were useful for the single blocks because they provide a hook at one end and an eye at the other. Those for the double blocks were too loose and I could not use them, and resorted instead to black thread as a strap around the block together with a HiS etched hook. The rope is Gutermann polyester in a pale brown shade (col. 724) which is 0.20mm diameter and I used 10cm lengths. Hooking the tackles in place was easier than I expected. 

Now I need advice about what to do with the falls from the gun runout tackles. There is about 8cm / 3 inches in scale (15 feet actual) which has to go somewhere and I suspect it was at the captain's whim. Here is one example from a well known picture by EW Cooke. It looks scruffy but might be typical. 

And here is a much smarter one from HMS Victory which uses sheepshanks and a lot of coiling to lash it all together. There is not enough room on Whiting to accommodate this style. (Note that the breeching rope is left hand lay.) 

I refuse to make round floor mats by laying the rope in a spiral on deck. 

 

My thoughts at the moment are to add a hook or a pin somewhere on the gunwale and loop the coiled rope over that. Does anyone have evidence or other ideas?

 

George

 

Edited December 15, 2022 by georgeband
error with supplier name. Sorry to Chris Watton

[georgeband]

Not much progress since I almost finished the 6lb cannons. Christmas with grandchildren (and their parents) took priority over model making. For the next task I will probably put small cleats on top of the gunwale to hold the falls from the gun runout tackles. However, I will be away from modelling for the next few months so there will be nothing to report for a while. 

 

George

[georgeband]

Back home after a long break and with time set aside for modelling I want to get the hull finished by next spring. 

 

The two cannons on Whiting are now in position. I fitted simple pegs in the gunwale above the gun ports and tied the falls from the gun runout tackles to them, before making a few simple loops and hanging them over the pegs. The Gutermann thread I used for the tackles is not keen to absorb PVA glue and the ropes are scruffier than I like. It's obvious in the enlarged photos but not a problem at normal viewing distances. 

The training tackles from the rear of the carriage to the deck are stored 'below' on my model. I doubt if they were left in place because they would be a serious trip hazard on a narrow and crowded deck. I may yet add them, possibly hooking them over one of the pegs on the gunwale. 

 

Carronades

The carronades in the Ballahou kit are horrible and their only use is to melt them down to use as weights. I bought a pair of Caldercraft brass carronades with their mounts and they are good. A few minor changes:

• I replaced the eyes for the breeching rope with 'hinged eyes' that can swivel and change direction. 
• I replaced the brass rod for the elevating screw with real screws which look much better. A pack of 50 from Ebay is cheap: look for M1x5mm Philips pan head micro screws with a black finish. 
• I glued an eye over the cascabel to guide the breeching rope in the same way as on Blomefield cannons. 
• A fore sight made from scrap etched brass and a tompion (a slice of cocktail stick painted yellow) finish the firing end. 

The breeching rope was lashed in position is the same way as with the cannons. 

The runout tackles made with 2mm blocks are too bulky to fit on the model because there is simply not enough room between the eyes on the bulwarks and the eyes on the bed. I hooked the tackles over the pegs on top of the gunwale and then tied the falls to the pegs leaving just a short length dangling down. The crew will have to reposition them when they go into action...  (I notice on the enlarged photo that the double block looks like it is 90 degrees twisted. It's too late to change it now.) 

Carronade in Nelson's Harbour, Antigua on a modern mount. It's missing the elevating screw and the fore sight

 

Boat

The next job is to make a boat and its cradle. I have a 12 foot cutter from Vanguard Models and photos of a recently restored gig at Portsmouth Museum and am currently planning how to add a gunwale and wash strakes and all the internal fittings. 

 

George

 

 

 

[tkay11]

Viewing distance is all that matters. None of my family have ever requested a magnifying glass.

 

Tony

[georgeband]

Building a boat from a decent kit should be a simple job but a little research leads to a lot of research that raises more questions. 

I have not found Admiralty drawings for a 12 foot cutter and relied on drawings of larger boats, photographs of restored examples, and information from sailors. ‘The Boats of Men of War’ by WE May is a classic and a web page by David Manthey summarises part of it https://www.thebigrow.com/?p=1043 . I have accepted the shape of the hull as supplied in the kit but there are a lot of other features where judgment is needed. 

