Generic Brigantine by mikiek - FINISHED - Megow's Models - Restoration

[mikiek]

Jumping right into this, after removing the rear mast I have cleaned up what I can reach. The plan is to remove a single mast with everything still hanging on it, work the area under the mast (dust, repair,paint), then work the mast (repair, new sails), then put the mast back on the boat. I'll do the 3 jib sails next. Then the foremast.

 

Assessing the situation on the stern. Broken transom, dirty, broken hand rail.

 

Old

Old transom.

R

Cut away upper transom and removed hand rails

Replacement transom piece.

Replacement in position. Still working with some filler putty to smooth out the joint.

 

 

Replaced supports for handrails

 

 

New rails.

 

Yellow line is about as far forward as I can clean until I pull the foremast.

Looking more ship shape!

 

Was all ready to do some experimenting for the sail replacement. Couldn't find my material, even after an hour of searching

 

[mikiek]

Still unable to find my sail material so I picked some up at a fabric store today. Got a broadcloth which is closer to the original material. The broadcloth is a very tight weave, very smooth vs the courser weave I had before. I took a sail into the store and of course all the ladies in line to get fabric cut are asking what I'm up to. From their feedback it sounds like the tiny hems are going to give me fits. I've Googled a few ways to do it but it ain't going to be easy. Even after I learn how to use a sewing machine

 

If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears.

[mikiek]

Just a note - this thread hasn't died. I've got another related post here regarding sails and how to do hems. I need to get that worked out before I can put the mast back in. Will be back in action soon.

[mikiek]

Not quite finished with my first attempt at a sail but I couldn't resist a few pix. The hems just need a lot more ironing.

 

This is a double fold hem (by hand) and it's a tad over 1/8" wide. A bit wider than the original. Have not done any stitching yet - maybe I won't. As is my custom I ended up doing the most difficult sail first. Most of the others are square.

 

My first deviation from the original - I changed the running rigging to tan.

 

Do I keep at it or try another way?

 

 

 

 

[mikiek]

I think I am going to try out this method for sails. I'm trying to not strip down the entire mast in one shot. Even with pix, I'll never get it put back together the same way. So I have this upper sail - sorry, I don't know the names of the fore/aft sails - ready to put back on. But it will require an attachment to the end of the gaff on the lower sail (spanker?), so I really need to remove the lower sail. This one is laced on to the gaff and mast so the replacement will need holes in the hem

in addition to wire & rope.

 

Speaking of wire, having that in the hem is a very cool idea. It can be bent around to really give the sail some shape. No droopy sails.

 

The boom and gaff were fastened to the mast by something that almost looks like tape. Maybe a touchup later in life. Don't know if they even had tape 70 years ago and if they did would it still be holding today? At any rate I'm going to have to do something different to hold the boom & gaff to the mast. I think the scale is too small to try a parral so I guess it'll just be a loop of rope around the mast.

Tape?

 

So the spanker is off and I've made a pattern so I can cut a new one.

 

Compare old sails vs replacement. I feel like I need to take the new one and rub it around in the dirt.

 

[mikiek]

Visible progress! Almost have the rear mast back in place - with sails and a clean deck underneath. A big improvement however a little sterile for my taste.

 

 

 

Got one problem and I knew this was coming when I snipped the shrouds. This pic pretty much shows it all.

 

 

There used to be a line from the lower 'deadeye' that went over the channel and into the small holes below. I assume they were fastened with a big granny knot on the backside, while there was still access to the inside of the hull. Now there is no access, but I need to do something similar. Tie a rope to the bottom of the 2 deadeyes. Run the rope into the hole. Tie the rope off somehow and keep good tension the whole time.

 

Ideas?

[mikiek]

Well maybe not as difficult as I thought. I was able to pull the metal fittings out of the holes - 70 year old glue.  So I should be able to figure something out now.

[Nirvana]

Mike, I don't know about the new sails..... little to bright in my opinion, I do like the original as it gives some character to the Brigantine....

but it seems that the restoration is coming along nicely. 

