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

[Louie da fly]

On 3/22/2023 at 10:15 PM, druxey said:

I only ever had to do martnets once, and even at a much larger size (1:48) they were tough enough. I'm amazed at how well you've managed them at such a small scale.

I cheat. 

[Louie da fly]

More work on the martnets. As there are two sets of them, I've now started on the lower set. Six ropes to a martnet - actually three both sides of a deadeye, and the two deadeyes joined by a rope that passes through a block. 

As you can see . . .

The rope holding the block passes through the sister block, and down to do the same job on the front of the sail. Not a terribly good photo, but if you look hard you can see the block at the end of a rope passing over the yard - and another rope passing through the block, with a deadeye on each end. Getting the lengths of these ropes was a particular problem - too long or too short and the proportions would be all wrong. 

Starboard side. Again, difficult to see, but the rope with the block on the end passes over the yard and down at the right of the photo, with the rope with the deadeyes passing through it. On the left are the other ends of the martnet behind the sail with a small peg holding them together. The picture is further confused by the presence of the starboard bowline tackle, stating at the edge of the sail and passing to the right. 

Front side of the upper starboard martnet, with the bowline passing in front of it.

Rear larboard martnets - both of them. Intentionally left loose until I have everything sorted out.

 

And a closer view

 

 

 

SO many ropes!

 

Steven

 

PS: And what I'm listening to? Bruch's violin concerto No. 1

 

And for a touch of the sublime, Kol Nidrei 

 

 

No, I can't work on the model while I listen to this. It would be wrong. 

 

Edited March 25, 2023 by Louie da fly

[Glen McGuire]

1 hour ago, Louie da fly said:

SO many ropes!

That's an understatement, Steven.  Wow.  Very impressive work sorting everything out so far.

[mtaylor]

Wow.. you are taking a "rebuild" to a whole new level.  

[Louie da fly]

On 3/26/2023 at 11:33 AM, mtaylor said:

Wow.. you are taking a "rebuild" to a whole new level.  

Unfortunately, you're right. Dunno what I was thinking.

 

Anyhow, more on the main martnets. I'm getting up to the make-break point of getting these to look right. There are so many variables - three blocks interacting each side of the sail, all of which have to have their tackle exactly right, plus the martnets themselves have to be the right length - all of them - or some will be loose and some will be tight.

 

Ideally, the martnets (and perhaps some of the other ropes in this assembly) should have a nice smooth catenary curve under the influence of gravity, but the cotton thread has too much "bounce" to be able to do that, so instead I have to make them all taut.

 

So, here we go. All the martnets are now in place, and just (just???) need to be adjusted so they look right.

 

Starboard martnets - front of sail

Port martnets - front of sail

Port martnets - rear of sail

I've worked out that, against my inclinations, I'll have to glue the ropes coming down from the sister block (or fiddle block - same thing) to the yard, to hold everything in place so I can get it all looking right. It won't be obvious, and I've come to the conclusion that it's the only way to make it happen. The shiny gold peg in the picture above is holding the rope in place as the glue dries.

 

And I've pulled the sheets of the topsail tight and led them down to the bitts before the mainmast. This photo shows it before gluing in place. The loose ends will be cut off when the glue's dry.

 

 

And listening to Scott Joplin's only surviving opera - Treemonisha - 

 

 

Steven 

Edited March 28, 2023 by Louie da fly

[Louie da fly]

I wasn't satisfied with the larboard martnets so I started to try fixing them up. Bad mistake. I ended up stuffing them up and having to pull them off and re-do them completely. Sigh. You live and learn, and sometimes you just live without learning . . .

 

Larboard martnets from in front. You can see the little dabs of white glue at the joins. All seemingly going well. Little did I know . . .*

 

One thing, though. My bright idea of continuing the after martnets through the edge of the sail and using the same cotton to do the aft and fore martnets (I thought it would save work) was a bad idea. It just made everything more complicated and harder to adjust. So I've gone back to basics and just doing the after martnets as one set, and then I'll do the fore ones separately. Once the martnets are all done, I'll be free to do the braces.

