Henry Grace a Dieu (Great Harry) by Louie da fly - FINISHED - Scale 1:200 - Repaired after over 50 yrs of neglect

[Louie da fly]

Pat, you've caught me out! Yes, it's an enormous matchstick, made bespoke to fool people. (Maybe I'll put in a ruler as well, for those who can get their heads around that.)

 

Dammit! I just broke the fore topgallant yard again! 

 

Oh well, back to the drawing board. I'm determined to keep the original yard if I can, but it's very annoying having this happen. (My own fault, by the way).

 

Steven

Edited July 18, 2021 by Louie da fly

[Louie da fly]

Finally got the foretopsail yard fixed and sewn to the sail.

 

 

 

And I've now done the lateen sails as well. Here's the complete suit of sails, with yards attached.

 

 

And I've finished gluing ratlines to the lower larboard foremast shrouds.

 

 

Paper from the guide stuck to the shrouds before I put the sticky tape onto it, and glue blobs that stuck between the back of the shrouds and the sticky tape, that had to be removed.

 

  

 

I picked the paper off with tweezers. For the blobs of glue I've used water, rubbing alcohol etc.

 

 

Not a perfect result and I think I'll be revisiting these shrouds to clean them up further. And I'll need to re-think the whole process for the next sets of shrouds and ratlines.

 

Steven

 

[BANYAN]

The suite of sails look great; good effort on perservering with the broken yards.

 

If you are staying with the glue on method Steven, perhaps put some clear 'contact' over the template which will stop the glue sticking to the paper?

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Louie da fly]

5 minutes ago, BANYAN said:

perhaps put some clear 'contact' over the template which will stop the glue sticking to the paper?

 

Yep, I already did that part way through the process, but it brought in its own problems - the glue "blobs" against the contact (well, actually I used sticky tape, but the effect is the same).

 

Steven

[Louie da fly]

Doing a test piece to see if I can make deadeyes small enough for the foretopmast shrouds. I found card just wasn't structurally capable of dealing with this size, even when impregnated with glue, so I've moved to plastic - the lid of a container of "Nature's Cuppa" - a coffee replacement drink with no caffeine (don't get me wrong; I still drink coffee, but only now and then as a treat.)

 

Here's one of the deadeyes:

 

 

Or in metric:

 

 

and the two deadeyes with lanyards:

 

 

and if you speak metric . . .

 

 

and in my fingers (note Landström's The Ship as the background):

 

 

 

I think I've pretty much hit the limit for small deadeyes, at least with the technology available to me. Fairly labour-intensive, too 

 

Steven 

 

[BANYAN]

So your found an awfully big ruler too...clever lad!   Seriously though Steven, that deadeye is almost microscopic; and I thought I was working small stuff.  Nice work.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[henrythestaffy]

If you want the round deadeyes i could try and print some for you

[Louie da fly]

1 hour ago, henrythestaffy said:

If you want the round deadeyes i could try and print some for you

 

Thanks, mate. Unfortunately I'm stuck with triangular deadeyes. That's what they had in the 16th century. But I appreciate the offer.

 

Steven

[henrythestaffy]

I figured you would want the more accurate ones. I have had a look on thingiverse.com and i reckon a guitar pick would be a good model to use for a block. When i get home this arvo i will have a fiddle around with fusion 360 and see whether i can create something. Its good practise for me as i am not very good at creating my own models yet.

[Louie da fly]

That'd be great, mate. With your use of the word arvo, I assume you're in Oz?

 

Steven

[henrythestaffy]

Sorry i should have said. Just down the road in sunny Portland.

[Louie da fly]

That's only 230 km away as the crow flies. You're right - just down the road! 

 

Steven

[druxey]

I had coffee with a friend for the first time since covid this morning. He quoted from a T.S. Eliot poem that I thought was perfect for you:

 

Bowsprit cracked with ice and paint cracked with heat.
I made this, I have forgotten
And remember.
The rigging weak and the canvas rotten
Between one June and another September.
Made this unknowing, half conscious, unknown, my own.
The garboard strake leaks, the seams need caulking.

