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

[Louie da fly]

Well, I took a few weeks' break - it'd stopped being fun. One of the problems was that the fore-topgallant yard broke just after I'd tensioned all the lines leading to it. It had been broken when I started repairing the ship, and I'd glued it back together, so of course it failed just as I'd finished all the fiddly stuff attached to it.

 

 

You can see the break in the yard about halfway between the mast and the end. I tried fishing it - you can see the attempted fish is the lighter (straight) piece of wood behind the yard. Didn't work. 

 

So I undid some of the lines, and cut the robands, intending to sew around the fish and hold it to the broken yard. No good.

 

Eventually, I decided the yard was beyond saving, so I removed it and made a new one, whilst cutting as few lies as possible to reduce the work I'd have to do to put it all together again (for example, I kept the sheets and bowlines attached to the sail), so all I'd have to do would be to sew the sail onto the new yard. Nup. No good. I ended up cutting or undoing all the lines - it was just too ridiculously fiddly.

 

 

So I made a whole new yard, sanded it down, made it very pretty but a little thicker than the original so it would be stronger. Added the blocks for the lifts and the clewlines. Looked really good. Left it on the cutting board overnight.

 

Came back in the morning and moved the cutting board further back on the table, then went and did something else. Came back later - where's the yard? GONE!

 

Huge search. Never found it. I think it must have got caught on my sleeve when I moved the cutting board and dropped off somewhere in the house - it certainly wasn't in the workshop.

 

So I gave up and watched Youtube videos for about a week.

 

Day before yesterday I'd recovered enough to start again. Only took me a few hours to complete. So here's the progress of the new topgallant yard (plus blocks).

 

Yard made (with the piece of wood it was carved from off to the left.)

 

One block carved and attached to its strop on one side, plus another block in the process of being made.

 

Second block ready to be cut off and finally shaped.

Yard and all the blocks with strops partly attached (plus two spares, just in case) - with a giant match to show the scale.

 

 

My patented method for holding the strops while they're wrapped around the blocks and the glue dries.

And tightening the strops around the free end.

And ready to attach.

Blocks in place for the lifts.

And finished.

Topsail clewline blocks.

Voila!

 

Naturally, I've put this in a safe place where I can't lose it again. Next step is to attach the sail, add the parrel trucks and attach to the mast. Starting to become fun again.

 

Steven

 

 

 

 

 

[druxey]

Now you've finished its replacement, the lost yard is sure to resurface.... Sorry to read of your frustrating experience. Hopefully smooth sailing from here on.

[Louie da fly]

Thanks everybody for the likes.

 

Druxey - probably - now that its too late . . .  Thanks for the supportive comment.

 

Steven 

[mtaylor]

Excellent recovery, Steven.  I'm glad you were able to make repairs.  You've come to far to walk away from this.

[Louie da fly]

Thanks, mate.

 

Steven

[BANYAN]

Great to see you back Steven and that you didn't let the mishap defeat you.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Louie da fly]

Thanks for all the likes and encouragement. I was never going to give up on this - I'd put too much into it. But I'm glad I took a break - it had stopped being fun and had become a chore.

 

So, here's the progress in getting back to where I was before the topgallant yard broke:

 

First I had to replace the parrel truck - I'd had to destroy it to get the yard off. As I hadn't even understood what parrel trucks were when I first built the model, or how they worked, I just made what they looked like to me from pictures. When replacing this one I basically made it the way it had first been made, by wrapping a thread around the ropes that were to hold it to the mast

 

Sail being attached

A loop around the mast to locate the yard and then roll the "parrel truck" around the mast and fix in place with CA.

    

Replacing the controlling ropes - sheets, clewlines, lifts (I had to unglue the bottom of the shrouds for access to the upper top). Tiny pegs used as weights, to tension the ropes.

   

 

 

Adding the lifts

 

And braces

 

And finished, ready to move forward again.

 

 

Steven

 

Edited October 16, 2022 by Louie da fly

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

   O ....  M ....  Gosh, Steven !   Now you've only got another three masts to outfit.  Note to self:  don't take on a new project in a small scale.

 

Johnny

[Louie da fly]

Just now, Snug Harbor Johnny said:

Note to self:  don't take on a new project in a small scale.

