Yacht America by flyer - FINISHED - Mamoli - scale 1:66 - with some alterations

[flyer]

...and was Her Majesty amused?

 

Thanks JPAM

[flyer]

The bobstay was now set up below the jib stay tackle. I used 0.5 black thread and set up a 0.25 natural thread tackle to a block on its own eyebolt on the bow.

The bowsprit shrouds were next. Unfortunately I found only 3 of the 4 needed cast thimbles in the kit. The good news were 4 wooden hearts in about the right size which I could localise in my 'leftovers drawer'. For the shrouds I used 0.75 black with 0.25 natural thread for the lanyards.

 

bobstay and jib stay tackle

 

wooden hearts for the bowsprit shrouds

 

In between the work on the bow the main topmast standing rigging was installed. The topmast stay was made of 0.5 black thread and set up as instructed by the kit. That rope triangle for the forward end seemed a bit strange was however the logical solution with the 'eyed rings' provided by the kit.

 

fore mast head with schooner stay and main topmast stay

 

Generally, while working on the rigging, I was occasionally in a dilemma. According to the sources, the aim of the ship builder was to provide a relatively simple rig, taking a New York pilot schooner as a model. On the other hand some of the kit's proposals were rather complicated such as this stays forward end or the bobstay. I was looking for technically plausible solutions with the available material but as my clever books (Lees and others) mainly cover the period up to 1830 I was sometimes lost at sea.

Anyhow, that the main topmast has no shrouds seemed correct. However those prominent backstays definitely were incorrect and to leave them off, as other kits propose, I thought inappropriate. Either to leave the topmast  bare or to have supports forward and aft seemed more logical. I therefore balanced the topmast stay with a pair of backstays attached to the lower deadeye of the lower mast shrouds. This isn't an open contradiction to the contemporary paintings and is covered by Marquardt's book. The 0.5 black thread of the backstays was set up with wooden thimbles (from the 'leftovers drawer') and a 0.25 natural lanyard.

 

topmast backstay lower end

 

Now the jib boom inner end was fixed. An additional bolt through the ears on the bowsprit betting and the rear end of the jib boom holds it.

 

jib boom inner end

 

Installing the dolphin striker wasn't easy as I was unable to identify that part in the kit's box. After several tries I made one of  0,8mm brass wire. Of course the eye on the bowsprit broke when I installed it (one of those days) but could be replaced with an eyebolt. The martingale stay is 0.5 mm black thread and the two back ropes 0.25. I used some Amati 3mm blocks to set up the lanyard made of 0.1 mm natural thread. Finally the jib boom guys (not sure if that's the correct name) were set up with 0.25 natural thread. I decided against the use of 'tarred' rope as they are put directly to cleats.

 

dolphin striker with martingale stay and back ropes

 

standing rigging completed (except a few loose ends)

[hamilton]

Like the way you set up the topmast backstays - I followed the kit plans but I think yours look much better!

hamilton

[flyer]

Thank you Hamilton.

 

The previously built Pickle and several clever books are a great help for me.

 

Cheers and a happy new year to all

peter

[flyer]

booms, anchors, boats

The booms were constructed as instructed by the kit. The only little addition were the iron (cartridge paper) hoops to hold the tongues of the gaff.

 

boom and gaffs

 

detail of the gaff

 

The anchors were installed as instructed by the kit. The anchor chain hanging over the bulwark and chafing on the lanyards of the bowsprit rigging seems a bit strange but I couldn't think of a better arrangement except just letting the anchor hang outboard below the hawse pipe. However there it would cause some drag which should be avoided in this racing machine. Another question was how the anchors were handled as no permanent gear is installed. Being comparatively small I guess they were manhandled with the help of some temporary tackles.

 

anchors stowed

 

the chain will probably chafe on the bowsprit rigging

 

I will install two boats as depicted for example in John Rousmaniere's book. I ordered 2 quaicraft model boats with a length of 83mm in scale 1/64. The raw boats show acceptable details and seem about right in size and style for America. However the first painted example looked too much like plastic. After dismantling again the small decks and the thwarts were made from wood and some details were added, such as a rudder, a water barrel, boathook and oars which are leftovers from other kits and a mast.