• Single banked or double banked. A double banked boat has two oarsmen on each seat and this is far too wide for Whiting. In a single banked boat there is one oarsman per seat and he usually has one oar. A cutter that I photographed at Portsmouth in 2011 has six thwarts with thole pins, alternating port and starboard like on a racing eight. When there are only two or three oarsmen it is likely that they have a pair of oars each which makes it easier to balance the thrust by sculling. I assume that Whiting’s cutter has two oars for each oarsman, and this is seen on a recently restored gig at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. 
• Thwarts. The Vanguard hull has an internal, horizontal rail and the thwarts rest on them. The width of the thwarts varies and I chose 9 inches as a compromise between comfort and space. The pitch from thwart to thwart (=gap + width) is between 2’3” and 3’0”. The hull is long enough for three thwarts for oarsmen and one in the stern for someone to steer. However, the oarsman in the bow sits in a narrower area and has poor leverage on the oars, so it is possible that there are only two oarsmen. The Portsmouth gig has three thwarts (plus one in the stern) but the one in the bow does not have rowlocks. I decided on three thwarts for Whiting’s boat, all with oars, though I might yet provide oars for just two. 
• Stern seat. Most boats with a wide transom have a seat (stern sheets) that runs across the stern and forward from it along the sides of the hull. Some add another cross-wise thwart at the fore end of the seats on the sides. Others dispense with the seats that run across and only have two along the sides. The Portsmouth gig just has a thwart with a back rest. I am not sure yet what to do here. 
• Gunwale and washboards and wale. The top edge of the hull on the Vanguard kit looks low to me, both for water splashing over it and for the oarsmen banging the oars into their knees. The vertical separation between a thwart and an oar was between 6 and 10 inches. The kit hull also tops with a clinker plank and there is no sign of a gunwale. I will build up a gunwale to add an extra millimetre or two in height, and a wale (rubbing strake?) below it. Washboards above the gunwale are also wanted, about 2mm high. 
• Rowlocks or tholes. These provide a fulcrum for the oar and both were in use at the time. The rowlock is a metal ‘U’ on a pin that would swivel. Tholes were wood pins fixed into the gunwale and they also supported adjoining sections of washboard. I will use tholes on my model. 
• Rudder. The rudder itself hangs on two pintles. Most depictions show them with a tiller that comes in over the stern of the boat, but this is difficult to use on a narrow boat. Some boats such as the Portsmouth gig and modern racing eights replace the tiller with a bar that runs from side to side and has ropes tied to its ends. The rudder is controlled by pulling on the ropes. The choice here ties in with that for the stern seat. 
• Floor. The floor of the Portsmouth gig is made from six tapered planks and has raised boards for the oarsman to brace their feet when pulling. Larger boats have a grating below the stern seats and another forward. My model just has the tapered planks. 
• Mast and sail. Boats carried a mast or two and sails. My guess is that a small cutter would have a mast well forward and hang a simple sprit sail from it. The boat is stowed aboard on my model so I do not need to worry much about the detail of the sail. I guess that the sail was wrapped around the mast with the yard bundled into it, and then the whole assembly would be tied in place on the thwarts. The thwart in the bow would have an extension to support the mast, and I will put a block of wood with a hole in it on the floor to step the mast. (A lug sail is also possible and the mast could then be set further aft next to the second thwart.) 
• Oars and grapnel. These were stored on the boat, tied to the thwarts. Mine are based on etched brass items from Caldercraft. 

Here are a few sketches of the options I am considering. The current front runners are C and D though I reserve the right to change my mind after hearing sound advice and opinions from the good people at MSW.

A selection of photos from Portsmouth dockyard that I found useful. 

Victory’s boat in Portsmouth, 2011. Six tholes, alternating port and starboard

 

Restored gig in Portsmouth, 2023. Rudder bar with ropes, pairs of holes for rowlocks, floor

 

George

 

[tkay11]

Thanks, George. I had always believed (I am not sure why) that rudders were stowed in the boats when on deck.

 

Tony

[georgeband]

Tony,

I imagine that the rudders could be stowed in the boats or hung from their pintles when the boats are on deck. If the boats are nested then the rudders on the smaller boats could get in the way and risk damage so they might be put inside the hull. The bigger issue is probably to ensure that the rudders are secure and will not be damaged or swept away when a wave breaks over the ship. I suspect that they are safer inside than flapping on the outside so long as they are tied down.