Wish I'd thought of that . . . 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

    Ahoy, Steven !   Check out the latest NRG magazine (if you have access) ... there is a feature on a Henry Grace a Dieu build.  A repair of a Mamoli kit-built Henry with a 3:1 length to beam ratio is compared to a scratch built Henry (the prime subject of the article) with a about a 2:1 ratio (claimed from a period reference).  The builder did a good job and there are a few photos - including lots of scale figures on board.    Johnny

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  G'Day, mate !  Thought you might know about the famous (infamous?) Aussie referred to in the picture below.

 

[Ferrus Manus]

Absolutely unbelievable amount of detail, considering this is a model that could fit in the palm of your hand with room to spare. 

[Louie da fly]

On 2/15/2023 at 8:12 AM, Snug Harbor Johnny said:

G'Day, mate !  Thought you might know about the famous (infamous?) Aussie referred to in the picture below.

Oh, yes. Very famous. There's even an Australian saying "Game [brave] as Ned Kelly". And a lot of rednecks have him as their role model - they have his last words before they  hanged him - "Such is life" - on the back windows of their utes (pickups).

 

And you can get Ned Kelly garden ornaments. Very tacky. There was even a movie about him with Mick Jagger playing Ned (pretty ridiculous - Ned was a big hairy Irish guy with a huge beard, not a weedy little Pommy rock star with big lips.). There's a lot of mythology about Ned, that he was a Robin Hood figure, and tacky theme park stuff at Glenrowan where he had his last stand, but for all his grievances (and yes, he was targeted and harassed by corrupt police) to me he was just a brutal crook and murderer.

   

 

Steven

Edited February 16, 2023 by Louie da fly

[Louie da fly]

1 hour ago, Ferrus Manus said:

considering this is a model that could fit in the palm of your hand with room to spare. 

 

Well, almost . . .

Steven

 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

   'Just gave up on the "Vintage Classic" edition of the Airfix  Cutty Sark 'nominally' 1:130 BUT the true scale is about 1:150 ... somewhere between 1:145 and 1:150 depending on how one figures it.  First off - the plastic used is lousy and bends terribly.  Just trying to get the foremast components together proved that the parts are just not made right.  The topmast and topgallant mast sections are way smaller than the holes in the caps, trestle and top - just no way to get any semblance of fit without remaking all the parts above the first mast section from scratch.  In frustration, it went out with the trash.

 

  Many parts had flash, or were not filled and also misshapen by poor handling after molding OR the mold rate was too fast so the parts were too hot coming out.  Way too many problems, so it makes me wonder if the latter day production was even made from the same molds ...  In short, I consider it unbuildable without investing WAY too much time for a difficult scale to do with finesse - and not even suitable for a young builder.  'Makes me wonder how half the stuff in the Hackney book could even have been done on an 'original' Airfix English-made example.  Yet I note that the same book can be a GREAT learning tool for the Revell 1:96 models (or many other clippers) as far as rigging goes.

 

 This makes the second kit  I've binned at 1:150 scale - the first being the Academy CS, supposedly a 'shrunk down' version of the Imai/Monogram/ Aoshima (all versions from the same molds) 1:120 CS, which is well-regarded by those who parted with the $130 - $160 (US) for what is considered to be a 'rare' kit (which it is).  The Academy 1:150 is molded in 4 colors and is at least buildable, and might be suitable for a youngster wanting to give ship modeling a try.  I note that all the studding sail booms were molded fully extended (just as with the 1:120 version), a very limiting choice on the part of the designers - and most builders cut them for moving to the retracted position (or discard for depicting her in the 'wool trade' years when the studding booms would have been stored below.

 

  'Don't know how you've managed, mate, with the Great Harry at 1:200.  My hat's off on what you've done ... perhaps enough to attain Jedi mastery of the miniature !

[firdajan]

Me too, Steve, but I'm still in awe of what you've did on such a small scale. It´s unbelievable.

 

Jan

[Louie da fly]

Actually, I'm leaving that to others who are much better at it than I am - Javier Baron for one, and there's another out there whose name I disremember who does amazing tiny WWI battleships.

[Ferrus Manus]

Check your chair for the missing yard. I went insane at one point when i lost the GH's sprtsail yard, and it was INSIDE the chair. 

 

Also, wouldn't the foremast braces fall to the aft of the forecastle? 

Edited February 25, 2023 by Ferrus Manus

[Louie da fly]

I can't remember - it's a long time ago, but I either found the yard or discovered it wasn't missing in the first place.