 

The poem is called, appropriately, Marina.

[Louie da fly]

Henry, if you're able to use a guitar pick as a model, would it also be possible to put the holes in?(the hardest part for me!)

 

Steven

[henrythestaffy]

I will have a crack. I didnt get very far with it yesterday but i reckon i know what went wrong and i will try again today.

[henrythestaffy]

Steven, i have designed a triangular deadeye that may work. What sizes were you after?

[henrythestaffy]

Steven, here is a photo of a 2mm and 3mm deadeye. You can see there is some distortion on the bottom of each one where it was attached to the build plate. I can fix that by elevating them off the plate with supports. The ends were rounded on the model but i will need to increase the radius on these small ones. If you like the look of them let me know what size and how many you need.

[henrythestaffy]

Here is an improved version Steven. I rounded the sides to give them more of the guitar pick shape.

[Keith Black]

Henry, the uniformity at that scale is amazing!

[druxey]

That is pretty impressive, Henry.Can you describe the process you use to get that result, please?

[henrythestaffy]

Druxey

            I don’t want to hijack Steven’s log, it might be better for me to start a new page outlining what I did. These dead eyes were just a chance for me to have a go at designing something from scratch. I usually use other people’s models to print. If Steven is happy with the results then they are his to have. I can scale them up or down to suit or change the shape. If people are interested in how to set up their printer and where to place supports etc. I can help with that. If it’s more about designing your own models then I am probably not the right person to ask.

[Louie da fly]

Wow! I mean, just wow!

 

The sides don't need to be rounded, mate - just the corners. 

 

What kind of plastic are you using for your 3d printing?

 

I'd need probably 24 x 2mm deadeyes - but is it possible to make them 1mm as well, or is that asking too much of the technology? If it's possible, I'm going to need lots - probably more than 70(!)

 

At the moment I'm having problems getting the glue to hold the strops to the deadeyes - I've tried CA and it just doesn't work. I've tried Tarzan's Grip, but it's too gooey. I'm going to try polystyrene cement when I can get some (i.e. after lockdown stops), and even PVA -even though it doesn't stick plastic it might hold the two sides of the strop together.

 

Thanks so much for what you've been doing, Henry. Very much appreciated.

 

 

[BANYAN]

Hi Steven what CA were you using?  Often I find the types used by many modellers just don't want to work that well with some media.  I have had good results with Locktite versions.  May be worth a try (can get them at Bunnings)

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Louie da fly]

Thanks, Pat.

 

I'll try Bunnings (when I'm allowed to go there). 

 

Steven

[henrythestaffy]

Steven, here are the 2mm deadeyes a little more rounded on the corners and some 1mm efforts that are fair but i think we can do better. The deformity on the vase if the supports is due to the build plate coming a little loose. I also think i can try a smaller support on the 1mm deadeye. What do you think about the shape? Are they closer to what you wanted?

[BANYAN]

Henry (you or the staffy?

 

Nice work, you are getting some really nice definition on these deadeyes, especially the 2mm ones..

 

cheers

 

Pat

[henrythestaffy]

Thanks Pat,

                      I am having another go at the 1mm version as we speak. I will take Henry (the staffy) for his morning walk and when we get back they should be done.

 

Paul

[henrythestaffy]

Steven here is the 1mm deadeye up close. It seems to have come out pretty good with the smaller support. I printed 128 of them. I dont envy you trying to thread them.

[Tony Hunt]

That is awesome.

[Louie da fly]

Good grief! That's nothing short of amazing! Thanks so much, Paul.

 

I don't envy me, either. I doubt ordinary cotton will go through those holes. It looks like I need to check out fly-tying thread. I know BFC doesn't carry it - I'll have to go to the dedicated fishing shop in town. Fortunately we're able to go to the shops tomorrow! (Yay!)

 

Steven