Now I have to find out how to attach the boats to my cast metal Amati davits and how to install all on America.

 

raw and finished boat - in the background a mock up for the installation of davits and boats

[Mirabell61]

Hi Peter,

 

Those ships boats look very good  

 

Nils

Edited January 1, 2017 by Mirabell61

[Martin W]

That's a big improvement on the boat, Peter.  The details of the boathook, barrel, & rope really do make nice touches.

 

Happy new year to you -- let's hope '17 improves on its predecessor (somehow, anyhow).

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[hamilton]

Hi Peter!

 

Happy New Year. The ship's boat looks great - have you decided how to add it? I haven't seen any images that might act as guidance but if I come across any I'll send them your way....

hamilton

[flyer]

Thank you Nils.

 

Martin, it should improve. There were some rumours that at least you will very soon live in a great country (again)!? (This baffles me a bit as I always found it to be a great country - with room for some improvements, but great anyway).

 

Hamilton, thanks. Yes, the boats will be hanging from iron davits, roughly amidships and outboards. There are illustrations in Rousmaniere's book showing such an arrangement.

 

And a very happy new year to all of you!

peter

[flyer]

Running rigging; setting sail

 

The first sail to set was the schooners main sail, the spanker. Trying to make the sail with the fabric provided with the kit didn't work - it was too flimsy. I couldn't mark the seams with pencil as the fabric was too elastic and deformed under the pencil.

 

Therefore I took the same - a bit stiffer - cotton I used for Pickles sails. As Americas sails were made of cotton I didn't dye it.

All the seams between the clothes of the sail, as well as the reef bands and doubling in the corner were marked with a thin pencil.

 

The hem was glued with the bolt rope put into it. To make cringles the bolt rope was taken out of the hem for a short distance. Trying to use the brass grommets from the kit did not provide good results and I made traditional clew cringles. I know, that especially between foot and luff, most probably a grummet inside the bolt rope was used but for simplicity I reverted to the old fashioned cringle.

 

Now stripes for tablings and reef bands were cut and glued onto the sail. Finally the reef points were thread into the bands and the whole sail well ironed to fix the glue.

 

 

sail maker at work

 

it's a huge sail

[Mirabell61]

nice looking sail making Peter,

 

Nils

[Martin W]

Great to hear from you again, Peter.  And that's a great sail!

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[hamilton]

The sail looks amazing! Way better than the ratty ones I made....I would love to see a detailed tutorial on your approach!

hamilton

[flyer]

Hi Nils and Martin

 

Thank you for the visit and the compliment.

 

 

Hi Hamilton

 

Ratty? Your sails look great to me.

 

But I think it's very difficult to make seams truly in a scale of 1/64 or similar. That's why I just paint them on with a sharp pencil. The same is true for the boltrope which may look a bit plump when stitched onto the edge of the sail. Gluing it onto that edge is something I never figured how to do. Therefore I glue it into the hem. This is another idea I found in a thread in MSW which I cannot find again. My way of sail making is just a few combined ideas adopted from MSW. A tutorial could therefore have a smell of plagiarism. But you will find more details in my Pickle log and I can try to show a step by step progress when making one of the following sails.

 

And of course pencilling and gluing is quite fast and easily done.

 

The question remains however, how my sails will stand the onslaught of time. The pencilled lines probably will fade but I hope that at least the glue will hold for a few decades. Stitched sails on the other hand could keep in shape for centuries.

 

 

Cheers

peter

[Blue Ensign]

Just caught up on your build Peter, the full shot pic shows what fine lines she has, and what a fine model she is.

Nice mod work on the ships boat, and your sail looks excellent to me  

 

Good stuff.

 

B.E.