On a similar note, the restored boats often show the oars tidily arranged on the thwarts. Surely they would be tied on to the thwarts when stowed and the tidy arrangement then becomes a bundle. 

 

George

[georgeband]

The boat is taking shape now. 

I built up the sides with card and polystyrene strips. This gives me a gunwale, wash boards and tholes. I also extended the transom and added a stern post. (The card is yellow because I happened to have a piece that is 0.2mm thick.)

After this construction step I gave the boat her first coat of paint. The outer face will need more coats later including black detailing of the wales. The inside gets its details next. 

The floor is from a piece of obechi, 0.5mm thick, with the lines between the planks drawn in. I also fitted the thwarts and stern seats, all cut from the 4x0.5mm planks supplied in the kit for decking that I stained a patchy brown. The knees between the thwarts and hull are from copper wire painted brown. The thwart in the bow and the floor have fittings to hold the mast. 

My current task, slightly out of sequence, is to make the cradles to hold the boat on Whiting's deck. There will be a lot of handling of the boat while I trim the cradle to fit and I want to get this done before I start on the delicate bits. 

 

Happy Trafalgar day for tomorrow! I am going to a dinner organised by the 1805 club.

 

George

 

[tkay11]

Excellent ideas re card and polystyrene, George. I used 0.5mm polystyrene strips myself for the frames on the 1:96 Jacinthe I am building (which may have a log some time in the future). Heat from a hairdryer allowed me to curve them to the correct shape around the mould. I wish I'd thought of card for the sides.

 

Tony

[georgeband]

Rudder and tiller

I made the rudder from 0.5mm thick polystyrene sheet and shaped it by eye, guided by several photos and drawings. The Admiralty drawings display a range of profiles so choose one that pleases you or design your own. The tiller is also from 0.5mm thick polystyrene and has a curve to it. 
The tiller on the Victory boat at Portsmouth had a mortise at the end which is built up from extra layers of wood. It sits over the top end of the rudder and is locked into place by a peg that passes through a hole in the rudder. I replicated this on my tiller and also added a rim around the rudder to stop the tiller from slipping lower. I painted the rudder and tiller white. 

The rudder hangs from the boat on two gudgeons and pintles. I made the pintles first from scrap offcuts of etched brass – I looked for a straight, narrow piece with a stub that projects to the side. The straight sections are bent to sit on the hull and the stub gets two bends so that it looks like a pintle projecting from the stern post. I painted them black then fixed them in place with superglue.

I added two gudgeons to the rudder at heights which match the pintles on the stern post. I made the gudgeons from small, etched brass eyes painted black. Hold the eye with fine pliers then bend the tail so that it is closer to being a tangent to the round eye instead of perpendicular to it. Trim the tail to length and glue it to one side of the rudder. A separate length of brass goes on the other side of the rudder. 

The rudder and tiller will be stored in the boat and lashed to the thwarts. 

Cradle

It was probably a job for the ship’s carpenter to build the cradle and I suspect that there were many designs. I chose vertical posts (relative to the waterline, not the keel) and glued short pieces of 1x4mm walnut between them. These should then be carved to fit the boat’s hull and I started with a cardboard template rather than attacking the wood straight away. I added a strengthening cross beam to each cradle and also planned for angled supports to stop them from tipping over.

Eyes for lifting ropes
I glued two etched brass eyes into the hull. The forward one sits in a hole drilled vertically into the stem post, between the wash boards. I placed the aft one inside the transom and also glued it into a drilled hole. 

Oars

The Caldercraft etched brass oars are not really suitable: there are only four of them in the set and the shafts are far too thin. I am currently exploring how to make a set and will probably try laminating styrene strips. 

 

George

 

 

 

[tkay11]

Very nice boat, George.

 

Tony

[georgeband]

Oars and sails and stowing

 

Oars

A comprehensive account of oar construction is presented in The Art of Making Masts, Yard, Gaffs, Boom, Blocks, and Oars by David Steel, 1797, which can be found on https://www.thebigrow.com/?p=659#more-659 . I used this as the basis for my oars and combined the entries for single banked boats with those for sculled wherries and skiffs. No doubt there were local variations in the design and manufacture of oars and the results of this research should not be regarded as a universal truth. 

