Bluenose by jre8655 - FINISHED - Model Shipways - Scale 1:100

[captainbob]

Jack,

 

Just be careful not to build up the mast too far, once I built the mast too far and could not put the hoops on without ungluing part of it.

 

Bob

[jre8655]

I can still remove the top masts because they're not glued in place yet.  Since I can roll up the Shrouds and clip them to the mast heads there will be a lot or room to work around the masts.  I think I can attach the sails without much difficulty.

 

I can't remove the mast hoops, but using the cow hitch idea from Dave it should make attaching the main and fore sails fairly easy.

[Rich.F]

Hi jack. First welcome to msw 2.0.

 

Ill be following your build as I have just started the billings kit if the bluenose.

 

Good luck and well done on a good deal and lovely kit.

 

Rich

.

[bhermann]

Bob; you pointed out that you attach the sails before stepping the masts.  The photos I posted were with the top masts in place.  These have not been glued in place yet and are easily removed.  I shall do so and continue.

 

Jack - in a perfect world I would attach the sails to the mast hoops before locking the hoops in place on the mast.  In my case, that realization came too late.  I already have the hoops in place between the boom rest and the trestle tree, so I will be attaching the sails to the mast hoops before stepping the mast, but later than I would if I still had accessibility to the hoops.  It may not be too late for the top masts, though.  I haven't glued the fids in yet, so if I can sneak the top mast past the bails, I may still be able to get the topmast hoops on the sails before locking the hoops in place on the mast.

 

Bob

[hamilton]

 it may be a bit finicky working inside the shrouds. 

 

I can attest to this!!

hamilton

[jre8655]

In undertaking the building of a ship model I am “comfortable” working with wood, plastic, metal, and paints.  Now I find myself having to learn a whole new skill; sewing.  Throughout my life I’ve sewn buttons back on shirts and mended the odd tear in a pocket or hem.  That’s nothing compared to making a sail!

 

I thought I’d tap into a sewing knowledge base by visiting our community sewing and quilting club room.  These ladies turn out some gorgeous pieces for the community arts and crafts sales so who better to seek instruction from?  I wanted to learn some basic stitches to use for making the sails.  I thought I could learn enough to hand sew a decent sail.

 

After about two hours with these seamstresses I discovered there is no way I could hand sew these sails in my lifetime!  Then several of the ladies suggested I purchase an inexpensive, light duty sewing machine.

 

Now all I had to do was convince the Admiral that it was necessary for the model shop.  Believe it or not, this blessed Admiral of mine said, “Well, let’s go look.”

 

We now have a new Singer Talent sewing machine for the Sail Loft.  And here I thought I had all the tools I needed to complete a ship model.

 

Now let’s see if I can sew a straight seam!

[jre8655]

It’s taken me 4 days to complete the paper patterns for the sails.  I started with the Main Sail and it took me 5 tries to get it right.  The Main Top Sail was next and it took 4 attempts before it was right.  Pretty much, it took me at least 2 tries on each one to get the dimensions correct.

 

Now comes the fun part!  I’m going to go to a fabric shop and purchase some of the lightest muslin I can find.  That seems to be the preferred fabric in all the reading I’ve done on sail making.  I plan on spending a couple of days playing with it to practice using the sewing machine.  I do have a toy sail boat that needs a new set of sail and I thought I would use that as practice before attempting the sails for the Bluenose.

 

[bhermann]

That's a nice looking set of templates, Jack!

 

Bob

[Elia]

Jack,

 

Boy that looks great with sails (or at least sail templates).

 

Elia

[jre8655]

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?  Practice, man, practice!

 

How do you make ship model sails?  Practice, swear, remake, practice, swear, etc!

 

I’m relieved that I didn’t attempt the Bluenose sails first.  My practice sail construction is to replace the original sails on a toy boat we purchased in Dunoon, Scotland, in 1981.  Time and water have damaged the sails and it makes an excellent subject for simple sails.

 

I hand washed the sail cloth, dried, and ironed it.  Traced the pattern onto the cloth, using a Quilter’s Marking Pencil, then used Fray Check along all the outlines.  Once I had that done I lightly penciled in the seams on the main sail.  Sewing the seams seemed fairly easy and I was able to keep the seam lines straight.

 

I used a small spatula to crease the hem folds then ironed and pinned the hems.  I only burned my fingers four or five times.  I used the instructions posted by DBorgens in his Lessons Learned Sewing Sails, posted 19 April 2013.  His method provides for a 1/8 inch hem when finished.

 

Now came the fun part!  I set up and began sewing the hems.  It’s not as easy to sew along a hem fold as it would appear.  I drifted off the hem line several times and when I tried to rip out the stitches it looked horrible.  Fortunately I had enough practice material to remake the sails a couple of times.  I hand finished the corners and sewed in the grommets.

 

Hopefully the Bluenose sails will go a little better and the end product will be much straighter.

[captainbob]

Nice sails.  Love the grommets.

 

Bob

[DBorgens]

Jack,

Excellent work on the sails. I too love your grommets, nice detail.

