Bluenose by hamilton - 1:64 p.o.b. - from MS plans

[Fubarelf]

You’ve built a beautiful model Hamilton!

[Paul Le Wol]

Nice!!!. Love those deck shots.

[hamilton]

Thanks Gregg, Fubarelf and Paul - it's been a long and fun journey and still a little bit further to go - I have until April or May to finish it, really and considering how much making rope coils to hang off the belaying pins is dreary work (for me anyway), I'm happy to do 2-3 a week until then! 

 

With this stage of the Bluenose reached, I may turn my attention back to the HMS Bellona, which is currently at the stage of first planking. But given that Bluenose is the first model I've brought this close to completion since 2016 I'm pretty happy with the results so far! I think a bit of a hiatus from modelling has done me good and now I feel that old enthusiasm for it returning. 

hamilton

[GGibson]

43 minutes ago, hamilton said:

...I may turn my attention back to the HMS Bellona, which is currently at the stage of first planking...

 

I am not familiar with the HMS Bellona or its history (74 guns?!?  😲), but just looked at your log and it's a beauty!  Your build there is looking great so far, as well! 

Edited October 29, 2023 by GGibson

[hamilton]

Thanks Gregg - that means I've been successful at hiding my mistakes! I've had that kit for a while but have been a bit too intimidated to build it. I haven't done anything with it since I picked Bluenose back up i think back in January, but now I'll return to it with some gusto!

hamilton

[hamilton]

Well - now I feel like I've already presented the big reveal even before the model is actually done....but as noted before, I still have a few little things. This week I installed the fore boom crutch, the sheer poles on the lower shrouds (photo below shows sheer pole clamped to the fore & aft-most shrouds to facilitate lashing them to the central two - clips are then removed and other lashings added) and tonight I took an hour after dinner and completed the running lights, which I knocked together from some 1/8" dowel and 3/64" x 3/16" lime. I could not figure out how these would have been actually installed on the shrouds, so I ended up drilling a couple of holes in the back face of the lights and lashing them onto the shrouds. Pictures follow

hamilton

 

[helmarsowick]

I was wondering if you can help me.

The rigging knots for main gaff blocks going to the mast. I'm a relative beginner and can't find anything on the rigging of these. Can you help or do you have someone to recommend?

Thanks

Helmar Sowick

[hamilton]

Hello Helmar:

 

Are you talking about the blocks on the gaff for the main peak halliard (photo below)? If so, you need to attach 3 slings to the gaff, which are held in place by small wooden chocks attached slightly to port and starboard on the bottom of the gaff (as shown on the plans). The peak halliard blocks are then seized onto these.

 

My approach was to first seize a length of tan rigging thread to the gaff by the pair of chocks at the end of the gaff (the seizing should be on the outward side of the chocks so when the halliard is tied on the sling gets pulled snugly against the chock and held in place) - I used lengths that are much longer than required as this makes the process easier. Once that was on, I ran a small blackened brass ring onto the sling (this was used to seize the halliard block onto), and then looped the other end around the gaff at the next set of chocks towards the mast (again, on the outward side for pressure), seized this loop and then pulled the loose end of the sling through the seizing until it was a reasonable size, then sealed the seizing with a bit of diluted wood glue. This process was repeated two more times for the other slings on the main gaff.

 

To rig the blocks, I seized them to the brass rings on the gaff slings. The halliard runs from deck-level on one side through the blocks on the mast and the gaff and ends in a tackle on the other side as per the plans.

 

It is very difficult to describe in words alone how to do this....There may be a topic thread in the rigging section of MSW that shows how to do some basic operations - like stropping blocks and seizing lines. I know I was deeply confused about these terms when I started modelling. Hopefully this descriptive account can help a bit....

hamilton

 

 

[KeithAug]

27 minutes ago, helmarsowick said:

I was wondering if you can help me.

Helmar

 

You might want to get "The Gaff Rig Handbook" by John Leather. You can usually find a second hand copy at a decent price. It will give you a lot of information on rigging.

[Dziadeczek]

I found something like this online:

Main Gaff Rigging - The Suburban Ship Modeler

Would it help?

(Sorry for intruding into your conversation).   😕

[hamilton]

Hello again Helmar:

 

Here is a link to a thread here on MSW that has some images of a seizing process - not the same one I use, but with better results! Hope this can help, too if that's the kind of help you're looking for....

 

hamilton