(dimensions in mm)

I made the oars from three layers of polystyrene strip. The centre strip is 2.0x0.5mm (80thou x 20thou) and is 50mm long. The outer strips are 1.0x0.25mm (40thou x 10thou) and 31mm long. The task is largely one of sanding, filing and carving and I like to think of it as 'micro whittling'. 

I painted the oars to give a wood effect then cut away the ends of the blades, trimmed the blade tips and touched up the paint finish.

 

Grapnel and boathooks

These are etched brass items from Caldercraft. I added a coil of rope to the grapnel. 

 

Sail

I wanted to show the mast, yard and sail dismounted and stored in the boat. A drawing of a sprit sail in https://boatbuildercentral.com/support-tutorials/Tutorials/sprit-rig.pdf and some thinking suggested that the sail would be wrapped around the mast and the sprit yard inserted in the last few turns. The sheet from the lower corner (clew) of the sail could be wound around the sail to hold it, in the same way as the gaskets are used on a square sail. The size of the sail is also my guess.

Sprit sail

The mast is from 0.5mm diameter brass, 45mm long and painted to look like wood. The sprit yard is from 0.3mm diameter brass, 41mm long and also painted to look like wood. Only the ends will show.

I made the sail from thin paper that was previously a tea bag. Different manufacturers use different papers and some have a distinct perforation pattern on them but I found one (PG Tips) that had no discernible texture. The slight brown staining from brewing the tea gave it an aged look.

I drew the shape of the sail and the seams in pencil. It can then be cut out leaving a wide margin (about 1cm) on the luff (front edge). Fold the front edge over a ruler then put in the mast with about 2mm protruding beyond the top of the sail at the throat. Hold the sail and mast together and apply small drops of superglue to the sail where it folds over the mast. The glue grabs the mast through the paper and only a few drops are needed. The excess margin can now be cut off with a sharp knife.

I folded over the peak (top corner) so that the head (top edge) is parallel to the mast. I glued a bolt rope to the leech (rear edge) from the clew up to where the sail folds over. A second bolt rope is glued to the last 10mm of the foot and left to hang as a sheet from the clew. I allowed about 10cm to hang free. Use PVA glue and let it dry before the next step.

The sail is now rolled up around the mast. Keep the turns quite tight and continue until about 10mm to 15mm is left. Now drop in the sprit yard and resume turning until the whole sail is rolled. Continue by winding the sheet around the sail so that about three turns bring you to the top of the mast. Add two more turns as half hitches to secure the end of the sheet. I cut the sheet so that about 5mm was left free. The whole assembly is now ready to mount in the boat. 

Fill the boat

There is a lot to put into a small boat and everything has to be tied down so that a rogue wave cannot wash anything out. It’s fiddly work. I started with the oars and boathooks which I gathered into a bundle, some pointing forward and some aft, and placed it on the thwarts with the head of the bundle tight into the bow. I looped a thread around the bundle and the thwarts to tie them together, no glue here! I used simple reef knots and left the ends to dangle down towards the keel, though they needed a small drop of superglue to persuade them to hang in the right direction. I had made seven oars and mistakenly included all of them in the bundle. I have left it like this because I did not want to risk damaging the boat to take one out.

The rudder and tiller fit on the thwarts to one side of the oars and port was my arbitrary choice. I tied them down and even put the rope through the mortice in the tiller. No one will notice but I know.

The grapnel fits into the boat on the same side as the rudder and I did not tie it in, reasoning that a large piece of ironwork will stay put if a wave splashes over. The rope coil tucks into the space between the transom and the stern seats.

The sail and its mast and yard fit neatly in the remaining space to starboard. It is tied to the thwarts in the same way as the other parts.

The securing ropes for the boat can be tied now. I used the same Guterman thread as elsewhere on this model and tied a 15cm or 6” length to the starboard eye on the cradles with a bowline hitch. The line goes over the hull, through the port eye then back over the boat where a ‘truckers hitch’ is formed. (There are lots of descriptions on the internet.) The difficult step is to tie a small loop in the rope about midway between the two wash strakes. Once this is done the rope is threaded through the starboard eye, then through the loop and then back down towards the starboard eye. I gave it a couple of turns around the tensioned ropes below the wash strake then fixed it with two half hitches. The free end hangs down and I cut the length so that it ends just above the deck.