 

1 hour ago, Ferrus Manus said:

Also, wouldn't the foremast braces fall to the aft of the forecastle? 

They do. They each pass through a block on the mainstay/maintop stay/main topgallant stay, and then down to the rail at the side of the weather deck, behind the forecastle

.

 

Steven 

Edited February 25, 2023 by Louie da fly

[Ferrus Manus]

I meant to the aft railing of the forecastle.

[Louie da fly]

Oh, I see. But it doesn't have a railing, and at this point I certainly wasn't going to add one. And cleats at this scale are pretty much impossible.

 

But more importantly, Anderson in "The Rigging of Ships in the Days of the Spritsail Topmast" (which though the period it covers begins 55 years after the Great Harry, is the nearest thing we have to a definitive exposition of the rigging of such ships) basically says there's almost no reliable information on where the foremast braces were belayed, and if anything that it should be to the sides of the ship, just aft of the forecastle. Which is what I've done.

 

Steven

Edited February 25, 2023 by Louie da fly

[Louie da fly]

Well, finally back to work on the Great Harry after more than 4 months without my workspace (in use as a bedroom for a guest).

 

I wondered if spreading PVA (white) glue all over a sail and draping it over a gluestick would give it a better and more consistent shape.

It worked - sort of. But once it dried, the back of the sail was all shiny. So I rubbed it with a damp cloth - seemed to do the trick.

 

So I put it in place, using the original parrel truck which I'd salvaged.

Next job - to make a whole bunch of tiny blocks for the mainmast rigging. Very labour intensive, though I invented some shortcuts. Here's the first 6.

Steven

[Baker]

Welcome back
I did the trick with the pva glue too. With diluted PVA glue and smeared both sides of the sail

[Louie da fly]

Yes. I'm not sure if I should do it to all the rest of the sails, or leave the others as they are for consistency with those on the foremast (though of course having one sail like this and all the rest the other way isn't all that consistent either).

 

I think I'll be able to form the glued-up sail to the final shape I want, once all the rigging lines are added, by wetting it and letting it dry in the new shape.

 

Steven  

[druxey]

Gentle heat forming might be worth experimenting with, rather than wetting the sail.

[Glen McGuire]

6 hours ago, Louie da fly said:

Next job - to make a whole bunch of tiny blocks for the mainmast rigging. Very labour intensive, though I invented some shortcuts. Here's the first 6.

How are you making the blocks and what are your shortcuts?

[BANYAN]

Looks great Steven, a creative solution.  Do you have any concerns that the PVA may be affected by humidity in the future?

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Louie da fly]

Glen, I've been carving the blocks from pearwood with a scalpel (No 11 blade). I drill a row of holes in a thin sheet of wood, (note the grain us running up and down the page in this photo),

using a brass "sequin pin" which is just the right size to let cotton thread through the hole without making the block too big at 1:200 scale.

One thing I have to  do is put the holes far enough from the end so the wood doesn't split. I still ave problems because I'm using a hand drill, and the holes don't always go through at right angles. Better to use a drill press.

 

The shortcuts are simple - set it up so I do as little carving as possible, as that's the most time consuming activity.

 

1. I cut the sheet as close as possible to the proposed thickness of the blocks.

2. I space the holes just the right distance apart, and

3. once they're drilled I cut the end off the sheet close to the holes so I don't have to carve it down,

and 

4. cut between the holes, (again, to reduce the amount of carving I have to do).

 

 

5. Then I carve the individual blocks to shape (the one on the right).

It doesn't always work and the wood still splits too often (I'm pushing the wood to its limit), but that's the general idea.

 

Druxey,  that might be a better technique. I'll have to do some experimenting on a bit of leftover cloth.

 

Steven

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 4, 2023 by Louie da fly

[Louie da fly]

Now putting those blocks to use. 

 

The main topgallant lifts and pendants for the braces:

Main topgallant braces and clewlines:

 

They are currently only held in place with weights (those tiny clothes-pegs) until I finalise how all the ropes interact with each other, so they're all tight at the same time (I hope!)

 

And I had another go at the lifts for the fore topgallant, which were loose and crooked. They look better now. And instead of belaying them to the side of the top I've followed Anderson and belayed them to the topgallant shrouds.

More to come in due course.

 

Steven

 

 

[druxey]

Quite the spider's web now!