Dave B

Edited October 28, 2013 by DBorgens

[jre8655]

I’ve been going back over the information I have on sail making and have found it somewhat lacking when it comes to washing and treating the cloth.  My first mistake was to hand-wash the cloth then fully dry it before ironing.  This just produced wrinkles that would not iron out.

 

Fortunately I have a female friend that, among other things, is a seamstress and artist.  She sent me the following information on handling linen (it also applies to muslin):

 

“When hand-washing linen for the first time, you need to soak it briefly in lukewarm water before washing.  When washing, use natural soap and cold water.  Linen will shrink anywhere from 4 - 6%.

 

As you now know, linen wrinkles readily.  Linen fabrics also soften with age.  Bast/plant based fibers such as linen require a little more care when laundering (i.e., bleach will weaken natural fibers and it yellows linen).

 

You need to dry wet linen on a flat surface, using towels underneath; unless you have access to new printmaking felts, which would be the very best choice for water absorption.  I suspect you may have gently hand twisted the fabric to remove excess water and also used a dryer.  Either one would have added to the fabric wrinkling.

 

You can avoid wrinkling by placing the wet linen flat, smoothing it with your hands if needed, on a layer of cotton bath towels.  You may need to pick up the linen by the corners and transfer it to a new stack of towels or roll it inside a layer of towels to wick the moisture from the fabric.

 

Back to the fabric drying…while the linen is still damp, not dry in any areas, this is the time to get out that friendly iron and iron the cloth while it is still damp with an iron setting of medium or high heat.  Begin with medium heat, moving to high is my suggestion.

 

Preparing the linen fabric before cutting the shapes is the better way to go.  You can store the remainder of the linen fabric by rolling it over a 100% cotton towel with a smooth surface and it will be ready for your next ship sail project.”

 

I applied her information to the muslin I have for the Bluenose Sails.  Using a Quilter’s Marking Pencil I transferred the sail patterns to the muslin and added the seam lines.

[DBorgens]

Jack,

Thank you for posting your friend's advice on washing and drying linen. Wish I had known that, it would have saved a couple cycles of ironing. Your sails look good so far and I am convinced they will turn out great.

 

Dave B

[jre8655]

Sewing progresses very slowly.  I’m still learning how to handle the sewing machine.  You would think this would be fairly simple, but no!  I’m finding that the most difficult part of sewing the seams in the sails is starting a line to stitching.

 

 

If you don’t control the top and bottom threads, keeping them taught with a finger as you begin the stitch, the bottom thread will sometimes snag the top thread and pull it under the cloth.  This causes it to be tangled into the stitching.  Of course you don’t discover this until after you’ve finished the entire line of stitching.  Sometimes I can very carefully pull the thread out and tighten the stitching.  Sometimes I can’t and then it requires taking out the entire line of stitching and doing it over again.  I’m learning!

 

Once I have the seams sewn into the sail pattern it leaves “Irish Pennants” along the hem line.  Using a regular sewing needle I bring the top thread back through the cloth and tie it to the bottom thread with a square knot.

 

 

Once all the seams are sewn in I dampened the sail cloth and ironed all the wrinkles out.  Now it’s time to start cutting out the patterns.

 

 

I’ve used Fray Check along all the sail pattern outlines to prevent the cloth from unraveling after it’s cut.  I also painted a thin solution of white glue to all the outside areas that will be folded to form the hems.  I’m hoping this will add just enough stiffness to allow for a nice crisp fold.

 

As I said; slow progress, but, “softly, softly, catchee monkey.”

 

Edited November 14, 2013 by Jack Tar

[hamilton]

Looks like you're doing an expert job on the sails - can't wait to see them bent and rigged up

hamilton

[jre8655]

The Holidays, with all the family activities, do not lend themselves to model ship building.  Throw in a week-long trip to San Diego, a birthday for our granddaughter, and things very rapidly come to a halt.  I’m not complaining.  It’s been wonderful having all the family over for the various celebrations and I’ve been able to get in an hour or two of building every couple of days.

 

As stated in a previous post, after the seams were sewn in, I painted the hems with a 50% solution of white glue and water.

 

 

The result was that the sail cloth took on the texture of light construction paper.  I used a dental spatula to score the hem fold lines.  This made for a very nice, sharp crease in the cloth.

 

 

The crease made it fairly easy to hold the hem fold while sewing and the result was a very nice hem line.

 

<

 

When I finished the hems I laid out all the sails and discovered that the Main and Main Topsail didn’t match up where they will be secured to the Main Mast Gaff.

 

 

I had to recalculate the two sail patterns then completely remake these two sails.  They now align where they should.

 

 

Edited January 4, 2014 by Jack Tar

[jre8655]

Our San Diego vacation has produced what I can only hope is a future ship modeler:

 

Edited January 4, 2014 by Jack Tar

[jre8655]

I began the rigging process yesterday.  I began by lashing the Main and Fore Sails to their respective booms and gaffs.  The instructions and plans show the Main and Fore Sails lashed to the gaffs, but are secured to the booms only at the corners.  Looking at the photos of the actual Bluenose it shows that these sails were lashed along the entire boom.