The boat and cradle is now ready to fit to the deck. This has been an enjoyable project in its own right. 

 

George

 

[georgeband]

Anchors

 

I have not found a definitive statement about the size of the anchors on Whiting. A general formula that has been repeated in contemporary books is 1cwt (one hundredweight or 112lb) for every 20 tons burthen. Other books give other weights and at least one (Hedderwick, 1830) complains that there are no standard formulae. Whiting was 70 tons so 3½cwt anchors are probably correct.

The anchors supplied in the Ballahoo kit are 12cwt and somewhat large. The wooden stocks also look to be too long relative to the metal shank. I consigned mine to the spares box.

Caldercraft sell a 3.5cwt kedge anchor which should be just right according to the general formula. I bought two and when I measured the shank I found that it is closer to a 4cwt anchor, but that is quite good enough. 

 

Wood stock

The cross section of the assembled stocks should be 3.2mm square at the centre section and 1.6mm square at the ends. The halves need to be tapered on the outer face and that reveals a problem: the stocks are cut from walnut plywood and the taper exposes the cross-grain layers in the middle of the sandwich. I chose to live with this blemish.

I marked the ends of the full size, central section (up to the inner iron bands) with a pencil line on the outer face, away from the slot for the shank. Simple carving removed most of the wood, reducing the thickness to 1mm at the ends, and then careful sanding gave a smooth surface. The joins between the ply layers are useful guides to show if you have removed consistent amounts of wood. The ply is weak at the slot for the shank and I broke one half-stock but repaired it with glue.

 

Metal castings

The castings are from a fairly soft alloy so it is easy to clean up the flash with a file. I rested the casting on a small block of wood while filing it, using the end grain of a piece of softwood to catches the filings as they come off. The bumps and neck near the top can be filed flat following the lines of the shank. I tested the fit against the stocks and stopped filing when the shank could enter without straining the wood. Use two stocks to check the size of the shank in the perpendicular direction. Clamp the shank between two stocks and there should be a small gap between them, small in this case is about the thickness of a piece of paper. If the gap is bigger then file back the shank a bit more.

I put a small chamfer on the edges of the shank. The ends of the arms can be made more pointed and neater. Drill a 1mm hole for the anchor ring. The hole has about 0.5mm of metal to each side but more above it towards the end of the shank.

The palms are tidied and fixed to the arms with superglue. 

I painted the finished metalwork with enamel as a primer then used a dirty black with washes of burnt sienna to simulate rust. A glimpse of bare metal on a corner where the paint gets chipped off looks good to me though it's easy overdo this.

 

Ring

I made the rings by winding the suppled 0.7mm brass wire around a round, metal mandrel which happened to be the handle of a file. A drill bit of about 3mm or ⅛ inch is about right. Snip out a circle and it should have an outer diameter of about 5mm.

The rings had a puddening to protect them. I used Caldercraft 0.4mm black thread (it is labelled as 0.5mm) which is oversize for this application but a finer thread would simply look like a thicker, rough ring. I held the ring in a clamp, gripping the ends, and made three turns of thread around the wire, opposite the gap. Adjust the turns so they are snug against each other, hold the thread ends taut and apply a drop of superglue which wicks into the thread and sticks it to the wire. Do not let it wick into the stretched, straight thread because this will harden it and stop it from wrapping around the wire. About 12cm (5 inches) of thread is plenty for one ring. 

Adjust the position of the ring in the clamp and make several more turns of the thread around the wire then fix them with superglue. Continue like this until you reach the end of the wire. Leave about ½ mm of bare wire and trim off the remaining thread. Now repeat the exercise for the other half of the ring. 

 

Assembly

Open up the rings so that the gap between the ends will fit across the shank. Make sure that the ring is flat and not twisted otherwise it will sit at an angle to the shank. Hold the ends of the ring over the drilled hole then squeeze them together with gentle pressure from pliers. The ring should be able to move.

Check the fit of one half-stock and fix it to the shank with superglue. Now apply a drop of wood glue to each end of the half-stock and position the other half-stock. Clamp the ends together and leave the glue to set. Apply a small drop of superglue to the join between the shank and the second half-stock while you are waiting.