 

In the meantime I've added the halyards and tyes to the mizzen and bonaventure mizzen masts. I had to fake it - there's no way I could drill a hole through those masts for a sheave, even a fake one, without breaking the masts - they're far too thin. So I looped the cotton around the mast and glued it in place where the sheave would otherwise have been. Yes, it's not correct, but only I will know (and you of course). Here you can see the knights and blocks for the halyards, each in front of its appropriate mast. Unfortunately in fitting the mizzen knight I broke the railing for the stairs down from the upper deck. So now I have to fix that!

And here she is in a longer view. Starting to look pretty good.

 

Steven

 

* Or as Neddy Seagoon said in "Tales of Old Dartmoor" "Little do they know of the little that I know of the little that they know. If I knew a little of the little that they know, I'd know a little. I'll have to keep my little ears open, you know!"

Edited April 1, 2023 by Louie da fly

[druxey]

Yes, I can see why your mind would drift to the Goon Show while working on this rigging job! I, too, would have thought that the combined fore and aft martnets would have been a bright idea. Too bad practice did not equal theory.

[BANYAN]

Wow Steven, what a transformation from that 'tired' older model you started with.  Your efforts (and drudgery) are paying dividends.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[mtaylor]

I think it looks great, Steven.  As for even smaller bits you're adding... I'm reminded of this old saying: "don't sweat the small stuff as it's all small stuff".

[Louie da fly]

On 4/2/2023 at 10:19 AM, BANYAN said:

what a transformation from that 'tired' older model you started with. 

Well, I have to agree. This is how she was when I started the restoration. The lower starboard shrouds for the foremast did exist  but were not on the ship, and the larboard main shrouds were only attached loosely, and without ratlines. Not to mention the lack of a lower hull, among other things. 

Latest progress:

 

I've now fixed the railing above the companionway which I broke trying to insert the mizzen knight (also in the picture, along with its halyard). The railing looks a little crooked, but I'm pretty sure that's just the photo.

 

And here's the bonaventure knight  with halyard.

Working on the "parrel truss" (really just made out of cotton).

Starboard martnets complete; now both front and back of the sail are done on this side.

The rear martnets for the larboard side, loosely fitted.

And the martnets for the front of the sail, loosely fitted.

Tightening up the rear martnets and gluing

  

Loose ends trimmed off.

And now it's time for the mizzen parrel truck to come into its own:

All ready to put in place and hoist the sail.

 

At which point I realise I've painted the lateen sail's "cloth of gold" decoration on the WRONG SIDE. It will be facing away from the viewer when the ship's on display. And that applies to ALL the lateens - five of them!

 

Looks like I'll have to get the paints out again . . . 

 

Time for a cup of tea, a Bex* and a nice lie down . . .

 

Steven

 

* Aussie reference. It was a TV slogan for a headeache powder back in the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[druxey]

Display the other side of the model instead, perhaps?

[Louie da fly]

Too late for that, I'm afraid. I'm committed to having the ship seen from the starboard side - the sign on the stand is on that side, all the square sails are aligned to be seen from the right - I'm pretty much stuck.

 

Well, I've figured out I can put each lateen up against the window and trace the patterns onto the other side of the sail, and then paint over the tracing. Not as much work as I'd feared.

 

Steven

[Louie da fly]

And here they are, all done. Took about a day in all.

 

I started with the smallest sails first, to get myself into the habit.

And then the lower bonaventure sail; here it is with the pattern raced from the other side in pencil and partly painted.

And here they all are, with the pattern painted on the correct side.

 

Steven

 

 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  On many period fabrics (and true to the present day) patterns can be seen on both sides when colored threads are part of the weave.  Of course, there is a "good side" (where the decoration looks best) and the "back side" - OK, but not as attractive as the front. 