[flyer]

To set the sail I mainly followed the kit's instructions. Exceptions are the lashings of the sail to the mast hoops. I prepared double holes in the hem of the sail for a double lashing according to an example in Lees' book. I use a thick pin to puncture the sail fabric also for reef points.

 

An additional feature is the single horse I added on the part of the boom overhanging the stern.

 

And whenever I use rigging hooks I take some leftover Caldercraft or Victory parts.

 

I'm still asking myself if there shouldn't be a down hauler on the gaff to assist the handling of that large sail. On the other hand I believe that the rigging was intentionally kept as simple as possible. There are also no brails on the spanker and they probably just could have used the sail to pull down the gaff. This simple rigging seems to match the illustrations in 'The low black schooner'.

 

gaff rigged

 

lashing to the hoops

 

mast foot and boom

 

single horse rigged

 

quite an impressive main sail

[husky1943]

Hey Peter,

 

Love your build. It is beautiful.  Wow, what a view you have!

 

Ciao for now

Rob

[Kelp]

Peter,

 

Fantastic work on the sail!  Your model is looking great.

 

Don

[flyer]

Next was the gaff topsail.

First I pondered about the way of setting it. On the newer pictures in Rousmanieres book its luff is attached to the topmast but the kit sets it 'flying'. As actual work up on the topmast could be difficult without ratlines to go there or crosstrees to stand on I followed the simpler kit version as seeming more probable for the original racing version.

 

The sail was first drawn on paper and then its size checked against the model.

 

Then the sail was drawn with pencil on both sides of a piece of fabric. The material for the hems is added along the sides. The seams between the clothes are just double pencil lines.

 

A stripe for the tablings was also marked.

 

A problem was one wrongly drawn line (Of course one of the last on the second side - greetings from Mr. Murphy). First I tried to rub or scratch it off. This just got me a dirty, scratched sail with the line still there but made me a bit more optimistic for the longevity of my pencilled seams. Then I found that with luck I could cover that offending mistake with the hem and so made it disappear.

 

All the edges where I would cut with my the scissors were now soaked with diluted textile glue to avoid fraying.

After drying sail and stripe were cut with the sharpest scissors I could find in the house. The hems were pre-bent to facilitate gluing.

 

The bolt rope, with a strength of 0,5mm, was laid into the hem, glue added and the hem closed around the bolt rope. The hem was pressed with the rear end of a pair of tweezers to improve the connection between fabric and glue.

The boltrope was lead around the corners, leaving some extra length to form a cringle and the procedure repeated for all sides. (If e.g. reef cringles were requested along one side I would just puncture the edge of the sail twice with my strong pin, lead the boltrope outside the hem for a few mm, with some slack in it, and then continue inside the hem again.) Again I decided to use classical cringles on the corners instead of the kit supplied brass grommets.

 

The freshly glued hems were pressed while drying.

 

Then the tablings were cut to size, glued onto the sail and pressed again. The cringles got a small lashing to fix them.

Now the finished sail was well ironed to fix the glue.

 

And then some expressions - not to be repeated before this noble gathering here - where heard.  When I tried to rig the finished sail it was too large - despite the earlier test with the drawing. I had to redo the leech and cut off the width of one cloth in the process. A good soaking with water fortunately weakened the textile glue enough to enable me to pull off the tablings again and to reopen the hem.

 

 

sail drawn on paper...

 

...and on both sides of the fabric. That fabric is light enough that you may pencil along the lines on the paper, just visible through it.

 

lines to cut soaked with diluted glue

 

sail (and stripe for tablings) cut, first hem pre-bent

 

bolt rope inside of the hem

 

some glue added

 

pressing the fresh hem to improve adhesion

 

corner with cringle

 

homemade sail press

 

finished sail with tablings

[flyer]

The gaff topsail is set and it draws. I made two little changes to the kits instructions.

 

The tack was led from the sheave on the outer part of the gaff directly to the block on deck. I couldn't make any sense of that block which the kit fastens on a long line from the inner end of the gaff leading the tack towards the deck. According to the KISS principle I left it off.