The iron bands around the stock are cut from thin black card. You need about 10cm or 4 inches for each anchor, a little under 1mm wide. I marked the positions of the bands in pencil on the stocks. Apply a thin bead of PVA or wood glue to the card and, starting at the underside, wrap it around the stock. I overlapped the card on the bottom face with the ends at the corners of the stock.

Rope

The size of the rope is poorly defined and a rule in one book is contradicted by another. The AOTS book for HM Cutter Alert states that she had an 8" rope for her 3cwt kedge anchor. If this size anchor is the main one for a vessel then the rope could be thicker because it has to work in harder conditions than just kedging. The 8" circumference translates to a model diameter of 1mm.

The ropes for anchors were generally cables (or cablets if they are small) which have a left hand lay unlike most ropes which are right handed. Most people do not notice the difference but model making pedants want it to be correct. This might be the time to build a rope walk, or stow the anchors without any rope tied to the ring. Can anyone recommend a supplier for  1mm diameter rope with a left hand twist?

 

George

[georgeband]

Anchors stowed

I have tied the anchors to the gunwales on Whiting so they are safely stowed. The crown is lashed with a rope through a gunport, and the stock is tied to a belaying pin which was spare on my belaying plan. I might yet add an anchor rope to one of them, leading from the hold through a hawse hole. It all depends on finding or making a suitable rope and that can wait awhile. 

 

Sweeps

Discussions on another post have convinced me that I need to show the sweeps stowed somewhere on Whiting. 

 

 

A sailor would stand and most probably push the sweep to use it. His shoulder height for pushing would be about 23mm (1.47m or 4' 10"). Measurements of the (crowded) deck of Whiting show that a sailor would be about 25mm from the bulwark, depending on which port he was working.

The sweep ports are about 23mm above the waterline and 12mm above the deck. A scale drawing shows that a 19 foot oar is the right length and has the right proportions to be used on Whiting. A comprehensive account of oar construction is presented in The Art of Making Masts, Yard, Gaffs, Boom, Blocks, and Oars by David Steel, 1797, which can be found on https://www.thebigrow.com/?p=659#more-659 .

 

The tables of dimensions given by Steel for a 19 foot oar are summarised in the drawing below.

I made the sweeps by laminating strips of wood and then carving them to shape. It is a slow process and took me nine hours to complete 12 sweeps. I used maple strip because it is close grained, I like the colour and it was available in the right size at my local model shop. Most of the parts for the lamination are 2x0.5mm except for the blade which is 3x0.5mm.

The central layer is 61mm long. Make a pencil mark 6mm from one end on both sides to indicate the handle. The outer layers are 77mm long. Glue one to the central layer so that the core protrudes by 6mm; the outer layer extends a lot further at the other end. Clamp the layers together and leave until the glue has grabbed. I use a slightly diluted wood glue.

The blade is a 31mm length of 3x0.5mm wood. Glue it to the outer layer ensuring that it presses tight against the core layer. The second outer layer can also be glued on now and the whole assembly clamped. Check that the laminations are aligned from side to side otherwise the loom might have a trapezoid instead of a square section when you start sanding later.

The carving begins when you are certain that the glue has cured.

1.     Sand the body and loom to a square section, 1.6mm to a side. I rested the assembly on a small block of wood and ran a sanding stick over it. Check the size frequently until you get a feel for how quickly the wood is cut back.

2.     Taper the outer layer over the blade so that it blends smoothly into the blade. Continue the taper into the body. The thickness at the beginning of the blade is 1.2mm.

3.     Taper the body in the perpendicular plane so that it has a square section which reduces to 1.2mm at the blade.

4.     Round the body but keep the loom with a square section. I tried sanding and scraping with a knife blade and both methods work.

5.     Taper the edges of the blade and round off the sides so they merge with the body.

6.     Cut the end of the blade 86mm from the join between the handle and the loom. There are variations on the shape of the end and I rounded the corners.

7.     Cut back and sand the core to form a handle. It is slightly undersize for diameter but not enough to notice. When you are satisfied with the rounding of the handle cut it to a length of 4mm. I also bevelled the corners of the loom next to the handle.

 

The sweeps were probably stored on iron brackets fixed to the outside faces of the bulwarks. Near the stern is most likely because the chains for the rigging take precedence elsewhere. My next task is to design and build some brackets. 

 

George

 

[OllieS]

On 11/17/2023 at 3:59 PM, georgeband said:

 

.....The 8" circumference translates to a model diameter of 1mm.