 

 

I decided to lash my sails to the booms and gaffs, but opted for a running stitch.  Using a Tapestry Needle gave me enough of an eye in the needle to use 0.25mm rigging line.  The running stitch also allowed me to adjust the tension on the lashing for a uniform appearance.

 

 

I used the same running stitch for the Fore Sail.

 

 

Because I already had the Mast Hoops in place I used a method described by Dave Borgens back in August.  His method uses a simple cow hitch to secure the line on the Mast Hoop then running these lines through the sail to secure it to the Mast Hoop.

 

 

Couldn’t wait to see how the Main Sail looked on the model.

 

 

Now it’s just a matter of securing the appropriate rigging lines to the other sails.

 

[DBorgens]

Jack,

Excellent work on the sails. Nice catch with the fit check. She is truning out very nicely. Thanks also for posting your friends advice with preparing linen. That's a gem to keep for reference.

 

Dave B

[jre8655]

Dave,

 

Hey, it was your idea that saved my bacon on the Mast Hoops!

 

I have been keeping my friend up on this build and she was surprised at the hem preparation technique.  She said she was going to try it on some small project of her own.

[jre8655]

I’ve attached all the standing and running rigging to the sails and am ready to begin attaching the sails to the model.

 

 

I opted to begin with the Fore Sail.  It just seemed to me that this was the logical sail to start with because I have to get in pretty close to tie the Mast Hoops to the sail.  Looks like it’s all coming together.  At least this one.  All in all, it took the better part of two hours to get this sail in place.

 

 

I’ll move on to the Main Sail next.

 

[Dee_Dee]

Jack, I've been following your Bluenose 1:100 build from the beginning with great interest.  You're Bluenose looks great and your sails are looking super!   

 

I was just about to start working on the masts / rigging on my Bluenose 1:100 when a mini disaster struck.  Currently, my Bluenose is in dry dock while I rework the windlass parts that were lost / broken.  

 

Looking forward to seeing your Bluenose under full sail!  

 

Your build log is a fabulous resource!  

 

Dee Dee 

 

 

 

 

[jre8655]

I present, for your perusal, my Schooner Bluenose with a full set of sails.

 

After attaching the Fore Sail, I rigged up the Main Sail, and then added the Fore Top and the Main Top Sails.

 

 

At this point I was able to rig the two Gaffs.

 

 

With the top masts in place, it allowed me to proceed to the Stay Sail then add the three Jib Sails.

 

Port Side:

 

Starboard Side:

<

 

All the running rigging is in place and routed to their respective belaying points.  I now have to install the Belaying Pins, tie off the various lines, and add rope coils.

 

The Admiral was looking over my shoulder while I was finishing up the Bow Sprit and asked if the model was finished.  It took a little while to explain that I still have belay all the running rigging the lash the Deadeyes to the standing rigging and tie the ratlines.  There’s still a bit of building yet.

 

[tarbrush]

Beautiful job Jack

[captainbob]

Thanks for the close-ups of the sails and rigging, they will certainly help when I get to that point on my schooner.  I’ll be glad to follow such a fine build.

 

Bob

[riverboat]

Hi Jack... just now went thru your log...... beautiful work Jack ... she looks great!!..excellent work on the sails.

Frank

[jre8655]

The Admiral says that is not official; I’m insane!

 

I finished belaying all the running rigging.  Looks nice, but not realistic enough.  I remembered reading a post some time ago concerning the coiling and securing of ropes.  I found it and set about trying to add coiled lines to the model.

 

 

Like I said, when the Admiral saw what I was doing she said I’m out of my mind.

 

Toward the stern there just isn’t enough clearance between the pin rail and the deck to allow for a hanging coil.  I’ll have to come up with something; maybe just place a rounded coil over the Belaying Pin.

 

[jre8655]

All the running rigging is now complete.  I added rope coils to every belayed line to give it a touch of realism.  Now it’s on to the standing rigging.

 

 

I needed some way to hold the Deadeyes in place while seizing the shrouds.  Came up with an idea for a set of jigs to help me.  Using 3mm and 5mm thicknesses of Basswood I constructed two jigs to help hold the Deadeyes in place.  One for the Fore Mast and one for the Main Mast.

 

 

A closer look at the Fore Mast Jig:

 

 

I pinned the Deadeyes to the 5mm Basswood and clamped the upper section of the jig to hold everything in place.  Had to use two pins to keep the Deadeyes from rolling while being seized.

 

With everything in place I began the seizing process.

 

 

Once I have the Port Side finished I will flip the jigs and repeat the process on the Starboard Side.

 

[jre8655]

Using the jig I made, I rigged all the Shrouds on the Post Side to the Deadeyes.  It wasn’t as difficult as I originally thought; especially with everything held in place with the jig.

 

 

Once I had the Port Side Deadeyes seized to the Shrouds I removed the jig and lashed the Deadeyes.

 

 

 

I’ve moved the jigs to the Starboard Side.  The way I made the jigs, all I had to do was flip the pieces over and they fit.  I’ll begin seizing the Starboard Side Shrouds today.

 

One thing I noticed was that as I’m getting very close to finishing the Bluenose now, I have to really slow myself down to make sure I don’t rush these last few building steps and destroy some of the underlying work.