Edited November 20, 2017 by Nirvana

[mikiek]

Thank you for your honest opinion Per. And I agree, the sails need some roughing up. However as I look at the next set I will be working on, I don't see any other option but replacement. The wire has torn thru the hem in many places, it corroded and that got into the material and there are holes.  Actually they are not as light as the picture makes out. And I believe I can still darken them some more. I've been considering that. With you in agreement I will move forward with that. Darker and maybe some even darker splatters.

Edited November 20, 2017 by mikiek

[mikiek]

Sails are taking longer than I thought. I don't have many flat surfaced items or small weights to hold the hem down while the glue dries. So it's load the hem  up with wire and/or rope. Fold the hem over (twice). Squirt some glue into the hem. Weight it down with something flat and wait for the glue to set - about 30 minutes.

 

As I mentioned earlier I was able to pull the little fittings out of the hull and will be able to re-use them. I thought this was going to be a difficult step but it turned out quite easy.

 

The fitting.

 

Tie

Tie a granny knot at the end of a rope

 

Thread the rope thru the fitting.

 

Glue the fitting to the hull. I'll take the ropes and feed them thru the faux deadeyes and tie them off.

Also darkened the sail up some. They look even darker in real life.

[mikiek]

Hey Bob - thanks for looking in. That turned out to be my #1 goal. What I call a restoration rather than a refit.

 

I will admit it was real tempting to tear down to the deck and build her again. New ropes, better hardware, you know the drill. But this is a kit that was probably purchased in the 30's. Adding all the contemporary parts wouldn't do it justice.

Edited November 22, 2017 by mikiek

[mikiek]

Sail making is taking longer than I thought. Cutting , dyeing and hemming. The last takes longest. I have to load the hem with a piece of brass rod, double fold and then glue. It takes about 1 hour for the glue to dry enough so I can safely handle the sail to glue the next hem - 3 or 4 per sail. I still wonder if I am making the right decision by gluing only. No stitch.

 

I'm still really liking the wire in the hems. It's going to be fun to shape all the sails. I will definitely use the same technique should I ever decide to add sails to one of my builds.

 

Making the jibs at the moment, but I decided to go ahead and pull the foremast. I couldn't stand seeing all that dust any longer. Got that cleaned up and a first coat of varnish. Much better.

 

 

 

 

Broke a few pieces during this process. I've been commenting on how easy it is to "unglue" many of the parts due to the age. It appears that time has taken it's toll on the wood as well. The rail pieces are as brittle as they can be. This is the second piece of rail I have broken. Also broke one of the fore channels while removing the mast.

 

 

 

I caught myself trying to "improve" on parts. Rather than belay pins with racks most sail sheets tie off to a wooden ring (those fake deadeyes) that is fastened to the deck. IMO the rings are kinda bulky, so I was about to replace those ( I had to pull them out of the deck anyway) with a brass eyebolt seized to a brass ring. No huge thing but still a step away from the original equipment. I made a few more wood rings and am back to using those. I'll save my brass for my builds.

 

 

[Nirvana]

Mike,

Seems like you are enjoying your restoration adventure. 

But using only glue at the hem, it will hold for the moment but not in the long run.

I would go with sewing as well, specially inserting the metal rod to create the effect of wind filled sails.

[mikiek]

Per - this project has been quite different than what we're used to. Tearing something apart as the first step feels odd. Remembering how it goes back together - even with pictures - has been trying. Really a wake up call to how bad my memory is getting.

 

There is a thrill that you just don't get from a build. That is seeing the dirt & crud or loose ropes and then admiring when it's cleaned and back together again.

 

Also an exercise in self control. So many little "touch ups" I want to do. Given that this is almost an antique kit - Megow's is long gone - I have to stick with how it was supposed to be assembled, with the same type of parts.

 

I may experiment with the hem. With the double fold and the adhesive I don't think a sewing machine needle could get thru it. Of course that leaves the hand sewn option

[mikiek]

Well I've been working this restore almost every night but haven't had much to show. I'm trying to finish up this weekend (doubt if I'll make it) and some things are coming together.