The ropes for anchors were generally cables (or cablets if they are small) which have a left hand lay unlike most ropes which are right handed. Most people do not notice the difference but model making pedants want it to be correct. This might be the time to build a rope walk, or stow the anchors without any rope tied to the ring. Can anyone recommend a supplier for  1mm diameter rope with a left hand twist?...

 

Ropes of Scale presumably have what you want. Their link is one of the side panel sponsors below recent replies here on MSW

[georgeband]

Thanks for the information, Ollie. At the moment I feel seduced by the idea of a rope walk and am parking the anchor rope for later. 

George

[georgeband]

Sweeps continued

 

I made brackets from the etched brass 'chains' that came with the Ballahoo kit.

I cut off the eye and filed all the edges smooth. The narrow section is then bent through 90° to form a 4mm long upright. A second right angle bend defines the base which is just over 4mm long internally. The remainder is a longer upright that will be glued to the bulwark. I glued a short length of thin, scrap, etched brass fret to the narrow section so that it projects a little below the base and is there to stop a lashing rope from riding up the side. The brackets are painted black.

I glued the brackets between the gunports and their adjacent sweep ports with the top touching the underside of the gunwale. This looks reasonable and supports the oars in a balanced way.

There are six sweeps on each side, three with their blades forward and three with the blade aft. I tried to arrange them in a cleverly designed pattern but gave up and let them fall into a natural arrangement when I tightened a thread around them to hold them to the brackets. I tied the ends of the thread with a reef knot and let the ends hang down.

The hull is now mostly complete. The remaining additions will be

• Some figures to give a sense of scale. I have Captain Amati and his crew already. 
• A spare spar or two, probably tied on top of the gunwales at the aft end of Whiting. 
• The anchor rope on one side. 
• Refitting the pumps that I took out while building the housing over the main ladderway. 
• Making drivers for LED lights that connect to the optical fibres I installed to illuminate the interior. 

The masts and spars and sails and rigging are the big job that will wait until my next modelling season because I will need to change direction and concentrate hard. Lots of judgement calls needed for them. 

 

George

 

[georgeband]

A few photos to show a milestone in the build. (The pumps are standing loose at the moment so I can move them out of the way when rigging.) As I said above, the next big job is the masts and everything that goes on them. 

 

George

 

 

 

 

[bigcreekdad]

Looks great!

 

[georgeband]

Masts and yards

 

Back to model making again and I have made a start on the masts and yards. 

 

Admiralty drawings are the original source of most information about the hulls of Royal Navy vessels but they often tell us little about the masts, yards and sails. Whiting is no exception and all that we can glean from the drawings for Haddock and Cuckoo are the diameters of the two masts and the bowsprit (6mm) and their positions and angles. 
For ships and brigs there are established rules for proportions with which we calculate the sizes of the spars from, typically, the length and breadth of the hull. The situation for schooners is not so simple and the rules given in different, near-contemporary books are not consistent and give different answers. For example, the length of the main mast from deck to top is given as 208, 194, 230 and 223 (mm at 1/64 scale) by Fincham, Rankine, Cock and Hedderwick in the mid-1800's. Two later books, Lees and Mondfeld, have answers of 152 and 161mm. Phil has done some outstanding work in Excel to combine all these results and I have drawn heavily on his work. Thank you Phil. 
An alternative approach is possible with the Admiralty drawing of the sail plan for HMS Adonis shown in ZAZ6196. Adonis was a Bermuda built schooner, very similar to the slightly smaller Fish class, built soon after the Fish schooners in 1806. It is very likely that the rules for masting of Adonis were the same as those for the Fish class. I took a pragmatic approach and changed the scale of the Adonis drawing so that the waterline length of the hull was reduced and made the same as Whiting. The lengths of the masts and yards taken from this reduced drawing could now be transferred to the Haddock drawing, making allowances for the different angles of the masts and bowsprit. (The length of the main mast with this method is 196mm and Rankine's formula happens to be closest for this dimension.) Adonis also has a different arrangement of jib sails in comparison to the descriptions written by Sub-Lieutenant John Roach in his log book and a few adjustments are needed to allow for this. 
The diameters of the spars apart from the two lower masts and the bowsprit are now found by comparing the answers from the various rules and using judgement. As one example, the maximum diameter of the spread yard had a range from 2.8 to 3.1mm and I chose 3.0mm. The diameter of the jib boom could be between 2.0 and 3.0mm and I chose 2.5mm. It might to possible to find a 'true' answer but this method gives parts which look right and the variation is within modelling tolerances. 