Another block was added because I didn't want to lead the sheet directly onto its belaying pin. By leading it through a block on deck I could half the pull on the pin and had an arrangement similar to the sheet and the tack.

 

After setting the sail I made a sailor go to the topmast to illustrate the difficulties one would have working on a topsail lashed to the topmast (don't ask me how the poor sailor got there and back). Now I think more than ever that the topsail set flying, as the kit does, would have been the sensible solution for a racing machine.

 

lower corner with sheet attached

 

top halliard (the slim hook is a leftover Caldercraft part)

 

mast foot with additional block for the sheet

 

the sail is set and the simplified leading of the tack clearly visible

 

this working station looks scary even under calm harbour conditions

[Martin W]

Ahh, so that's how it's done!  Terrific sails, and those details!  ooh la la!

[Mirabell61]

nicely set canvas Peter,

looks good  

 

Nils

[mojofilter]

Outstanding sails Peter!

Can't wait to see the ship's boats mounted.  It is my understanding that she crossed the Atlantic with the boats, which were removed for the race.  The Mamoli kit did not show davit mount holes on the deck that I could make out.  Speaking of davits, I think I saw one drawing/painting with an anchor davit in place.

Anyway, can't wait to see the rest of the sails.

 

- Tim

[flyer]

Many thanks, Nils.

Much easier to work with canvas on a small yacht than with steel on a huge liner. Wouldn't you like to try another sailboat after sending your behemoth ocean liner onto her maiden voyage (through your living room, or wherever)?

 

 

 

So do I, Tim. Yes, it seems, that those boats were only in place when she wasn't racing. As the jib boom went overboard quite early, and because I like the kit's appearance with the additional outer jib, I will show her in the configuration before winning the race and also with boats. As I also mentioned before, a ship without boats looks somewhat unfinished or even abandoned to me.

 

Anchor davits: I know of only one model showing them. Perhaps they really had anchor davits for convenience and offloaded them together with the boats when racing. On the other hand, those anchors in the kit would probably weigh just around 50 to 100 kg. It should be possible to manhandle them with a few sailors and perhaps a provisional tackle to the masthead. (No permanent mast tackles were mentioned anywhere for America.) Hence, I'm afraid, my America's crew will have to shed some sweat to rise or drop the anchors.

 

 

Cheers

peter

[flyer]

The fore gaff sail was made and set the same way as the main gaff sail. The main difference was the missing boom.

The sheets with tackles are installed as per kit instruction. I mainly use the kit blocks but try to improve their appearance by rounding the corners a bit with a nail file.

 

fore gaff

 

 

 

mast foot

 

 

upwind sheet around the mainmast

 

 

downwind sheet

 

 

about two thirds of the whole sail area are now set

[Martin W]

Really nice work, Peter, as always.  When the final third of the canvas goes up, her lines will be clear in all their refinement.  Can't wait!

 

cheers

 

Martin

[flyer]

Thank you, Martin.

Should be rather straightforward from now. Only the size of the jib with the differently set up fore stay must be checked. Then only the outer jib and finally the boats remain.

Almost time to start thinking about the next project.

 

Cheers

peter

[flyer]

The next sail, the jib, needs a bit more planning. By changing the rigging of the fore stay, I was bringing it more inboard and changed the sail size as well. The sail from the kit plan was adapted to the new stay. Then I cut a paper template and checked it against the model. After resizing it twice I had a fitting sail template.

The boom had to be shortened as well, of course.

 

paper template for the jib sail

[Martin W]

So tell us your thoughts about your Next Project  -- maybe something from the 18th Century again?  Hmmm?

[flyer]

Hi Martin

Yep, perhaps. Right now I'm considering 7 projects, from Revenge or a bettered Wasa to Agamemnon, Vanguard, Diana, a rigged Confederacy and Cutty Sark. The big question is where to berth the finished ship. Perhaps you heard of that problem - even the best of all admiralties has limits.

Cheers

peter