[Glen McGuire]

Those sails look great, Steven.  What kind of paint did you use?

[druxey]

Well done - again!

[mtaylor]

Very well done, Steven.   

[Louie da fly]

10 hours ago, Snug Harbor Johnny said:

On many period fabrics (and true to the present day) patterns can be seen on both sides when colored threads are part of the weave.  Of course, there is a "good side" (where the decoration looks best) and the "back side" - OK, but not as attractive as the front. 

Agreed, but I doubt very much that these sails were made that way. I'd be very surprised if the patterns weren't just painted on. I did consider painting both sides of all the sails when I first started out, but decided (a) it was too much trouble and (b) back in the day they almost certainly only painted the front of the sail - the part that would be most visible. Issues of time and money - this was, after all, just an exercise in impressing the public with one's wealth and status - no need to go overboard on expense for little extra result. I just checked one of the more famous examples of this activity - the so-called Beauchamp Pageant - an illustrated record of the life of the Earl of Warwick, from the late 15th century. His personal ship had a mainsail painted with his coat of arms, and it's shown several times in the pictures. However, every time it's shown the mainsail is seen from the front (even though the ship is seen from the stern), and I still think that would be the only side that was painted. Sorry about the quality of the pic, by the way. That's how it is in the original document. I believe it was drawn out in the contemporary equivalent of pencil (possibly lead or silver-tipped stylus) with the intention of coming back and colouring it, but it never got done.

 

10 hours ago, Glen McGuire said:

Those sails look great, Steven.  What kind of paint did you use?

Cheap acrylic paints in tubes from the local art supplies shop, and a fine-tipped watercolour brush. They've served me well over the years.

 

By the way, thanks everybody for the likes and supportive comments.

 

Steven

[druxey]

Looks like silverpoint, Steven.

[Louie da fly]

Yes, very likely. This is an interesting vessel, with interesting differences from carracks of other nations.

 

Oh, and I had another thought regarding painting a coat of arms on the back of the sail as well as the front - coats of arms usually aren't symmetrical - the one above isn't - so if you "trace through" the sail you get a mirror image of the coat of arms, and it's no longer the Earl of Warwick's.

 

By the way, his daughter was the wife of Richard Neville, who himself became Earl of Warwick, and is known as "Warwick the Kingmaker", due to his influence during the Wars of the Roses. Neville was also father-in-law of Richard III and also of Richard's brother George, Duke of Clarence who, according to the source of all historical wisdom 1066 and All That, "finding that his name was Clarence, had himself drowned in a spot of Malmsey wine."

 

Steven

Edited April 9, 2023 by Louie da fly

[Louie da fly]

I got sneaky - put all the rigging on the mizzen lateen sail and yard before putting it in place. It took a lot of preparatory reading and working out what to put where, but it was worth it. 

Martnets. I hadn't realised I was going to have to do more of these rotten things, but I'm actually starting to get pretty good at it. Oh, and note to Druxey - it is easier to have fore and aft martnets right from the start after all - you just have to have your head around the process. Here are the martnets for the two sides of the sail.

Brails (only one side shown, but they're on both sides of the sail)

Two-sheaved block for the downhauls of the martnets.

The tackle for the lifts under way. (I later found out I'd misread Anderson and added an extra unnecessary rope to this assembly and had to take it off again).

And the lateen in place, with the lift assembly put together. I think that looks pretty cool . . . 

I don't want to put the curse on it, but I'm finally starting to get the idea that the end of the project is coming into (distant) sight. Four more lateen sails, the spritsail and its rigging, flags and a bit of tidy up. Still plenty to do, but it's the first time I've felt that I'm actually going to complete this thing!

 

Steven

 

Steven

[Keith Black]

 It does look cool. 

[druxey]

We are cheering you on to the finish line, Steven!

[Glen McGuire]

Superb work, particularly on those Martnets!

[Knocklouder]

All around the world 🌎,  people are cheering you on. Well done Mate !!        