 

Like the main, I took everything off the fore mast pretty much in 1 piece. Got the mast cleaned up and the fore deck as well. The fore has been stepped and now I can start working with the stays & shrouds while I'm doing to the sails. My idea for connecting shrouds to channels worked out pretty well and the shrouds with ratlines fastened up pretty easy. As per my goal I was able to keep the original shrouds & rats. The backstays were tougher since there was not enough rope to reconnect - I did realize this when I originally cut them. So I ended up using a bullseye to fasten the stays to the rope coming up from the channel. Yup, I deviated from the original on this but there were few options.

 

 

 

I did the mizzen? for the fore mast. Still working on the square sails.

 

 

 

My biggest screw up so far is the hems for the sails are not all on the same side. 

 

She's coming along. Maybe the hardest thing is going to be repainting the name on the transom. I've tried twice already and have painted over my attempt both times. Who woulda thunk that would be so difficult?

Edited December 9, 2017 by mikiek

[mikiek]

Now we're talking   I finished up the last square sail last night and after letting everything dry I put the sail assembly together this evening. Keep in mind this rigging is there just to give the impression of ropes hanging & laying about. It is not an accurate representation. For instance the sail assembly is made by taking the top gallant sail (which is lashed to the t'gallant yard) and tying the clews to the top yard. The top yard has the top sail lashed to it and the clews tied to the course yard. Which of course has the course sail lashed to it. So you can pick up the t'gallant yard and you'll be picking up all 3 sails with their yards. And DANG IT I forgot to take a pic of that.

 

Anyway the t'gallant yard fastens to the top of the mast and basically that hangs the entire assembly. There are some braces to be added.

 

The jibs have wire in the hems that extend out from the corners 7-8 inches. The wires are used to fasten the sails to the mast and deck. They are bent a bit to give the sails some shape. I've said it before, this is a very cool technique to use to put some action into the sails. Wires were also used in the square sails and again I like the shape you can add.

 

I think I have dirtied up the sails enough although not evenly from bow to stern. Oddly you can barely see it in the pix. They were dyed with walnut crystals. The I darkened the mixture and splattered that on the sails. I also got a lot of the fabric glue smeared on the material and that darkened just a tad when it dried. I guess overall it will do.

 

So tomorrow it'll be the braces, some touch up painting and finally made up my mind to paint the hull. Trying to mix a matching green was no easy feat.

 

Here's how she sits tonite:

 

 

 

 

 

[mikiek]

I'm calling this one finished. Pix posted below, but go back to the start of this thread and take a look how it started out so you can see before and after.

 

Restoration is an interesting endeavor. I did my best to keep as much as possible of the original build. That was by far the hardest part of this build. So much I wanted to add or change. The most radical thing I did was change the running rigging from black to tan. Not too big of a sacrilege I hope. 

 

Here she is - Hispaniola (II)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I posted what I think are some strange but interesting circumstances regarding this effort here.

Edited December 17, 2017 by mikiek

[donrobinson]

Looks good Mike. I'm sure your friend will be happy

[mikiek]

Hey Don - Thank you. I'm a little nervous about the sails. All of us here know sails are never spotlessly clean so I did my best to dirty them up. Not sure how the owner is going to take that.   He did say do what you want.

 

This was a good short project. It's back to Trajta now.

[Nirvana]

Mike, 

Very nice restoration; now I have a question, where is this lovely ship going?

[mikiek]

Thank you Per.  I will be giving it back to the owner. Hopefully it will be another 75 years before it needs help again. I won't be around for that but maybe my first mate will.

 

I will probably make the suggestion to put it under some sort of cover.

[mikiek]

Owner got his boat back today

 

[donrobinson]

He looks very happy, so good of you to put a smile on someone's face.

[thibaultron]

Great effort for a good cause!

[David Lester]

Congratulations Mike, I think you've done a great job. You're braver than I would be tackling sails, but you got a very nice result. I especially like the idea of a wire in the hem to shape the sail.

 

The hardest part with a restoration is decided how much to leave as is and how much to re-do. I think you've found that balance beautifully.

David

 

[mikiek]

Thank you all for the likes and kind comments. If you knew the history between the owner and my dad (both in photo) and our families you would know how special the moment was. Those two go back literally to before I was born. And I'm no spring chicken.

 

Most folks don't keep connections like that.