The masts, yards and sails for Whiting are in the drawing below. This is my outline plan. 

The spars now have their lengths and maximum diameters and can be drawn in detail for model making. Similarly, the basic outlines of the sails need to be refined. I am now working on the bowsprit and jib boom and it is taking a lot longer than I anticipated. The current status of the bowsprit is shown below. 

The puzzle that I am tackling now is where to put several eyes on on the bowsprit cap to attach eight ropes, as well as mounting a jack staff and a martingale (dolphin striker). The contemporary sources I have are arguing amongst themselves as usual. 

 

George
 

[georgeband]

It has taken a while and I have completed the woodwork for the bowsprit, cap, jibboom and martingale. The drawings I prepared needed a few tweaks along the way when reality intervened and I have spent an age defining the rigging plan. According to my log this stage of the build took 18 hours though the drawings themselves took about twice that time. 

 

This is the finished article and I will not bore you with all the construction details. 

Here is the tip of the bowsprit from below to show the bees and bee blocks.

My current task is to expand the rigging diagram to include the sizes of ropes. I have modified a spreadsheet table that Phil (Dr PR) originally set up using information from Lees. Lees' scaling rules give a wide range of sizes with some very small differences between them and I am resorting to rounding the figures for three reasons:

1. I cannot believe that a vessel with limited storage space would keep sizes equivalent to model diameters of 0.20  0.21  0.23  0.24  0.25  0.26  0.27mm. (What happened to 0.22mm?)
2. The visual difference between these sizes is too small to see
3. Other tables such as zu Mondfeld give quite different answers. 

As with the spars and sails, the rope sizes are judgement calls. At this time I think I will probably have ropes that go up in steps of 0.1mm diameter, possibly with an extra for 0.25mm. What do others choose in this situation? 

 

George

 

[allanyed]

On 2/25/2024 at 12:15 PM, georgeband said:

Phil has done some outstanding work in Excel to combine all these results and I have drawn heavily on his work. Thank you Phil. 

Just tuned in to your build and am duly impressed with the high quality of your work!   I may have missed the referenced Excel spreadsheet.  Is there a reference to where this can be found in posts by you, Dr. PR or elsewhere?

 

Many thanks George

Allan

Edited April 10 by allanyed

[georgeband]

Allan,

 

Here's a link to Phil's spreadsheet. Use it wisely. I, perhaps unwisely, have modified it for my own purposes and had to guess some sizes for ropes which Lees has not included.  

 

I forgot yesterday to include the drawing of the jibboom that I used for Whiting. It might be useful for a Ballahou builder so here it is. 

 

George

[georgeband]

Back after a long break from model making. Grandchildren take priority because you only get one chance to see them growing and if you miss it then it has gone. A model ship can wait. 

I have spent the last few weeks refreshing my memory about what I had built and what was coming next. I discovered that I had overhauled my supply of blocks and have plenty of 3D printed ones from Seahorse and a lot of redundant wooden blocks. I have expanded my stock of rope with Gutermann threads from a local shop; diameters from 0.2mm to 0.4mm in shades of brown and tan are readily available and cheap. The lay of the strands is a bit looser than the tight rope from Ropes of Scale but at normal viewing distances they are not visible. I have ordered thicker ropes (0.45 tan and 0.6 dark brown) from Ropes of Scale. 

 

The bowsprit and jibboom were assembled when I downed tools in May. I have now tied on most of the rigging and am preparing to mount this spar to the hull. 

 

The photo below shows the ropes that are connected to the jibboom. From the top they are the inhauler, outhauler, horses and stirrups, and martingale. The rope that ties the heel of the jibboom to the bowsprit is also visible. All of these ropes are Gutermann threads. 

The next photo shows ropes connected to the bowsprit cap. Two bowsprit shrouds are attached with 2.5mm deadeyes. There is one deadeye ready for the bobstay but I am waiting for a delivery from Ropes of Scale before I can finish this. I used deadeyes here rather than hearts because I think they look neater and it is quite possible that they were used on Whiting. 

 

George