[mtaylor]

By jove, I think you got this!!!!  

[Louie da fly]

Working on the mainsail braces. I already had three eyebolts I'd made earlier. I needed two for the braces and another two for the sheets. So just one more to make.

 

Eyebolts in place, starboard and port sides. I drilled holes in the bulwarks for the standing and free ends, glued the free end through one hole and the eyebolt through the other.

  

I came up against problems caused by an earlier decision I'd made. When I put on the lower stays for the mizzen and bonaventure masts, each was to be tensioned with a pair of deadeyes. I thought at the time I was being clever by leaving them a bit loose (to allow for things moving), but when it came to tightening them they wouldn't tighten. In each case I couldn't get the lanyards to move through the holes in the deadeyes, so I ended up with loose loops of lanyard.

 

Mizzen stay

 

Bonaventure stay

 

To fix the mizzen stay I had to cut the lanyards and completely remove the lower end of the stay and its deadeye. Turns out even when the deadeye was available I couldn't get the lanyard out of it - it was stuck fast - perhaps glued into position. Having a good look at the deadeye I realised why. It was one of my earlier attempts, made of pear wood. It had split (as most of them did) and I'd glued it back together. The lanyards passing through the holes got stuck by contact with the (supposedly dried) glue, so of course I couldn't tighten them. Here is the deadeye (both sides) after I'd re-drilled the holes. It was obviously beyond redemption.

   

However, I was fortunate enough to have made quite a few second generation deadeyes out of card, which I'd never used. I grabbed one of these, made a new lower end for the stay and added the lanyards, this time tightening them to the length I wanted. Because cotton thread is springy, I made them straight by soaking them with a weak solution of  PVA (white) glue and putting the whole assembly under tension.

  

I hadn't been all that thrilled with the lower end of the stay anyway - I'd had it go around the mast on an angle, which I wasn't sure was correct (I'm still not sure). But this time I put a "collar" on the mast, merged with one of the wooldings, but with a tiny loop in it, just big enough for the end of the stay to pass through. Then I pulled the free end off to one side and temporarily clamped the end to the shrouds to make the whole assembly tight, and glued the halyard into place in its loop on the collar.

When the glue was dry I ran the free end around the mast over the top of the woolding (to make it more secure), glued it in place and trimmed it to length.

 

The next project was another repair, also of a lanyard, but this one had come adrift. It was on the halyard for the mainsail. I think I'd trimmed it to length and the glue must have come unstuck so the end of the lanyard came back out of the hole in the knight. You can see it in the photo below - with the red circle around it.

A much harder proposition. I agonised over how I was going to fix it. I didn't have enough free end to thread it back through the hole, and it probably wouldn't have gone through anyway. Add to that the springy nature of the cotton thread, it really didn't want to co-operate at all.

 

I thought of several possible solutions, none of which I was happy with - and they probably wouldn't have worked anyway. Finally I did something simple - it's cheating but it worked well enough for me to be happy with it. I soaked the free end of the lanyard with water so it wasn't springy any more, then clamped the bottom down with a tiny peg so it was running down the face of the knight, just where it would have been if it was doing its duty properly. (Keep in mind that I was having to put my hand in this tiny space past a multitude of ropes, none of which I wanted to disturb). I put glue on the lanyard to fix it to the face of the knight, then washed most of it off with a wet watercolour paintbrush.

      

I haven't yet sorted out the bonaventure stay. That has to wait till next time.

 

In the meantime, here she is in her current state.

 

Steven

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 14, 2023 by Louie da fly

[druxey]

Great solutions to the issues you've mentioned!

[rshousha]

Wow, this is such an interesting project; it is like reaching back in time and meeting up with your younger self. We should all be so lucky at some point in our lives. 

 

Edited April 14, 2023 by rshousha

[Louie da fly]

I realised I'd forgotten to thank everybody for the supportive and encouraging comments. So, thanks everyone, for those and for the likes. Very much appreciated.

 

Steven